Christina Catanese works across the disciplines of dance, outdoor learning, environmental science, and arts administration to inspire curiosity, empathy, and connection through creative encounters with nature.
Christina currently serves as the Education Specialist at the Annis Water Resources Institute at Grand Valley State University. In this capacity, she leads aquatic science education and outreach programs, including hands-on cruises on Lake Michigan and connected inland lakes. Previously, she served as the Director of Environmental Art at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia for seven years, where she oversaw all aspects of curating and implementing an environmental art exhibition program on the nature center’s 340 acres and gallery spaces. She has an MS in Applied Geosciences and a BA in Environmental Studies and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Christina is also an artist and choreographer exploring the embodiment of ecological processes, exploring how dance can distill processes that happen over long time scales into a human-scale moment. She is a co-lead artist on Future Fields, a long-term performance and engagement project of Dance Exchange that explores climate change and agriculture. Other recent interdisciplinary dance works have explored dam removal and restoration in Michigan's Grand River, the symbiosis of lichens, ginkgo trees, tree grafting as a metaphor for becoming a mother, and soil as the foundation of place. She has participated in artist residencies at the Santa Fe Art Institute (New Mexico), Signal Fire (Oregon and Arizona), Works on Water (Governor’s Island, New York City), and SciArt Center (virtual).
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Christina is currently based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after living in Philadelphia for 15 years, and growing up in Pittsburgh.
