ELISA TORO FRANKY, a New York City based professional dancer, teacher, choreographer, and bilingual voiceover artist, has astounded audiences worldwide in works that integrate ballet, tango, ballroom, and Middle Eastern styles. She has performed as a featured artist 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. Elisa has performed leading roles with Christopher Caines Dance, Dardo Galletto Dance, New Jersey Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble, and the Washington Ballet Studio Company.

She also worked as Program Director and currently as performer and teacher with Accent Dance NYC, providing multicultural dance programs in underserved communities.

Elisa 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, she 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, she performed at I Heart Dance NYC, as one of a select dancers from top companies in NYC. Elisa also performed in Rhina Valentin’s Sancocho production at the Lincoln Center Restart Stages. 

She has 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, she performed the leading role of Anna II as choreographer and dancer in The Seven Deadly Sins, produced by Dell’ Arte Opera Ensemble

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Elisa started training in ballet under the artistic direction of Myriam Guerrero and later with mentors from the Cuban National Ballet School. She traveled to Cuba for ballet intensives and an international competition where she received a Mention of Honor. Elisa came to the United States in 2004 to study at the Miami City Ballet School. In 2012, she founded the dance group “The Creative Cauldron” in Bogotá, Colombia, directing performances in 2012, 2013 and 2018. In 2024, she was invited by Carolina Ramírez to perform in the production of Alkora at the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo in Bogotá.