Founded by performing artist and dance instructor, Katie Piselli, The Riff Academy offers fast paced Lindy Hop, Charleston, and Vernacular jazz dance classes with a special emphasis on performance. The Riff Academy is here to support vintage jazz dancers in the Boston/Greater Boston area who love performing, competing, jamming and want to grow their skills in a warm community of like minded dancers!
Katie Piselli draws on 20+ years of ballet, jazz and musical theater to inform her current love and profession, social dancing! Little brings her more joy these days than helping students explore jazz music and dancing with a partner. Katie is an approachable teacher and social dancer known for her playful stylings, strong understanding of movement mechanics, and high energy. While her spirited dancing has won her awards in Lindy Hop, Solo Jazz and Balboa, and performance opportunities in The Vaughn Monroe Show, Club Drosselmeyer, and The Roaring Twenties Lawn Party, she finds her true passion in teaching! In addition to developing her own classes at The Riff Academy, she also teaches for Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Boston Lindy Hop, and Celebrity Series Boston. Katie also coaches and choreographs for her local performance team, The Riff. Katie travels regularly to social dance events, but always loves coming back to her home scene in Boston.