ellissa otani wood | intro

​Ellissa Otani Wood began dancing at age two. She started out her dance journey participating in a local baton twirling team and competed at regional competitions from the ages of two to four. She gradually shifted her focus towards ballet and tap at age three, and started competing in regional and national dance competitions at eleven. Over the years, Ellissa has expanded her dance experience to ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop, musical theater, and ballroom and has received many awards. She completed her high school education through a Fremont arts-magnet program focusing on dance. In high school she also competed with an Urban hip hop dance company and won first place at Prelude Sacramento. Ellissa started teaching dance at 14 with TruDance and enjoys producing routines in a variety of styles. She also taught swim classes for students ranging from preschool to adults for three years. Currently she is studying Communicative Disorders and Sciences and minoring in Child and Adolescent Development at San Jose State University. She hopes to become a speech therapist to help children with learning differences by incorporating dance movement into her program. Recently she has developed a new-found love for Tahitian and Hula dance.