Carissa Bellando holds a BA in Theater and Speech from Wagner College and a MFA in Contemporary Dance from Case Western Reserve University.  She is currently an Adjunct Professor at Wagner College.  She teaches ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, acrobatics, lyrical, modern and contemporary.  She is a RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) and certified Zumba teacher as well. Throughout her career, Carissa has taught and choreographed for numerous theaters, colleges and schools around the country.  She has performed in Musicals and Concert Dance performances around the world, and was a Dancer and Singer for both Norwegian Cruise Lines, and Aida Cruises.  Carissa performed in Taipei, Taiwan in 2013 and spent over a year living in Hamburg, Germany.   In Germany, she was a Professor at the musical theater conservatory, The Stage School Hamburg, and also taught at Tybas Dance Center, Tanzraum, Stage Up!.  Some of her favorite performance roles include Broom Queen in Wagner’s Busted Nuts: The Dance Project, Tumblebrutus in Cats, Carpet in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Die Hexe (The Witch) in Es War Einmal (Once Upon a Time), the Summer Fairy in Polaris, and Mandy in Zack Zack.  Some past choreographic credits include Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (2010) and Dance Project 2017 for Wagner College, Rivela and Sea Swept (both original Modern dance works) for Case Western Reserve University (2013), and Comeback! Das Karl Marx Musical (2015) in Berlin, Germany.