Cangelosi brings ballet, love of dance to the Coast

By Cara Pridemore

Kris Cangelosi

Kris Cangelosi, a dance instructor and owner of Cangelosi Dance Project, is having a growing influence in towns such as Long Beach and Pass Christian, with a goal of further strengthening the dance community along the Coast by supporting young dancers’ love for the art.

Cangelosi is so dedicated to her goal that she splits her weeks between Louisiana, where she calls Baton Rouge home, and Mississippi, traveling to the Coast to choreograph and help develop ballet programs for local students.

“I actually live in Baton Rouge, but I come here… Thursday, Friday and Saturday,” she said. “So, I split my time between the two cities.”

Cangelosi’s own dance journey began early.

“I started dancing when I was six years old,” she said.

She took classical ballet, tap and jazz, and went on to spend summers studying in New York City through Dance Masters of America. She attended LSU, performing in their ballet company, as well as the Baton Rouge Ballet Theater. After that, she taught professionally at the Atlanta School of Ballet, Ballet Tennessee, the Virginia School of the Arts and the University of South Carolina. Over the years, she has taught hundreds of students at national conventions and workshops.

She is now using her experience to teach a new generation of dancers along the Coast.

Cangelosi (far right) with some of her students

“I usually teach four or five different levels, about five hundred to six hundred kids over the weekend, to expose them to different techniques, mostly ballet,” Cangelosi said.

Cangelosi’s connection to Mississippi began through her work choreographing The Nutcracker at the Impact Theater in Gulfport. The production brought together students from multiple studios, ranging from Bay St. Louis to Mobile.

“They love it, and they’re thrilled to perform,” Cangelosi said. “Nothing else holds them back. Especially when we did The Nutcracker, it was so great to see the enthusiasm and the love that they had for the production and wanting to learn about the actual Nutcracker and the history of it, the characters… That was really beautiful to see.”

Since then, Cangelosi has continued working in Mississippi, teaching workshops in Biloxi and working closely with the Gulf Coast School of Performing Arts.

“In this area, the kids love ballet,” she said. “They have a craving to learn classical ballet… they love the arts, and they spend a lot of time wanting to learn classical ballet.”

Because of their enthusiasm, many students have achieved significant progress, especially in pointe work.

“They were doing preparation; they’re doing double, triple pirouettes now,” she said. “Their pointe work has really worked; they’ve gotten so much more confidence, and their technical skills have gotten better.”

Beyond improving technical abilities, Cangelosi says her students are also developing a deeper understanding of ballet.

“They’re understanding the more artistic end, understanding the vocabulary and how it works,” she said. “That’s a hard thing to do, especially when you’re teaching classical ballet.”

Cangelosi hopes that this appreciation and understanding of the arts will permeate the entire Coast community, as she says the arts have a unique way of bringing people together, from the performers to the audience to the broader community. The dance community has given her a sense of belonging, and she hopes to create that for her students.

Kris Cangelosi is pictured third from right with performers from Mississippi Gulf Coast Ballet Theatre’s 2025 presentation of The Nutcracker, which she choreographed.

“I would love to continue to build a ballet program and to continue to do The Nutcracker,” she said.

She says she has especially enjoyed working with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Ballet Theatre, along with Minori and Daniel Therrien, to encourage students to step outside their comfort zones beyond their familiar circles.

Cangelosi intends to expand workshops and collaborate with other instructors to grow the dance community across the Coast. Her efforts have already proven fruitful, as six of her students have been accepted to the Houston Ballet for the summer intensive.

“My students are working toward next year, and you just love to give more to them,” she said. “So, the more we can keep building, the better the program and the production in the area.”