Michela Arietti '26: From Ballet to Brain Science

Michela Arietti is a senior who designed an interdisciplinary Program II major in Embodied Resilience, combining Dance, Neuroscience and nutrition. Building on her classical ballet training, she has explored a range of movement practices, with particular interest in deinstitutionalized dance and social choreography. Her academic work examines how trauma can be both produced and healed through dance and nutrition, moving from individual healing toward broader social change. 

Through multiple performance opportunities, the Dance Program has recognized Arietti with the Clay Taliaferro Dance Award and the Benenson Award, which offered her a summer with the American Dance Festival. In addition to spending time serving as a Trinity Ambassador, she advocates for disability rights and eating disorder awareness and is committed to creating inclusive spaces for movement and expression. 

As Arietti prepares for a new chapter, we asked her to reflect on her time at Duke, the experiences that shaped her, and the lessons she hopes to carry forward after graduation. 

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 

What advice would you give to your first-year self — or to an incoming first-year at Duke? 

Don’t confuse a clear path with the right one. Many students arrive with a carefully planned trajectory, but it’s worth questioning whether that path truly belongs to you. One of the most important decisions I made at Duke was stepping away from a traditional double major to design my own Program II major integrating neuroscience, movement and nutrition. It felt intimidating at the time, but it was the most honest academic decision I made. 

I would also encourage students to pursue what genuinely interests them. Email the professor whose work fascinates you or sit in on a class outside your field. Early in my first year, I walked into Professor Francois Lutzoni’s class on the last day of drop/add and asked to join. After sitting through a quiz covering material I had never seen, he eventually gave me permission to enroll. That class led to a research workshop that encouraged me to reach out to Dr. Diego Bohórquez, whose lab became my research home. 

Put yourself in rooms that unsettle you and, when you fail, take time to reflect on what that experience reveals about your assumptions or approach. 

Is there a part of yourself that you discovered or reclaimed during your time at Duke? 

I arrived at Duke with a clear identity: a serious ballet dancer on a premed track with a traditional academic plan. What I hadn’t yet done was question whether that path was truly mine. 

Through courses with professors like Michael Kliën and Sarah Wilbur, and work in the Lab for Social Choreography, I began to see movement not just as technique but as inquiry. After years of rigorous classical training, I realized I had lost the ability to listen to my own body. At Duke, I rediscovered that awareness. 

That process reshaped both my artistic and academic identity. I designed my own interdisciplinary major, continued dancing in new ways and conducted research in a Neurobiology lab. Duke gave me the language and permission to reconnect with that part of myself. 

What is a challenge you faced as a Duke student that you’re proud of overcoming? 

During my first year, I received a B in ballet. For someone who had trained at institutions like Accademia La Scala in Milan and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, that grade felt deeply unsettling. 

But it forced me to rethink my approach. Instead of relying on past credentials, that B taught me how to communicate, how to ask for feedback I didn't want to hear, how to change course without catastrophizing. That shift is what eventually led me to cold email Dr. Diego Bohórquez, and I’ve been conducting research with him and Dr. Melanie Kaelberer ever since. 

As cliche as this may sound, I do firmly believe my failures have taught me more than my achievements. They taught me how to think about changing my approach, how to grow, and most importantly, how to reach toward things that frightened me without waiting until I felt ready. 

As you prepare to graduate, what are you most grateful for from your time at Duke? 

I’m most grateful for the moments of genuine connection I experienced here — with professors, mentors and peers. Those interactions shaped me far more than any single performance or award. 

Duke gave me mentors like Professors Wilbur and Kliën who challenged me to rethink movement and knowledge. It gave me a research lab where I explored the gut-brain connection and the opportunity to complete my senior thesis “Artificial Nutrition,” which brings together many of my interdisciplinary interests. 

As I move into graduate study, I hope to carry forward a commitment to interdisciplinary thinking. Dance, science and the humanities belong in the same conversations, and remaining open to different perspectives is something I will continue to value wherever I go next.