Jannelle Cortes is passionate about the power of dance. She is a multi-talented choreographer, instructor, and performer with expertise in a range of dance forms including ballet, belly dance, hip-hop, jazz, Latin jazz, salsa, and samba. She created the children's dance troupe Mosaic to foster cultural awareness and unity through dance performances in New York. She is the founder and manager of Cortes Entertainment, an event planning and Production Company. Jannelle choreographs and performs for a wide range of cultural, corporate and commemorative events -- from weddings and parades to summer festivals.
A charismatic teacher inspiring to students of all ages, Jannelle recently made her television debut on the Telemundo morning news, bringing the art of belly dancing to a wider audience. She is currently producing the video Raqs Cardi: The Belly Dance Workout for Every Body inviting women of every size and shape to enjoy the feminine art and exercise of Middle Eastern belly dance. She teaches dance to over 500 students in New York City and the surrounding boroughs, and is a Teaching Artist at Alvin Ailey, The Bronx Dance Theatre, New York Sports Club, HBO, Goldman Sachs, and MTV.
She has studied dance and fitness extensively in the U.S. and abroad. She began studying ballet at the age of four at the Academy of Theatrical Arts in Washington, D.C. In New York, she studied at such professional training grounds as The Ailey School and Broadway Dance Center. Fascinated by Middle Eastern belly dance, she sought out more intensive study with master teacher Yusry Shariff in New York, before going on to Egypt to study Egyptian Cabaret & Folkloric dance with renowned teachers Raqia Hassan and Diana Tarkan. When she returned, she focused on deepening her ability to teach how the muscles work during movement by obtaining her certification as a group fitness instructor from the Aerobic and Fitness Association of America. Jannelle has demonstrated her ability to fuse dance and fitness by teaming up with the Kids Weight Down program at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY where she teaches dance and fitness to children at-risk for type II diabetes.
Born in the Dominican Republic, at the age of three Jannelle moved to Washington D.C. where she was raised. She came to New York in 1997 to obtain her bachelor's degree at Fordham University with plans to go into law. But living in the epicenter of culture and the arts in New York reignited her passion for dance. Instead, she immersed herself into the New York dance scene and decided to pursue a career as a professional dancer. The city presented the opportunity to study an exciting range of "nontraditional" dance forms such as belly dance, samba and mambo/salsa. She continued to study dance until she completed her B.A. in Political Science in 2001.
With an in-depth knowledge of dance movement, Jannelle prides herself in instilling a combination of strong technique, discipline and creativity in her students. She is an advocate of personal style, and encourages students to explore and invent to create their own. Her motto: "You should never follow a standard, if you can create one."