lisa russo pettigrew...choreaographer | educator

Lisa Russo Pettigrew, MFA, R.S.M.T.*, is a native New Yorker. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Dance, Philosophy and Psychology and a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Mills College. Lisa is deeply committed to dance as performance and as a healing art.

She 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. Lisa 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. Lisa has been a recipient of a Community Arts Partnership Grant from the Marin Arts Council, and serveral other grants throughout her career. She is a member of the Anna Halprin Sea Ranch Collective, a group that performs both Halprin choreographed works and Halprin inspired group explorations. As a faculty member for three years at The Wooden Floor she taught the Life/Art Process to At-Risk-Teens.

Presently, Lisa is a Tamalpa Associate Teacher and serves as Chairman of the Board for the Tamalpa Institute (2007–present), an internationally recognized movement-based Expressive Arts Therapy training program, in Northern California; and also serving as board member for the Orange County Mills College Alumnae Association (2007–present). Lisa lives with her husband Dennis and two cats Sam and Minny.

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.

* Registered Somatic Movement Therapist (See www.ismeta.org for more information.)