Choreographer Alysa Pires was born and raised on the traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ people near Victoria, B.C. Her works have been performed by companies such as New York City Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, Orlando Ballet, Alberta Ballet, Ballet Kelowna, Ballet Edmonton, Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami, and more. She is a 2025 recipient of BalletCollective’s Commission for Developing Choreographers.

Alysa was the first Canadian woman to create a work for New York City Ballet. "Standard Deviation" premiered at Lincoln Center in 2023 and was subsequently presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Pires began working with the National Ballet of Canada as part of their Choreographic Workshop (2016-2018) where she created her critically acclaimed work "In Between". She represented the company at the 13th International Competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize and was then appointed Choreographic Associate by Karen Kain, a position that she held from 2019-2022. Other works for the NBoC include "Frenzied Order" (2019), "in a state of vanishing" (2021), and "Skyward" (2022).  

Pires’ commissions for Ballet Kelowna include her full-length "Macbeth" (2022), "Vestiges" (2025) and "MAMBO" (2018), which has become a signature work for the company, touring extensively across Canada and internationally.

Pires is a three time participant of the New York Choreographic Institute and was one of the 2017 winners of Northwest Dance Project’s International Choreographic Competition. She also creates under the umbrella of Alysa Pires Dance Projects. Alysa is an Honours BFA graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University.

Upcoming projects include a second commission for New York City Ballet, premiering at the 2026 Fall Fashion Gala, as well as an April 2027 premiere for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet set to the music of The Tragically Hip.