ABOUT  MY  WORK

Originally from Northern New Jersey, Michelle grew up in the dance studio and found her home in the theatre. She has used her passion for dance and musical theatre to lead her to a fulfilling career as a performer, choreographer, director, educator, and arts leader. She spent the first part of her career in New York before relocating to Florida where she made the transition to direction, choreography, and training.

As a performer, Michelle toured the country in the Broadway National Tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, served as  the Dance Captain of the National Tour of Camelot, spent months at sea as a lead singer/dancer for Princess Cruise Lines, and has been seen regionally in A Chorus Line, Chitty... (Dance Capt.), Hello Dolly, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Pal Joey, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, and Pippin.

Creatively, Michelle was nominated for an IRNE Award in Boston for her choreography of Pal Joey, choreographed 110 in the Shade and assistant directed and choreographed the Carbonell-nominated 1776 at Palm Beach Dramaworks, choreographed the Florida Premier of Snoopy The Musical, Urinetown and Bat Boy: The Musical at Area Stage Company, The Wild Party at Outré Theatre Company, Boca Bound at The Wick, and Chicago at Apex Theatre Studio.
 
Since relocating to Florida, Michelle served as the Dean of Theatre at Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach for seven years and was on faculty for ten where she inspired young artists to find their unique voices. Recently, she accepted the Theatre Department Chair position at the Patel Conservatory at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa where she continues to inspire her students to continue their training at the highest levels in musical theatre and dance. Michelle's students have gone on to train at the top BFA programs in the country and enjoy lucrative careers on and off Broadway in performance, management, and technical theatre. She has spent summers directing and choreographing at University of Miami, Cornish College of the Arts, University School of NSU, and French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts in New York. She was the Kravis Center's Dream Awards' first recipient of the Inspiring Theatre Educator Award and won a grant from Career Transition For Dancers. 
 
Michelle earned her BFA in Musical Theatre with an emphasis in Dance from The Boston Conservatory and recently completed her a graduate degree in Arts Management and Executive Leadership through Rider University. She is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and an associate member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.