Photograph by Giuseppe Cottone (2014)

Movement research is central to MA’s artistic practice. Growing up, she was an accomplished athlete (basket-ball, athletics and fencing). However, it was whilst recovering from back surgery in 2005 that MA discovered dance and decided to commit to daily dance classes as a way to stabilise her back and to explore her creativity. She enrolled in a dance school in Hyères, France where she was trained by Alexandra Clément in ballet, jazz dance and pilates. She went on to train at IALS / Rome, the Alvin Ailey School, Ballet Academy East, STEPS and the Martha Graham school in New York City exploring ballet, modern dance, flamenco and tap. She has also participated in workshops by Jill Johnson (Ballet Frankfurt/William Forsythe), Rocío Molina and Ohad Naharin (Batsheva Company/GAGA).

In 2009 MA established Artist (s) at Large®, which was a movement based performance art laboratory designed to explore the collaborative process of creating performance art pieces. She also used the lab for a Law and Humanities project about law beyond text called “Lost for Words” which has been documented in international scientific peer reviewed journals and through an installation piece at the DiMenna Center / Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York in 2012. MA also used the Lab as a platform for movement based workshops for legal professionals (e.g. the Creative Thinking for Lawyers (CTL) project. 

In June 2015, MA qualified as a GYROTONIC® instructor and coached a variety of clients in Milan, Italy including dancers from the Accademia Teatro della Scala, and from the company of La Scala as well as the Academy of the Vienna State Ballet. In September 2021, MA completed a Teacher Training course of the LYT Yoga® Method (Level 1) which she celebrated by donating a class package to a group of young BIPOC Italian fashion designers promoted by Afro Fashion Week Milano and Vogue Italia.

MA continues to dedicate herself to movement research as part of her creative practice.