Lisa R. Chow

Lisa R. Chow, originally from Greenville, Mississippi, received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Arizona State University in 1988. She also obtained dance training from the University of Mississippi, California State University/Long Beach and at various dance studios in New York and California. In 1990, she received ASU’s Outstanding Alumna award for “A Tribute to Ethnic Women in the Arts and Sciences.” She has studied many modern dance techniques such as Graham, Horton, Nickolais, Cunningham, Hawkins, Limon and more. Chow joined Desert Dance Theatre in 1982, and has toured with the company throughout Arizona, Mexico, Texas, New York, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Oregon and Vermont. She currently serves as the artistic director, company manager, choreographer, performer and educator. Lisa has choreographed for the company’s repertory and major multi-disciplinary theme-related works as well as for children’s programs in collaboration with String Sounds (String Quartet). Lisa performed and toured with Move It ’N Dance under the direction of Susan Gallimore with the Phoenix Parks and Recreation in 1981-83; and performed with Center Dance Ensemble in its Phoenix area inception directed by Frances Cohen from 1989-1993. She was a featured soloist and principal dancer in the company. She is the co-founder and co-artistic director of Crossroads Performance Group along with her husband, Step Raptis, performing interdisciplinary music and dance projects throughout Arizona, Mexico and regionally since 1989. She is also a manager, performer and collaborator in Step’s Junk Funk, an interdisciplinary percussion and movement arts group that utilizes found and recycled objects that have tonal qualities for musical orchestration. On the Artist Roster of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, Lisa has assisted and/or conducted Arts-in-Education workshops and master classes for school and community-based residencies since 1983. She and Step have provided outreach programs to at-risk and low-income student populations throughout Arizona. In 2000, the Scottsdale Cultural Council honored Lisa and Step with the Chairman’s Circle Arts Award for Artists/Educators of the Year. They also received the Teen Spirit Award from Motivating the Teen Spirit and Empowering the Human Spirit Foundation. She has been nominated for the Arizona Governor Arts Award for Arts in Education in 2004 and 2005. Chow was a coach/consultant for the Galef Institute and Different Ways of Knowing (Los Angeles, CA) which provides research-based, field-validated school improvement services and products. Lisa has worked with special populations of different abilities at Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind, Arts For All, Hi-Star Center for Children, and SWAN Rehab Center (with Parkinson’s Disease patients). She has performed as a lead singer with local Phoenix area bands, Chant, Zingaro, Mixit World Beat, and has collaborated as a choreographer and as a songwriter with guitarist, Chieli Minucci from Special EFX (Contemporary Jazz) based in New York. As an ASCAP member, Lisa has co-written and published two songs, “Stay Awhile” and “Young & Free” with Chieli which have been played on episodes of the Guiding Light around the world. Chow has served as an adjudicator and/or panelist for the Arizona Commission on the Arts, Phoenix Arts Commission, Nevada Arts Council, Kentucky Arts Council, National Society for Arts and Letters, Maricopa Community Colleges Dance Competitions, and Arizona High School Dance Festivals. Since 2000, she has coordinated the Arizona Dance Festival, previously known as the Annual Arizona Contemporary Dance Festival. She was the First Vice-President on the board of the Arizona Dance Arts Alliance from 2002 through 2005. In June of 2005, Lisa was one of the founders of the Arizona Dance Coalition (ADC), a web-based non-profit organization that supports dancers and provides dance resources throughout Arizona. She has been the President of ADC since July 2007. On March 22, 2013, Lisa was awarded the 2013 Greenville Honors Its Own Artist Award from the Greenville Arts Council in Greenville, Mississippi. On July 27, 2013, she and Step Raptis received the Daffy Award at the Las Vegas Dance in the Desert Festival 2013 for their lifetime achievement in dance. Chow coordinated and directed Desert Dance Theatre’s LEGACY: 35th Anniversary & Tribute to Marion Kirk Jones at Tempe Center for the Arts on June 12-13, 2014. This event was dedicated to Desert Dance Theatre’s achievements and highlighted events, and also celebrated the life of their beloved mentor and Artistic Director Emeritus, Marion Kirk Jones, who passed away on April 4, 2014. Desert Dance Theatre celebrated its 40th Anniversary in 2019. Throughout the 2014-16 season, Lisa was a featured guest performer with H.T. Chen & Dancers, a professional dance company in New York. She toured and performed in “South of Gold Mountain” based on oral histories of Chinese in the Deep South. Chow was honored to be included in the cast of this special production because of her close ties to the South and her own experiences growing up in Mississippi. Her relationship with H.T. Chen & Dancers began in 2000 as a performer and Community Rehearsal Assistant for an original performance production of “Bian Dan” that was commissioned by ASU Gammage Public Events. Since 1993, Lisa coordinated Desert Dance Theatre’s production of Sister Moses: The Story of Harriet Tubman, in conjunction with celebrating the Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr. Holiday. “Sister Moses” is a music/dance/drama about the life achievements of Harriet Tubman and her work on the Underground Railroad. With a cast of dancers, musicians and singers, Sister Moses has been performed for over 100,000 audience members throughout Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Vermont. Before the Covid-19 Pandemic, the last performance of “Sister Moses” was in February 2020 at Seabrook Chapel at Huston Tillotson University in Austin, TX. In January 2024, Desert Dance Theatre conducted a residency and 3 performances of Sister Moses in Havana, Cuba at the Teatro America Lisa co-taught children’s creative ballet classes with the late Frances Cohen at Dance Theater West, and she is a freelance production assistant and audio technician for classical India music concerts with Step Raptis. Chow is on the Molly Blank Fund Teaching Artists Program (TAP) Roster and ASU Gammage’s Teaching Artists Roster, trained in the Kennedy Center arts integration method. The Molly Blank Fund Teaching Artists Program is sponsored by the Abbett Family Foundation. https://www.asugammage.com/community/school-programs/molly-blank-fund-teaching-artists-program