Biography CV

TaraMarie Perri is an interdisciplinary artist-performer and teacher. Three decades ago, she began the lifelong study path of classical Yoga and Eastern philosophy traditions which led to a vocation alongside work in the visual and performing arts and professorships in higher education. She lives and works in Brooklyn/NYC and nurtures her body of work across the varying landscapes of the US, UK and Europe.

TaraMarie earned an M.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography from New York University’s Tisch Dance and a B.A. in Liberal Arts/Visual Arts History from College of the Holy Cross, MA.

She is a Professor of Yoga and Contemplative Studies including pedagogy, meditation, somatics, and holistic healing methods and of Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies specializing in Visual Arts and Dance/Performance including history, theory, and studio. In 2006, she joined the faculty of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. In 2025, she was appointed Assistant Professor at CUNY-The City College of New York in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Division at CWE. Past faculty engagements include American Dance Festival, Joffrey Ballet School, and Dance New Amsterdam. Guest artist/lecturer engagements at NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study, Harvard Graduate School of Education, University of Iowa, Marymount Manhattan College, DeSales University, College of the Holy Cross, Goldsmiths University of London (UK), and Queen Mary University of London (UK).

TaraMarie is currently a dance artist with Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance in NYC. Since 1990, she has performed with numerous ballet, modern, and dance theater companies in NY, PA, and MA.

She paints, draws, photographs, and writes guided by improvisation and the dharma of contemplative art practices. She is curious about the intersection of consciousness, perception, and the natural world. Her art practice is receptive to the inherent alchemy of a collaborative process in-studio, onstage and outdoors.

TaraMarie’s expertise and writing has been published in periodicals such as Dance Teacher Magazine,Elle, Women’s Health, Dance Magazine, Pointe Magazine, Dance Informa, The Gardan Journal, and Mind Body Brew. Her choreography and costume designs have been critically acclaimed in The New Yorker and The Village Voice.

In addition to classroom and studio settings, TaraMarie maintains a private practice dedicated to one-to-one Yoga study and integrated therapeutic care for physical re-education, injury rehabilitation, chronic and mental health illnesses. She specializes in autoimmune diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, stroke and brain injuries. On the western side, her studies include functional anatomy, kinesiology, movement therapy, diaphragmatic breathing coordination, medical literacy, somatic methods and integrative medicine. On the eastern side, her studies include Yoga therapy, Pranayama, mindfulness/awareness meditation, classical and contemporary Eastern philosophy traditions, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Vedic and Tantric teachings, Ayurveda and hands-on healing methods including Reiki and marma point therapy.

From 2009 - 2019, TaraMarie was founder and director of the NY-based Perri Institute for Mind and Body established to gather, mentor, and grow an international community of advisors, teachers and holistic health practitioners. The Institute’s pedagogy courses and independent study programming established a unique educational environment integrating eastern and western traditions of practice and research in collaboration with the arts and sciences. Graduates teach and follow career paths in medicine, social work, physical therapy, childhood education, eldercare, trauma-based therapy, acupuncture, and psychology, among other fields. The Institute’s Mind Body Dancer curricula have been implemented in mind-body/somatic education programs, performing arts schools and college/university settings.