Jennifer savelli biography

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Catie Leasca is a dance artist currently based in Brooklyn, NY. With roots in Massachusetts, she has traveled and danced abroad in Israel, France, Belgium, and Germany. Catie has worked professionally with Netta Yerushalmy, Helen Simoneau Danse, Jessie Young, Ambika Raina, MG+Artists, She Me Zoo and Bryn Cohn + Artists. Catie has been awarded choreographic residencies at Gibney Dance through Work Up 5.0, New Dance Alliance through LiftOff and was a 2019 Space Grant Recipient, as well as an Upstart artist at Brooklyn Arts Exchange. She has shown her work at Movement Research through Judson Church, FAILSPACE at The Woods, Center for Performance Research, Dixon Place, Triskelion Arts, WIP IV at STUDIO4, CreateART/Dance in Bushwick, and Salt Dance Fest, among others. She has performed at theaters such as Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel Aviv, The Joyce Theater in NYC, The Montalban in Los Angeles and has participated as a dancer in residencies at The Yard (Martha's Vineyard), MANCC (Florida State University), LMCC (Governor's Island and Maiden Lane), New York City Center, NYU Center for Ballet, and Gallim Dance. Catie has taught in NYC at Gibney Dance, Bridge for Dance, Joffrey Ballet School, Joffrey SPECTRUM, Dance Device Lab, Boston Contemporary Dance Project, FAILSPACE, PMT House of Dance, Z Artist Group, Koin+Co, as well as MG+Artists. She has assisted and co-taught for choreographer Netta Yerushalmy at Princeton University. Most recently, Catie received the Masterworks Foundation Choreography Award and was a dancer in Janessa Clark's newest work, COMMUNION, a 2021 Bessie nominated work, which has been shown at American Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, Here Arts Center, as well as in Stockholm and Berlin. Catie's writing can be found in Dancegeist Magazine.

Catie graduated with her B.F.A. in Dance from The University of the Arts, under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield. She received the Dean’s Award for Excellence and the School of Dance Sustainab

While she’s physically in a familiar place — Northeast Ohio — Jennifer Savelli finds herself in an unfamiliar place career-wise. Although she’s busy as the assistant choreographer for

the national tour of “Anything Goes,”

which is about to launch at Cleveland’s PlayhouseSquare, Savelli doesn’t know what she’s doing next. This is a woman who doesn’t seem to sit still for long. The Kirtland native and New York City resident has been packing her resume with dancing and acting credits at a steady clip for many years. She’s been a Rockette in Las Vegas. She appeared in the Oscar-winning film “Chicago.” She has served as director and choreographer for Princess and Radisson cruises. She’s performed in Broadway productions that include “Guys and Dolls,” “The Boy From Oz,” “Dance of the Vampires,” “Fosse” and “Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark.” She was a backup dancer for Jennifer Lopez and Ja Rule at the MTV Movie Awards one year. Much more recently she appeared on the short-lived CBS series “NYC 22.” “It was exciting for me,” Savelli says in a recent phone interview. “It was just straight acting.” After all, Savelli is first and foremost a dancer, and she comes from a dancing family. The daughter of Diane and Guy Savelli, owners of

Savelli Dance and Martial Arts

in Mentor, and her sister Sarah also is a dancer. Jennifer still teaches classes at the studio whenever she’s home — and she tries to get home fairly frequently — and really enjoys it. “I’m extremely close to (my parents), but I also love going back to the studio to help out and teach and give young dancers knowledge on different Broadway styles,” she says. Savelli has taken to teaching professionals, too. As a member of the cast of the revival of “Anything Goes” on Broadway, she was nam