Amy Piantaggini is Executive Director of Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit dance school, which is nationally recognized as a “distinguished, high achieving, pre-professional performing arts school” that “nurtures young dance artists in strong movement technique.”

 

Amy trained at the Boston Conservatory and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, where she received scholarships from the Gregory Peck Foundation and as a Finalist for the Coca-Cola Award for Artistic Excellence. Ms. Piantaggini-Hendry is a former member of the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Martha Graham Dance Ensemble, in which she danced many soloist roles including “Satyric Festival Song” and “Conversation of Lovers”. Anna Kisselgoff of the New York Times said that Amy “made a luminous New York debut in Graham’s abstract view…” October 7, 1998.

 

Amy has danced for the companies of Javier Dzul, Richard Move, and James Robey, and currently dances for Edgar Cortes Dance Theater. Amy’s modern dance teaching experience includes numerous schools throughout New England including the Hartt School/University of Hartford (BFA Dance Program) and currently Western Connecticut State University (Ballet and Modern for BFA Theater Program).  She has been  a Graham-based master class guest instructor for Central Michigan State University, Webster University, Endicott College, Sacred Heart University, Barnard College, Dean College, and University of Amherst.

 

She received her MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College with a focus in early American Modern Dance and Embodiment Studies.  Ms. Piantaggini-Hendry worked as an outreach educator for Connecticut Ballet Center and served on the Danbury Dance Initiative task force.  She established RCD as a charter for National Honors Society for Dance Arts through the National Dance Education Organization in 2016.  Amy is the recipient of the New Connections Award in 2022 for mentoring young women and the Nancy Comstock Andrews Superlative Teaching/Mentoring Award in 2018 for her extensive collaborations between the Conservatory and countless Ridgefield arts organizations. Through RCD’s outreach programs, Amy taught dance classes for SPHERE of CT for eight years.  SPHERE serves adults with developmental disabilities. Amy also serves as a Committee Member for the Dance Studios Mentoring Program for the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO).