Carrie Ann Inaba
NATIONAL CELEBRITY SPOKESPERSON
BIO
Carrie Ann Inaba, philanthropist, choreographer, dancer, producer, actress and judge on Dancing With the Stars, is a long time advocate for the Andréa Rizzo Foundation that funds Dréa’s Dream, a program providing Dance/Movement Therapy to children in hospitals and schools around the country.
In 2008, Carrie Ann met Foundation founder, Susan Rizzo Vincent, at a taping of Dancing with the Stars and after learning about the Foundation’s work, she became the National Spokesperson for Dréa’s Dream and the Andréa Rizzo Foundation.
Carrie Ann has witnessed the effects of cancer within her own family and understands how Dance/Movement Therapy can provide a way to manage pain and improve overall physical and psychological health. She actively supports the work of the Foundation in countless ways.
To name a few – Carrie Ann has brightened the lives of many pediatric cancer patients by participating in and helping to establish dance/movement therapy in renowned children’s hospitals.
Carrie Ann has generously conducted auctions to raise funds to further the foundation’s programming, and arranges a “dream package” every year allowing cancer patients from Drea’s Dream to have front-row seats at a taping of Dancing with the Stars.
Dr. Suzi Tortora
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CREATIVE ARTS THERAPY SPOKESPERSONEd.D., BC-DMT, CMA, LCAT, LMHC
BIO
Dr. Suzi Tortora, Ed.D., BC-DMT, CMA, LCAT, LMHC, has been providing Dréa’s Dream to our patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for the last 15 years. She is responsible for making our program at MSKCC internationally respected and is a model for pediatric dance therapy programs for children with cancer worldwide. With her vast exposure to patients, dance therapy and medical professionals, and teaching throughout the world, we are proud to announce that she is now the International Medical Creative Arts Spokesperson for the Andréa Rizzo Foundation.
Suzi Tortora, EdD, BC-DMT, LCAT, LMHC holds a doctorate from Columbia University and serves as consultant to the “Mothers, Infants and Young Children of September 11, 2001: A Primary Prevention Project” in the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University under Dr. Beatrice Beebe. Dr. Tortora has a dance/movement psychotherapy practice, in New York City and Cold Spring, NY. She created and is the senior dance/movement therapist in the Integrative Medicine Services Department at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the pioneer Dréas Dream dance/movement therapy program for pediatric patients, since its inception in 2003.
Dr. Tortora has published numerous papers about her therapeutic and nonverbal communication analysis work and her book, The Dancing Dialogue: Using the Communicative Power of Movement with Young Children and is used extensively in dance/movement therapy training programs.
She has been featured on “Good Morning America”, “Eyewitness News” ABC -TV and Malcolm Gladwell’s book, What the Dog Saw.
Dr. Lori Baudino DMTNATIONAL CLINICAL SPOKESPERSONPsy.D., BC-DMT
BIO
Dr. Lori Baudino, Psy.D., BC-DMT – Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, has been a practicing clinician for over a decade. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology and Masters in Creative Arts Therapy – Dance/Movement Therapy the therapeutic use of movement to further the emotional, cognitive, physical and social integration of the individual.
Dr. Baudino is the National Clinical Spokesperson for the Andréa Rizzo Foundation and has helped initiated Dréa’s Dream at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She is currently providing bedside therapy to children with cancer, special needs and terminal illness. Dr. Baudino has specialized in supervising, facilitating and providing treatment for children with special needs and their families.
Additionally, she has worked in psychiatric hospitals and at rehabilitation centers for trauma, addiction and pain management. Dr. Baudino coordinated both DIR based and Behavior Intervention Programs within the home/school setting.
In her private practice, she works with children and their families, to support the developing child and the integral relationships between parent, child and siblings. Understanding the “premise that the body, mind and spirit are interconnected” and that life is experienced through movement – Dr. Baudino’s approach allows the child to put words into action, understand individual sensory and motor preferences, express emotional needs, and support overall integration and well-being.
I believe strongly in the healing effects of dance therapy and was thrilled to participate in the kick off of Dréa’s Dream at renowned children’s hospitals in Los Angeles.
– Carrie Ann Inaba