Alumni Spotlight: Marie Pugliano
“There are shortcuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.” – Vicky Baum
LIHSA alum (class of 2020) Marie Pugliano started dancing at 3 years old and found her shortcut to happiness. Since all she ever wanted to do was dance, her mom looked for more opportunities for her to do so and found LIHSA.
“Overall LIHSA was one of the best experiences I’ve had.” Marie shared, “I didn’t always feel like I belonged at my home school. At LIHSA, everyone in the dance department became a friend. On show days, we’d be at the school from morning to night and bonded all day. I’m still friends with all the dancers from my year and some are my best friends.
Studying with L’aura Bagdziunas and Natalie L’Etoile, Marie studied all genres of dance, but found her true passion for jazz dance. She attributes finding her niche to being introduced to The Verdon Fosse Legacy by L’aura. This organization was formed by Nicole Fosse, the daughter of Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse with the intention of preserving her parents’ work. Marie took classes with the Legacy at L’aura’s encouragement and found a new world had opened up to her. She also has been a work study for their Professional Training Program and The Chita Awards thanks to her Verdon Fosse Legacy connection. In the summer of 2025, she was selected to perform at their inaugural PTP Showcase.
Graduating in June 2020 from high school meant the last few months at school for Marie and her classmates were remote during the pandemic. She remarked how L’aura and Natalie made remote study work for the dancers. “We even had our final performance. We recorded our own performance in our backyards and then they put it together in a video.”
After high school, Marie attended Marymount Manhattan College for two years. Since the school’s focus was Modern & Ballet, she decided to leave and take time to study with the Broadway Dance Center where she took 14 classes a week, attended rehearsals and performed in a final show. This experience gave her a deep appreciation for musical theater. She went back to college, earning her BA from Hunter College with a custom major: Dance and Creative Arts. In the program, she took classes in dance, theater, acting and photography. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” said Marie.
Since graduating in 2025, Marie has been focused on teaching, photography, and pursuing a career in dance. In summer 2026, she booked her first professional contract, playing the role of Francisca, a Shark in West Side Story at the Opera House Theater Company & Thalian Hall in Wilmington, North Carolina. She teaches private dance lessons and also teaches for her home studio – Dance Arts in Merrick. Additionally, after studying photography in college at Hunter, she not only loves it but has gotten hired to shoot photos for events and dance performance. Meanwhile, she auditions. “The life of a dancer,” she quips.
Marie felt equipped to follow the life of a dancer because of her LIHSA training. “At LIHSA I had teachers who believed in me,” she reflects. “They take dancing as a career seriously. No one in my family had pursued dance and arts in this way. LIHSA showed me it’s hard work, but it’s a serious career. A career in the arts is possible thanks to my amazing LIHSA teachers.”
For current and future students, Marie offers this advice, “You have to learn to mess up in front of people. You have to not care what you look like and be vulnerable. Let go of the need to look pretty so you can grow and learn.”
We’re excited to see Marie growing and learning and finding her way in her career.
