“Believe that you can obtain the impossible, and you will reach the realm of the unthinkable.”- Mark Travis Rivera

Mark Travis Rivera is a graduate of Rosa L. Parks School of Fine and Performing Arts in Paterson, NJ where he majored in Communications and minored in Dance. As a writer, Mark has been published various times, both for his poetry and journalistic writing. He was published in Creative Communications for his essay, “Overcoming Depression Through The Writing Expression” and his poem, “In The Distance: In Memory Of…” and “Soar” have been published in Anthology of Poetry.

Mark's writing has been published in The Record, The Herald, and The Star Ledger for his journalistic writing. As a dancer, Mark has trained under the direction of Erin Pride, where he studied modern, jazz, contemporary, and African dance. He also studies ballet with Elizabeth Matejka-Grossman.

Mark is also the Artistic Director of marked dance project (a subset of Hand-Cap Dance), a dance company for both disabled and non-disabled dancers. Founded in March of 2009. He was inspired to start HCD because he was born with Mild Cerebral Palsy, which affects his motor skills. As a choreographer, Mark made his debut at Rutgers University in Show Up and Dance, sponsored by Dance NJ where his duet “Pointless Love” was performed. His work has also been seen at Silk City Summer Arts Festival in Paterson, NJ., The Painted Bride Center in Philadelphia, PA. Mark has had the pleasure of working with choreographers from the Tri-State area. He has worked with Maureen Glennon of moe-tion dance theater and Caitlin Trainor of Trainor Dance, Marianne Delehanty of MarDelDance, just to name a few.

Mark danced for the Freespace Dance Junior Company where he performed at the Montclair Art Museum and Montclair State University. In April of 2010, Mark worked with The GIMP Project, as an Apprentice dancer for Heidi Latsky, a dance company based in New York City for disabled and non-disabled dancers.

Mark was the Head Intern for Silk City Arts Festival, a non-profit organization who aims to revive the arts in the inner-cities for two years. In those two years, he worked closely with Founder Erin Pride, handling the organizations Communications and other public relations. In 2009, Mark was awarded Paterson Youth Guidance Council “Students That Made A Difference”, for all of his hard work. As an artist, Mark hopes to continue to break barriers and be a great example for disabled artists.

Currently, Mark attends William Paterson University, where he is double majoring in Communications, with a concentration in Print Journalism/Public Relations and Political Science. In addition, he plans on expanding his dance company and training and continuing to help with Silk City.

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