Elizabeth Portelli

Elizabeth Portelli received her ballet training at Academy of Russian Classical Ballet where she was trained by former principal dancers from ballet companies throughout Europe, United States, and Russia. Additionally, she received private training from many renowned ballet and contemporary dancers, including Theresa Farell (former artistic director of American Contemporary Ballet in Los Angeles), Petra Conti (principal dancer at Los Angeles Ballet, former principal dancer at La Scala in Italy), Olga Aru (artistic director of Aru Dell’Arte Dance Company in D.C), Diana Stetsura (former principal dancer at Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus). During the summers, Elizabeth studied at Joffrey Ballet School, School of Ballet Arizona, and Academy of Russian Classical Ballet, where she furthered her training in ballet, contemporary, modern, character folk dancing, and flamenco. In her ballet training, Elizabeth danced Soloist and Principal roles such as Chinese Doll in “Fairy Doll”, Aurora in “Sleeping Beauty”, Aspicia in “The Pharoah’s Daughter”, Peasant Pas in “Giselle”, “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux”. She also performed corps work in “The Nutcracker”, “Cinderella”, “Le Corsaire”, “Raymonda”, “Swan Lake”, “Don Quixote”, and several other ballet, character pieces, and contemporary works. In addition to teaching ballet at Hartland Dance Academy, Elizabeth is the children’s rehearsal director for the Detroit cast of Nutcracker Magical Christmas Ballet (formerly Moscow Ballet).