Line one: BFA University of Illinois (Dance Performance and Choreography)
Line two: MFA New York University Tisch School of the Arts (Dance Performance and Choreography)
Following in her mother's footsteps, Jennifer Reiter Hand began dancing at the age of six in Peoria IL. She received her Masters degree in dance from New York University's Tisch school of Arts and her BFA in dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Both of her degrees are in dance and choreography. Ms. Hand has taught and produced choreography for private studios, universities, summer intensives, and theater companies in the Midwest including: DanceArts and Champaign Ballet Academy in Champaign IL; Millikin University in Decatur IL; Illinois Central College, Peoria Ballet, Cornerstone Academy/Central Illinois Ballet in Peoria IL. Her work in the Northeast includes: D'Valda & Sirico in Fairfield CT; Longwood Performing Arts Academy in Kennett Square PA; and in New York City at Ballet Hispanico, Broadway Dance Center and Ballet Arts. As a teacher she specializes in ballet, pointe/variations, modern, improvisation, choreography, adult beginner dance, dance vocabulary/appreciation, and movement for actors. Her students are presently performing in national tours, in ballet and modern dance companies, for Disney, and on Broadway. Ms. Hand is also the author of several online dance articles and has served as book consultant for publishers Taylor & Francis and DK/Penguin Random House. . Hand believes that to learn to dance well, dancers must find joy in the simple act of moving. To that end, she constructs an environment that encourages a sense of play, experimentation, community, and humor while working in an organized and respectful way not only towards everyone participating in the class, but also to the noble tradition of dance, a tradition she believes is beautiful and worthy of reverence. "Dance should never hurt the body or force it into feelings of strain or tightness. Instead, I believe dance can open the body and create a freedom from within that can be pleasurable for your emotional and spiritual self, as well as the physical."
Disciplines: Ballet, Modern Dance, Dance Appreciation