I am a New York City based professional dancer, educator, choreographer, and bilingual voiceover artist, currently a SAG-AFTRA member. I have performed for audiences internationally in works that integrate ballet, tango, salsa, ballroom, Middle Eastern, and South Asian styles. I have danced principal roles with FJK Dance in New York and abroad, including at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Symphony Space, New York Live Arts, and in a 31-city tour of China in 2017. I also have performed leading roles with Christopher Caines Dance, Dardo Galletto Dance, New Jersey Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble, and the Washington Ballet Studio Company.
I am a founding member and former program director of Accent Dance NYC, whose mission is to provide multicultural dance programs in underserved communities. I have been interviewed by FOX 5 NY, ABC News, Pix 11, and more on the topic of Hispanic Heritage Month programming with Accent Dance NYC.
I was the featured dancer for the 2020 Battery Dance Festival in the dance film “Naranjo en Flor”, choreographed by Dardo Galletto and directed by Spanish filmmaker Don Solaris. In 2021, I collaborated with El Puente Presente, the singer/composer Juana Luna, and a New York Philharmonic Orchestra’s string quartet for their bandwagon concert in Domino Park, being photographed onstage by the New York Times. In the same year, I performed at I Heart Dance NYC, as one of a select dancers from top companies in NYC who participated in the reactivation of the dance sector after the pandemic. I also performed in Rhina Valentin’s Sancocho production at the Lincoln Center Restart Stages and have been a guest artist for the Westchester Ballet Company’s Nutcracker season since 2016 as the Snow Queen, and since 2021 as Arabian as well. In 2024, I performed the leading role of Anna II as choreographer and dancer in The Seven Deadly Sins, produced by Dell’ Arte Opera Ensemble. In 2024, I was invited by Carolina Ramírez to perform in the production of Alkora at the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo in Bogotá.
My early training in Colombia was under the mentorship of Cuban National Ballet School teachers. I traveled to Cuba for ballet intensives and an international student competition where I received a Mention of Honor. I first came to the United States in 2004 to train for three years at the Miami City Ballet School.
"Elisa Toro Franky stands out with strength and elegance in her lines, taking agency over the stage as she skims the floor with her beautiful arches."