Biography

Annalise Ritter is a visual and performing artist who creates wonder-driven works underwater, on the ground, and in the air. She has carried a lifelong fascination for exploring bodies of water and staring longingly at the sky, so her development as a mermaid and aerialist was inevitable. She began dance lessons at the age of 3 and has enjoyed a lifetime of performance, notably over 5 years as a company member with Splinter Dance Company in Seattle, WA. Annalise began aerial training in 2015 and has studied on many apparatuses at studios across the country, crafting her first pieces at Versatile Arts and Emerald City Trapeze in Seattle, WA. In 2023, she began training in vertical dance with Bandaloop Studios in Oakland, CA and continues to participate in an artistic research community in vertical dance.  Annalise donned her first physical mermaid tail in 2021, completed her Advanced PADI Mermaid certification with the Seattle Mermaid School, and creates collaborative art with fellow merfolk on the West Coast. 

Annalise enjoys her multi-elemental magic life, which has seen her performing an aerial sling act in a mermaid tail while suspended above the Sacramento River Delta, leaping up walls as a wild spirit in a community-produced show at the Bandaloop Studio, and debuting burlesque and drag characters on a secret stage in the woods of Northern California. She is currently working on underwater performance concepts to explore aquatic worlds and how people connect to them. Annalise lives in Oakland, CA with her partner Willow and their two opinionated cats.