Jrizz819's Bio

Jessica Rizzo, MA is a native New Yorker and graduate of NYU Steinhardt's Dance Education Master’s Program with a PK-12 New York State Teaching Certification. Her double-concentration master’s degree includes PK-12 pedagogy and dance education within the higher-education discipline. A cum laude graduate, with a BFA in dance performance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst 5 College Dance Program, Jess is a Chancellor's Talent Award alumni who has worked extensively with children and adolescents as a choreographer and teacher in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. She conducts master classes and workshops throughout the United States; specializing in the genres of musical theatre, contemporary and choreography composition.

A faculty member at New Dance Group in NYC, Jess was also involved with NYU’s Kaleidoscope Dance Company, as teacher and performer of creative movement workshops for children in the NYC public schools. In 2008, Jess travelled to Uganda, Africa, to participate in NYU’s Study Abroad Program. There, she taught dance therapy and creative-movement to misplaced children; victims of that nation’s civil strife. The experience culminated with Jess being selected as a featured instructor at the Queen's Kampala Ballet and Modern Dance School. Closer to home, Jess was recently hired to conduct a dance work-shop for the cast of Dragone's LA REVE at the Wynn, Las Vegas.
Jess’ extensive national and international performance career spans a ten-year period and includes works such as: The National Tour of Guys and Dolls (which featured a dance-duet with Maurice Hines), The European Tour of Grease, West Side Story, Cabaret, Sweet Charity, Salute to Dudley Moore at Carnegie Hall, and appearances as a guest-dancer with IMPULSE Modern Dance Company and for Suzi Taylor and Megan Brazil. Currently, Jess is a faculty member at The D' Valda & Sirico Dance and Music Centre in Fairfield, CT. She is adjudicator and master teacher for various dance competitions/conventions throughout the country and can be seen in the "how to" teaching segments on the newly-celebrated danceteacherweb.com.
Jess’ regular participation in the Joffrey Ballet’s “summer intensives” during her training, along with her thesis research regarding the creative process of pre-professional dancers continues to influence her dancing, teaching and choreography perspectives. She embraces the philosophy of “technique” as elemental and critical to the foundation for a successful dancer; that technique, augmented by dance theory and academics, contributes to the development of “the whole dancer.” Jess’ teaching objective seeks to create an environment that combines and balances various dimensions of: encouragement - through positive reinforcement; focus - through self-discipline; challenge - fueled by self-motivation and creativity - by cultivating self-expression. Jess endeavors to instill, in her students, a strong work- ethic, while helping them discover a passion for dance and, ultimately, their self-esteem.

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31 May 2010

31 May 2010

31 May 2010

31 May 2010

12 Apr 2009

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