Annalisa cannot remember a time when she was not singing and dancing. As a small child, she glued a transistor radio to her ear while dancing all over her house. Without any fear she would put on performances for her family and turn off the television to show them her moves. She even appeared on television before she knew what it meant. Consequently she became comfortable with being in front of an audience.
Although Annalisa began taking dance classes in her teenage years, she decided to embark on a dance career at the age of twenty-one. She studied jazz, ballet, character dance, funk and modern dance in various places on the West Coast while pursuing English literature at a college in her home state. Simultaneously she made contact with bands like WAR, BB King, and Bo Diddley. Soon she was known as a versatile and imaginative performer, and people asked her to choreograph. Creating movement for night clubs, videos, television, competitions, theater and over one hundred fashion shows, she became well-known with diverse groups of people. But just as she was at a peak in the dance world, her career turned onto a new path.
One talent she had not been using was her voice, which had been trained as an adolescent. In her late twenties, however, she made connections with musicians, and easily enough she started to sing back-up, which she preferred, and tour around the country. She sang many different types of music, including rock and roll, blues, jazz and funk, in venues as varied as Prince’s Glam Slam, Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville and the famous Tippitine’s in New Orleans. Some of her best experiences were playing with Grammy-winning artists like Eric Gale and members of the Meters. Throughout her dance and vocal career she had been all over the country in cities like New Orleans, Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Tucson, San Francisco, Prescott, Malibu, and Santa Barbara Her childhood dreams had been realized.
But Annalisa made the important choice of finding inner happiness by confronting the unimaginable verbal and physical abuse that she endured as a minor. What she endured was severe by any standard. First she worked with the FBI, NCIS and a municipal homicide division to seek justice for crimes she witnessed in the past. Through intense analytical therapy with psychiatrists and psychologists, which she began in her early twenties, she dealt with her childhood abuse and frequent self-injury. No matter how dangerous the process was, Annalisa was determined to face the truth.
While continuing therapy she returned to dance by forming her own company, the "In Your Face" dancers, who quickly became noticed as an energized and talented group. Some of her dancer went on to participate in television, film, and Broadway shows. In addition she started teaching private dance classes and choreographing for other genres. Yet the neck pain and seizures that had been happening since Annalisa’s youth intensified. Countless emergency rooms and specialized doctors could not diagnose her problem, which was often blamed on stress or mental illness.
In the fall of 2003, the pain in Annalisa’s neck became unendurable due to a powerful fall. Emergency room visits were weekly occurrences, but doctors seemed to be at a loss to find any problem. This pattern continued until early December, when a neurosurgeon finally discovered severe cervical stenosis, a disease in which the vertebrae press on the spinal cord, causing immense pain. According to his diagnosis, Annalisa could be paralyzed if her neck received any strong impact. Only by undergoing surgery was she able to fix the problem; yet she was not able to imagine the pain of the recovery process. Currently Annalisa is working on new projects and interacting with new people. Her imagination and love of art are still intact, and she is always open to new work. The surgery as well as the struggle to find a diagnosis will join the list of experiences she has had and will have. As always Annalisa believes in the possibilities of life, and she is excited to encounter the future whether it holds dancing, singing, or any other interesting pursuit. The journey continues...