lisa russo pettigrew...choreaographer | educator

Lisa Russo Pettigrew, MFA, is an Associate Teacher and President of the Board of Directors at the Tamalpa Institute, an internationally recognized movement-based Expressive Arts Therapy training program, in Northern California. She has a Bachelors Degree in Dance, Philosophy and Psychology and a Master of Fine Arts in Dance. Lisa is deeply committed to dance as performance and as a healing art.

Lisa is the Founder & Director of Forward Movement – an arts & healing collective in Laguna Beach, California where she offers workshops and individual sessions. She has designed, directed and facilitated community workshops and classes for various institutions and organizations throughout the country including Senior Access, Girl’s Circle Groups, The Life Enrichment Center, The H. Lee Moffit Cancer & Research Institute/Arts In Medicine Program and Creative Aging West. She has performed and taught nationally and internationally. She has danced with the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation in NYC, the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Deborah Riley Dance Projects and with dance pioneer, Anna Halprin. As a recent recipient of a Community Arts Partnership Grant from the Marin Arts Council, Lisa offered two six-week Life/Art residencies at Kaiser Permanente of San Rafael and Marin General’s Institute for Health & Healing. Additionally, Lisa is a member of the Anna Halprin Sea Ranch Collective, a group that performs both Halprin choreographed works and Halprin inspired group explorations. She is a part-time faculty member at Saint Joseph Ballet where she teaches somatics and the Life/Art Process to At-Risk-Teens.

It is Lisa’s diverse range of experience, her commitment and passion for dance as performance and
as a healing art that allow her to offer a unique and sensitive approach in both her teaching and individual sessions. Lisa is inspired by exploring art as transformation – personally, socially and environmentally.