Alum in the Spotlight: Aliyah Petrone
By nature and by training, dancers share certain qualities, including resilience and discipline. LIHSA alum Aliyah Petrone has lived, breathed and embodied those qualities in every aspect of her life. Here’s her story.
Aliyah grew up in Massapequa, attending LIHSA as a dance major and graduating in 2017. She loved her time at LIHSA, sharing, “Attending LIHSA was the most special and meaningful part of my high school experience. It gave me the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals who deeply respect the art of dance. Everything I learned through the connections I made at LIHSA and my exposure to the professional dance world continues to shape who I am and how I approach every aspect of my life.”
After graduating, Aliyah set off to SUNY Oneonta with plans to minor in dance. Life got in the way.
Shortly after starting college, Aliyah began feeling sick. When her symptoms didn’t improve, she went home to rest and was shockingly diagnosed with leukemia. With a dancer’s strength, resilience and discipline, Aliyah went through treatments with grace, patience, and resolve. Click here to see an inspiring video by Jordan Matter about Aliyah’s journey with cancer.
After recovering, Aliyah went on to get her undergraduate degree in psychology at Farmingdale State College. Choosing a Long Island school enabled her to stay close to her doctors.
Aliyah is currently a full-time student pursuing her doctorate in clinical psychology at LIU-Post with a 2028 anticipated graduation date. At the same time, she’s a practicing therapist in Manhattan.
Through all of her experiences, challenges, and victories, dance remained a constant in Aliyah’s life. Somehow, between work and school she finds about 13 hours a week to teach dance (including current LIHSA dance student Lina Murale) to competition students aged 7 – 18. And tying everything together, Aliyah’s dissertation explores how dance classes reduce rates of child anxiety. She shares, “Dance has been a consistent and therapeutic force in my life since I was two years old, helping rehabilitate my mind and body after facing life-threatening circumstances, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon!”
Aliyah has professional credits on her resume including dancing with Pitbull’s dancers, The Most Bad Ones, in Miami, FL after graduation and being cast in the Garden of Dreams show at Radio City Music Hall in 2020.
Lessons learned during her years at LIHSA continue to be part of Aliyah’s life. As a dance teacher, she continues to incorporate many of the warm-ups, techniques, and exercises she learned while training at LIHSA. LIHSA’s Works-In-Progress was her first exposure to choreographing, and she’s now received several choreography awards. Additionally, LIHSA offered lessons on public speaking. She shares, “These provided me with the foundations for several events for which I was the keynote speaker, including multiple New York Blood Center and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society events in recent years.”
Aliyah offers this to current students, “Appreciate every moment and maintain the professional connections and friendships you make while attending. This school is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it will shape you in ways you might not fully realize until after it’s over!”
Thank you, Aliyah, for sharing your inspirational journey with us. We continue to shout, “Bravo!” Keep scrolling for more photos.
