Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) Facilitator
Felice Santorelli (Ed.M Dance Education, B.F.A. Dance and Choreography) is the Dance Department Leader at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School (PVPA) and the Artistic Director of the school’s contemporary student dance company, Catalyst. Santorelli’s teaching experience ranges from K-12 in various schools to higher education at Mason Gross School of the Arts of Rutgers University. She has developed numerous dance courses in contemporary, ballet, jazz, improvisation, composition, dance education and dance history. These courses blend skill-building in technique, creative dance making, improvisation, and dance theory and history that draw connections between dance and the world and other art forms.
As Artistic Director of the Catalyst Dance Company, Santorelli mentors student choreographers whose work has been celebrated at the National and Regional High School Dance Festivals. She co-facilitates the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) course at PVPA with DEL Founding Faculty, Ann Biddle. This program brings middle and high school students to neighboring elementary schools to provide mentorship in dance making. Santorelli is featured in the upcoming film PS Dance! The Next GENeration made by Nel Shelby to be premiered in 2020.
Santorelli has presented at numerous dance and arts education conferences and professional development workshops including NDEO, AAPHERD, Rutgers University, The Massachusetts Charter School Association and the Dance Education Laboratory at the 92Y. Santorelli is a DEL Facilitator and her workshops have included: Inspired Creativity: Using Various Entry Points for Making Choreography; Dance as a Form of Protest: Choreography and Social Activism; Dancing through the Hero’s Journey: A Guide to Arts Integration; Movement for Change: Exploring Contemporary Artists and Activists. In 2017 Santorelli began working in partnership with Ann Biddle to bring professional development in the DEL model to Jacob’s Pillow. In this position she has co-facilitated courses and workshops such as DEL Essentials, Dance for Social Justice and the “DEL Mini” series.
Santorelli has worked as a curriculum writer and has contributed curriculum to Biddle’s “The Essence of Cool: West Side Story” for the NYC DOE. She also developed dance curriculum and assessment data for the National Coalition for the Core Arts Standards for Dance as a Pilot Teacher.