Elizabeth Parise began dancing at the age of 10. She trained at Ballet Arts Academy in Nashua, NH, and Royal Academy of Dancing (RAD) with Barbara Mullen. She graduated from Walnut Hill School of the Arts as a dance major.
After high school she danced with Granite State Ballet (now Northern Ballet Theatre) for five years. There she was mentored by James Reardon, now Artistic Director of Boston Dance Company. She performed in roles including corps in Balanchine's Valse Fantasy, Fairy Temperament and White Cat in Sleeping Beauty, Four Swans in Swan Lake, lead in the Merliton variation in Nutcracker, Fairy Spring in Cinderella, and one of the lead couples in James Reardon's Verdi Variations.
After five years at Granite State Ballet, Elizabeth was accepted into the dance conservatory program at Suny Purchase College. There she was able to expand on her modern dance training by studying Graham technique and training with the Limon company. She also studied Cecchetti style of ballet.
Elizabeth began taking Irish Step Dance classes as an adult with O'Rourke Irish Dancers and placed in her first feis, Nation's Capital Feis in Washington, DC. Elizabeth has additionally studied Cajun and Zydeco Dance, Flamenco, Bellydance, African Dance, and Irish Country Dance. She has taught ballet, modern, Irish dance, and creative movement locally for several years.
Elizabeth lives in Concord with her husband Frank, and her 5 youngest children. Her oldest child is a scenic design senior at Suny Purchase College. You may also know her from Thoreau 'N' Clay, the paint-your-own pottery studio she owned in Concord center from 1997-2003.
