Lisa Pellittiere

About the Artist

Lisa Pellittiere is a dance teaching artist, performer, and choreographer residing in Maryland. Originally from Florida, Lisa earned her BFA in Dance from Jacksonville University. For over 10 years, she has taught in private dance studios; community programs; and PreK-12 private and public school curricular, co-curricular and extra curricular enrichment programs. By combining elements of creative movement and storytelling with contemporary dance styles, she creates accessible, expressive classes and choreography for movers of diverse backgrounds and varied dance experience. Versed in multiple dance disciplines including ballet, jazz, modern, and tap, Lisa enjoys working with students of all ages to develop form, skill, and confidence in an encouraging and positive environment. Lisa is the Assistant Director of Greenbelt Dance Studio, a program of Greenbelt Recreation, under the direction of Angella Foster. She can be seen performing locally with Elysian Dance Theater. As an independent teaching artist and member of the MSAC Teaching Artist Roster, Lisa seeks to provide dance education exposure and enrichment to students in PreK-12th grade through visiting workshops and residencies.

Artist's Statement

CURRENT OFFERINGS - WORKSHOPS AND RESIDENCIES           Single Session Dance Workshops for PreK–12th grade students are designed to take place during the school day, during after school programming, or for special interest groups (such as Girl Scouts). Students are engaged in the learning process visually, kinesthetically, and intellectually as we actively explore the three basic elements of dance - time, space, and energy - using a range of expressive and rhythmic movement activities that get students moving dynamically and thinking creatively. Workshops include Musical Theater Jazz where students learn age and skill appropriate choreography from the teaching artist and Movement Makers where students create age and skill appropriate improvisational choreography generated from prompts given by the teaching artist.           Co-Curricular Dance Residencies for PreK–5th grade students are designed to align with science and/or language arts topics being taught by the classroom teacher. Over a span of 3-5 sessions (each 45min - 1hr in duration), students create and perform a short narrative dance using guided movement prompts and a storyline inspired by the corresponding co-curriculum. Dance creation and discussion is explored using the concepts of time, space, and energy (the three basic elements of dance). Examples of previous co-curricular topics include: constellations (second grade science unit), weather (second grade science unit), and life cycle of a flowering plant (second grade science unit with language arts components).           Interested in tailoring a workshop or residency to meet the educational goals of your students? Email me to discuss the possibilities!