Deborah Lipa-Ciotta founded Creative Dance for Children Classes in 2001 and is happy to share her love of modern dance with our community. In 2009 she started Creative Dance Company, a modern dance repertory company for ages 8-16. CDC was created to provided young dancers rich performance opportunities and increase people's awarness of and appreciation for creative and modern dance.
Ms. Lipa-Ciotta is also on the faculty of the Tapestry Charter School, a Buffalo, NY public school for children, parents and teachers who believe in weaving together the humanities, sciences, arts and social responsibility. Ms. Lipa-Ciotta instructs Kindergarten through 12th grade dance as a core component of Tapestry’s multi-age program. Prior to joining Tapestry, she was on the faculty at the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts Dance Department (grades 5-12) from 1989-2006.
Ms. Lipa-Ciotta is a New York State certified dance teacher and received her Bachelor’s of Science in Dance and Master’s Degree in Dance Education from the State University of New York College at Brockport where she wrote a thesis on a Discipline-Based Dance Education Curriculum Model. As part of her undergraduate program, she also studied at the Middlesex Polytechnic School of Arts and Performance in London, England. Most recently, Ms. Lipa-Ciotta received coaching from the American Dance Legacy Institute and is decicated to sharing with her students, the Repertory Etudes™, short dances based on signature works of American choreographers.
In addition to her role as a member of the Tapestry faculty, Ms. Lipa-Ciotta has also taught at SUNY Brockport, SUNY Fredonia, Leonardo da Vinci High School, Northern Lights Children’s Performing Arts Center, Amherst Community Education Program and Rich’s Family Center-EduKids.
Ms. Lipa-Ciotta has also served as co-choreographer and performer in the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts ballet “Light from a Dark Canvas," a ballet of the Holocaust. She has also choreographed several concert pieces and musicals during her years as a public school dance educator. She is a former member of Floorplay Contemporary Dance Company, Fusion Dance Company and SUNY Brockport Dancscore.
Through her association with the New York State Summer School of the Arts Dance program, she has also served in the capacity of Administrative Assistant and member of the audition panel for three years. She was co-coordinator of the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts Jamaica, West Indies Cultural Exchange programs and taught at the Jamaica School of Dance Summer Program. Additional professional affiliations include membership in the daCi (Dance and the Child Organization), promoting growth and development of dance for youth internationally and NDEO National Dance Education Organization.
