Sharon Montella

Hip Hop Ballerina Singer

Sharon Montella is a Boston based dancer, choreographer, singer, martial artist and yoga teacher.

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen" — Hebrews 11:1

“By His stripes we are healed” — Isaiah 53:4-5

Sharon Montella (Hip Hop Ballerina Singer) is a dancer, choreographer, martial artist, singer and dance and yoga teacher.  She holds an M.F.A. in Dance and Choreography from the Boston Conservatory, is a 500-Hour Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance and has, black belts in Kung Fu and Tai Chi and Taekwondo

Dance

Sharon is a multi-faceted dance and movement artists and holds an M.F.A. in Dance from The Boston Conservatory under the Tokunagas, whom she credits with guidance throughout her teaching and choreographic career.  She has danced with Boston Dance Company (artistic director James Reardon), Impulse Dance (Adrienne Hawkins), Boston Dance Collective and Michael Mao (Dinosaur Dance) in Boston and NY.  With Dinosaur she toured the U.S., including City Center in New York and had the opportunity to work with choreographers Toby Armour, Remy Charlip, Senta Driver and Lotte Goslar, as well as dance in the post modern work of choreographer James Waring, ‘Novelty Suites’.  In New York she danced in the modern companies of Kelley Donovan and Dancers, Bicycle Shop Dancers and with tap artist Alan Onickle.  She can be seen in the music videos Revolverlution and Gotta Give the Peeps What They Want by rap artists Public Enemy, and in the film Dance By Design, directed by Valerie Heather Weiss. She choreographed the jazz dance section of The Moses Project on members of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and for Project Concern (a youth hip hop group from Roxbury and Dorchester) at Paris Music Festival, Disneyland Paris, Canada, and Disney World.  Her hip hop choreography has been televised locally and on Canadian National TV.  She danced in the promotional release for Justin Timberlake’s Cologne “Play” and choreographed and danced a hip hop duet with arts and entertainment personality Joyce Kulhawik in May, 2010 as part of “Dancing with the Springstep Stars” to honor Springstep Cultural Award Recipient Ben Vereen.  In NY, her work has been presented at Hatch Presenting Series at Jennifer Muller Works, The Exchange, Greenspace Fertile Ground Series and Triskelion Theater for WAXworks and by Kelley Donovan at Pearl Studios. 

Musicals choreographed include Grease, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Sweet Charity, Forum, Twilight L.A., Robin Hood at Berklee College of Music  and The Moses Project on dancers from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.  

Ms. Montella currently serves on the dance faculty at UMass Boston. She directed the Pine Manor College Dance Ensemble, where she also served on the dance faculty for 20 years teaching Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Hip Hop, Musical Theater, Yoga and Self-defense and the Moving Art of Kung Fu.  At UMass Boston, she teaches Hip Hop, Multicultural Dance (West African, Haitian Folklore and Salsa), Urban Contemporary Dance and Ballet.  Additionally, she has taught for student organizations at Harvard University and MIT.  She teaches Hip Hop at The Dance Complex in Cambridge, where her Hip Hop class was voted Best in Boston by Improper Bostonian Magazine.

 

Yoga

Sharon is a 500 Hour RYT having received her 200 RYT under Gregor Singleton and Claire MacDonald at Baptiste Yoga in 2015 and her 300 Hour YTT with Yoga Renew. She joined the instructor sub team at Evolve Power Yoga in 2024 as a sub and has taught yoga at Harborview Fitness and Health in Charlestown, MA, Pine Manor College, Boston Center for Youth and Families, the North Bronx National Council Negro Women Child Development.  An advanced practitioner herself, she enjoys teaching students of any level!    Her expertise in yoga and dance enables her to encourage students to build a solid foundation on their mat while experiencing the joy of incorporating power moves in ways that feel safe and fluid.  Using a sequential building of the yoga asanas (postures) within a vinyasa (breath) flow, the student is led through a truly renewing, invigorating, and relaxing practice.

Martial Arts

Sharon is a World Champion Martial Artist and 6th-degree black belt in White Dragon Fist Pai Lum Kung Fu and 2nd-degree black belt in Tai Chi under Sifu Clarence Cooper. As Sifu Cooper encourages his students to study various styles, Sharon began training in Taekwondo with Master Julio Lugo at Triumph Martial Arts, Bronx, NY in 2020 and received her First Dan Black Belt in December of 2023. She has taught kung fu and tai chi at Pine Manor College, Amigos Cambridgeport Community Afterschool, Fenway Community Center, Dance Complex Summer Sizzle Program, Milton Academy, and Students of Color Conference 2016 in South Hamilton, MA. She assisted Sifu Clarence Cooper and Sifu Malcolm Lucas in workshops and classes at the Tobin Community Center from 2010-2022. Watch for upcoming classes at the Curley Community Center in South Boston beginning Spring 2024. In addition to her competing and teaching, Sharon was the fight choreographer for Berklee Theater Arts Collaborative, Theater for Young Audiences Spring 2022 production of ‘Robin Hood: The Truth About Maid Marian” directed by Rene Pfister. Contact sharon.montella@gmail.com.

Championships:

  • NASKA World Champion 2020-2023 Forms and Weapons

  • NASKA Overall Grand Champion Forms 2022

  • KRANE National, State, and Triple Crown Winner 2019-2021, 2023. Virtual Overall Grand for Weapons 2020 and Forms and Weapons 2021

Gold Medal Winner

  • Malee Khow’s New England Chinese Martial Arts Championship Hartford, CT 2019-2020, earning her a place on the US Kung Fu/Wushu Team

  • Nick Scrima’s International Chinese Martial Arts Championship in 2017-2019

Silver Medal Winner

  • WKC Orlando, Florida - Women’s Soft Style Chinese and Kempo Forms 2021

  • US KuoShu Tournament in Baltimore, MD in 2022 - Women’s Advanced Forms and Weapons

Voice

Sharon has appeared at The Middle East/Zuzu Restaurant, Internal Matter in South Boston, and at Fort Point Art Walk/Midway Open Studios with keyboardist Allen Razdow and accoustic bass player Jobe Freeman, on whose recent CD Ms. Montella recorded backing vocals.  In Off Off Broadway and Regional Theater and classical recitals, she has sung a variety of arias, Broadway show tunes, jazz, and blues. Her favorite musical theater roles include: Connie Wong in A Chorus Line, Chava in Fiddler on the Roof, Grisabella in Cats, and Faye in Elizabeth Addison's 'This is Treatment.'  She has trained with Charles Sorrento from Berklee College of Music and currently studies with Taylor Stilson (taylorstilsonvoice.com)

Headshots by Jeffrey Hornstein

www.jeffreyhornstein.com

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