Faculty Bio

Corpus Christi, Texas

Jilissa Cotten is Professor and Director of the dance program at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, Texas. She considers herself a choreographer first and teacher next, but enjoys teaching all levels of ballet, jazz and contemporary dance. Ms. Cotten’s choreography is nationally and internationally recognized and has been performed for the American College Dance Association in Washington D. C., the Tanzommer International Dance Festival in Austria, in Mexico and Costa Rica, to name a few.  Ms. Cotten has also choreographed over 30 musicals for community and university theatre and loves working with actors, singers and dancers. For the last 25 years, Ms. Cotten has produced and directed the Bailando International Dance Festival, and since 2016, has partnered with two Costa Rican dance companies from the University of Costa Rica and the National University of Costa Rica, bringing them to Texas to perform and teach educational workshops for the Bailando Dance Project. Bailando provides opportunities for over 400 dancers and guest artists from all over the world to experience dance in multiple forms.