Christine Reisner, a native of Tenafly, New Jersey, grew up in musical theater as the
niece of Broadway composer Albert Hague and his wife, Renée Orin Hague, also a
Broadway veteran.

As a teenager she appeared in commercials while attending The Professional
Children’s School in Manhattan and studying acting with Claudia Frank, voice with Felix
Knight, violin with Ruth Ricci and dance; the many notables who trained her as a dancer
include Vladimir Dokoudovsky, Rosella Hightower, Luigi, Murray Louis and Alwin
Nikolais.

Opportunities led her to move to France, where she made her professional dance
debut in 1971 at Le Palais du Sport in Paris with La Companie d’Anne Beranger. The
company performed the work of numerous choreographers, and one of the highlights of
that year was her opportunity to work with the legendary Leonide Massine on a newly
choreographed solo, which she performed at the Le Palais Royal theatre in a dance
history program that featured soloists of the Paris Opera Ballet. She also appeared in
dance performances with musicians Vangelis and Mikis Theodorakis.

Christine went on to teach, choreograph and perform her own work at the
American Center in Paris, collaborating there with jazz musician Oliver Lake. She
continued to study modern dance and to freelance with various choreographers, including
Carolyn Carlson (Festival de Bordeaux, 1973), who introduced her to Alwin Nikolais.
Christine toured internationally with the Nikolais Dance Theatre for four years
(1975–78).

A longtime student of Broadway composer Albert Hague, her background led her
to return to musical theater in 1979. Favorite New York City productions included
revivals of Burt Bacharach’s Promises Promises and Cole Porter’s Can Can at Equity
Library Theatre, and the Pepsi Cola industrial show at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las
Vegas. During that time she taught at the Gramercy Park School of Dance and was a
guest teacher/choreographer at Trinity High School, working in collaboration with the
late Dr. Aaron Bell, who had worked for many years with Duke Ellington. She also
performed in other musicals off-Broadway and served as assistant to the
director/choreographer Tony Tanner in a workshop production at Michael Bennett’s
studio of a new musical, Two Over Easy, with music by Martin Silvestri.

Rosella Hightower’s invitation to teach at Le Centre de Dance International in
Cannes brought Christine back to France in 1983. While there she created a one-woman
show for Le Ferme de Mougins. She then moved back to Paris, where she taught at the
Academy International de Dance (A.I.D.), was the star of La Nouvelle Eve Cabaret
(1985), and performed with jazz musicians in numerous concerts and in clubs (1984-86).

Upon her return to New York City in 1987, she decided to suspend her artistic
activities in order to pursue academic endeavors; she was graduated magna cum laude

from Fordham University in 1996 with a B.A. in media studies. At that time she worked
as a news reporter on the radio station WRKL in Rockland County and as assistant to the
editor-in-chief of Essence Magazine, Susan L. Taylor.

In 1994 she returned to the Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab, where she began her
collaboration with Beverly Blossom, an original member of the Nikolais company and
herself a critically acclaimed modern-dance-theater artist and choreographer. In
performances at Marymount College she was partnered by Henning Rübsam, who invited
her, in 2002, to perform Muse, a solo created for her by Blossom, as a guest artist with his
company, Sensedance, at New York City’s Kitchen. In June 2003 Christine was invited
back as a soloist with the company, performing a piece created for her by Rübsam,
“Gesange Op. 6,” set to Brahms; in 2005 their collaboration continued with The Dance
Bag and in 2008 with Innocence and Final Bell at the Alvin Ailey Theater.

In 2000 she reunited with her former jazz dance teacher, the legendary Luigi, and was
honored to be invited to perform in Luigi’s 80 th birthday celebration on Broadway at the
Laura Pels Theater in 2005. Upon Luigi’s recommendation she joined the faculty of Oleg
Briansky and taught Luigi technique at Mount Holyoke College in July 2011. At that
time, as a founding member of the faculty and the Art of Motion Board of Directors in
Ridgewood, New Jersey, she performed at numerous venues and trained students in both
dance and musical theatre at the school from 2003-2010.

In 2009 her first CD, “Beginner’s Luck,” with musical direction by Uli
Geissendoerfer, received a rave review by Fanfare magazine and airplay around the
country and by Jonathan Schwartz on WNYC FM. They created a second album, “Songs
of Albert Hague,” which was released in 2012. Christine went on to record an album of
duets with Don Rebic; all three albums are available on iTunes and other online sites and
have received international airplay.

Christine created two solo cabaret shows with the late musical director Tex Arnold,
“Songs of Albert Hague” (2009) and “Unearthing Treasures” (2010); both shows were
presented at The Metropolitan Room in New York City. She went on to work as a duo
with Don Rebic, performing over the next four years at numerous venues in New York,
Pennsylvania and Florida. During this time she also served as assistant choreographer to
Randy Skinner on Heartbreaker, a musical play based on writer John Meyer’s,
experiences with Judy Garland; the show, which starred Christine Andreas, was
presented at the Adirondack Theatre Festival in June of 2013.

Christine was a student of the legendary acting teacher Alice Spivak, who passed
away in November of 2020. Until the pandemic, she continued to dance and work as a
substitute teacher at the Luigi Jazz Center. During that time, she could often be seen on
various news channels as a spokesperson for the law firm of Weitz and Luxenberg
regarding Mesothelioma.