Emilia Grillasca

A short history

1. I · Performance

   I trained in classical ballet with American Ballet Theatre, one of the great ballet institutions in the world, and was recognized at local and national levels as both a dancer and a choreographer.

   Ballet was my first education in composition and in audience: how space, light, and music shape the way a person moves, and what a room feels.

2. II · Study

   I studied psychology at Florida International University, with a minor in English and a residential Shakespeare program with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

   Psychology taught me to read people; literature, the stories they tell themselves.

3. III · Behavior

   I then spent about eight years in applied behavior analysis, a field where every decision is made from data, one observation at a time.

   I analyzed behavioral data and was promoted to Training Lead, building the programs that train new team members. It taught me what actually changes what people do, and every brief of mine still begins there: with why people choose.

4. IV · Image

   In time, that curiosity turned toward image and atmosphere, and toward some of Miami’s leading creative talent.

   I created and directed Interior States, an original film series after Freud, with photographer Brenda Brooks, signed professional models, and hair and makeup artists whose work reaches from Miami Swim Week to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

   With Eric Corbin, I co-created, co-wrote, and co-directed GEEKS, one of two horror shorts commissioned by the City of Miami Beach, produced by FANGORIA Studios and WEG Films, and filmed largely at the Colony Theatre. We presented it on a panel at The Bass before its premiere at SoundScape Park on October 30, 2026.

5. V · Founding

   Then I founded The Gentle Barre Project, an adaptive dance program for children rooted in classical ballet, and took it to market myself.

   I built it on a partnership model that brings adaptive classes into established studios, and led every part of the launch: positioning, identity, website, social, partnerships, and press. In year one: two partner locations and features in AQUA Miami and Miami New Times; in the first six months, more than 73,500 organic Instagram impressions, 55% of them from people who didn’t yet follow us.

6. VI · Practice

   I pair the creative with measurement, certified in Google’s Digital Marketing & E-commerce program and in Google Analytics.

   Ballet gave me an eye for composition; psychology, an understanding of audience; film, a command of visual storytelling; Gentle Barre, the discipline of results. Together they shape my work in brand strategy, marketing, and creative direction.