Melissa Pastrana

Melissa Pastrana, Director/Producer, Writer, Dancer/Actor, Model was born in the city of Queens, New York and lived in Miami Beach, Florida majority of her life, before she moved to Los Angeles. Melissa Pastrana grew up with a big artistic family; Her grandfather was a poet, parents were competitive disco dancers and brother, Jason Pastrana, Senior Concept Artist for animation, gaming and action films. As a young child she began her artistic career performing in local events, within a few years, she had already appeared in six Star- Styled Dancewear Magazines as a professional child model with former Pussy Cat Doll, Jessica Sutta and had been invited to appear in TV shows such as Sabado Gigante on Univision Network and Star Search. Her early performances were with Walt Disney Productions and begun receiving her earliest ballet training under artistic directors: Tony Catanzaro and Lizette Piedra of Ballet Academy of Miami. In 1996, while performing at the Belvoir Terrace Summer Arts Program, Melissa was favorited by four-time Tony Award Winner, Jerry Zaks for her musical theater and acting appeal. During her undergraduate, she was also given a full scholarship to train with the world-renowned Miami City Ballet School for five years under the directions of Edward Villella, who worked with George Balanchine himself and won the National Medal of Arts and professional instructors Nancy Raffa, Jimmy Gamonet and Violette Verdi. Melissa Pastrana trained at the Miami City Ballet School about 8 years before she was invited to be an Apprentice with Miami City Ballet Company by Nancy Raffa. During her early college years, she was awarded the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Scholarship Award for her exceptional community service and received her undergraduate training in the Performing Arts at New World School of the Arts/University of Florida, majoring in Musical Theater and Dance/Choreography completing a BFA/Bachelors of Fine Arts degree (mastering Vaganova and Neo-classical ballet styles, Jose Limon and Martha Graham modern techniques, Afro-Caribbean, Jazz Funk, Ballroom dancing and other forms of styles such as Hip-Hop, Character Dancing. Her studies included; Laban Movement, Music Theory, Music/Dance History, Dance Composition, Kinesiology, Pilates, Dance Teaching Methods, Grant Writing) During this same timeline, Pastrana was selected for "The Search for the Next Pussy Cat Doll" music group through the final cuts and performed for the Television judges on "So You Think You Can Dance" in their preliminary competition. During her last year at New World School of the Arts, Pastrana performed with the Florida Grand Opera where she appeared as the principal dancer in "Samson Et Dalila" and was cast as actor/dancer in "Turandot", "Aida", "Manon Lescaut", and "La Traviata". Continuing her dance career of 20 years and multidisciplinary athletic training endeavors in "Kendo", "Jiu-Jitsu" with the Valente Brothers and at Florida International University, armed Russian Systema Martial Arts by Alexandr Popeskou and Iaido" Japanese Swordsmanship Martial Arts and receiving her first rank at the Institute of Budo Studies. Merging her dance choreography with Martial Arts she became a stunt choreographer in short films. A few years later, Melissa Pastrana appeared in three conservative seasons of EstrellaTV, "Mi Sueño Es Bailar", Spanish television show in Liberman Broadcasting Network (similar format to "Dancing with the Stars") based out of Burbank, California, where she succeeded in turning her comedian, "non-dancer" partner "Don Cheto" into becoming the Winning Champions of Season 1 Premier resulting in numerous magazines and newspaper interviews, tv interviews and publications such as People Magazine en Espanol featured multiple times, Miami New Times, LA Times, Wedding Style Magazine Germany, Huffington Post, Periodico USA, Danza Hoy, El Reportero Las Vegas, Variedades, Excelsior OC, Yahoo News, Noticias 62, Estrellas Hoy, En Vivo, Diario de El Paso, El Impacial, Lawndale News, Brigitte Magazine Germany, San Antonio Newspaper, El Reportero Nacional, Vida en el Valle, Que Buena Radio, Quinceañera Magazine. Melissa Pastrana was invited back to star in "Mi Sueño es Bailar", Season 2 with partner Actor/Model Hector Soberon and Season with partnered with comedian Gerardo Gallardo. This inspired her to dive more into TV and Film in California and Florida. Continuing her dance athletic endeavors, she appeared in the pre-qualifying competition of "American Ninja Warrior" in 2015 and is still an avid athlete. Melissa Pastrana supports visual and theater arts attending and sponsoring events with local artists at Art Basel, Miami City Ballet, and Actor's Playhouse on Miracle Mile, The Knight Foundation, Film Festivals and was asked to be a speaker at the largest Women's Economic Forum in India and is a supporter of Women's Rights such as One Billion in Rising. During her graduate school, Melissa Pastrana was the first female ever to receive a Master of Fine Arts/MFA degree in Film Production/Filmmaking at New York Film Academy, South Beach, which happened to be right after Hurricane Irma hit. Some of her instructors and mentors there are Emmy and Peabody Winner Miguel Parga and Hershal Faber Winner of The Academy Nicholl Fellowship Award among others. Educational background information in regards to Melissa Pastrana. If you wish to know more visit her website.