Marisa Hamamoto
Marisa Hamamoto is a visionary artist, transformational speaker, and Founder, CEO, and Artistic Director of Infinite Flow Dance, an award-winning disability-led nonprofit and professional dance company with a mission to reimagine possibilities, one dance at a time.
After surviving a spinal stroke at age 24 that initially left her paralyzed from the neck down, Marisa returned to dance and recognized how deeply people with disabilities were excluded from the art form she loved. In 2015, she founded Infinite Flow Dance to create a new model; one in which disabled and nondisabled artists work together at the highest artistic level while transforming how people experience disability, belonging, and human connection.
Under Marisa's leadership, Infinite Flow Dance has produced more than 450 performances, reaching over 50,000 live audience members, more than 100 million people online through groundbreaking dance films and videos, and 35,000 children through school assemblies. The organization has also paid more than $1.5 million directly to disabled and underrepresented artists and creatives, creating meaningful economic, artistic, and leadership opportunities within a community that remains significantly underrepresented across the arts and entertainment industry.
Infinite Flow Dance has partnered with global organizations including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta, adidas, Red Bull, Walmart, and Kaiser Permanente, and its work has been featured by Good Morning America, NBC TODAY, the Los Angeles Times, and other national media outlets.
Marisa is the first professional dancer recognized as one of PEOPLE Magazine's "Women Changing the World." She has spoken at the United Nations, is a LinkedIn Top Voice, and has shared the stage with Apple CEO Tim Cook at Apple headquarters. Her work has also been shared by Sheryl Sandberg and George Takei.
A fourth-generation Japanese American, Marisa is bilingual and bicultural, having earned both her BA and MA from Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. She is also a late-diagnosed autistic leader woman whose lived experiences continue to shape her creativity, advocacy, and leadership. Through Infinite Flow Dance, Marisa is reimagining what is possible—not only for disabled artists, but for how society understands creativity, belonging, and human potential.
