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That was fine with Christie since her ambition from an early age was to become a ballet dancer. “We would visit my aunt in Norfolk every Sunday. On the way home, we would drive by the Hofheimer's Shoe Store, and see the beautiful, satin, pink pointe shoes spotlighted in the window. I would always point them out to my family and say, ‘I am going to be a ballet dancer one day and dance in pointe shoes!’”

Christie took to playing piano as if born to it. “Mom said I started playing songs from the radio by ear on the piano, two hands, when I was four years old. I could sing 2-3-4-part harmonies when I was six.” Besides a knack for playing piano, Christie’s singing talents proved to be even more formidable. Even though her dream was to become a ballet dancer, she had to stop dancing when she landed her first professional “gig” on The Spirit of Norfolk, a local dinner cruise ship, when she was only fifteen and a half years old. Her career blossomed to include singing for weddings and receptions. These musical ventures solidified Christie’s ambitions to pursue a career in the performing arts. 

In college, Christie shifted back to her first love of dancing, first earning a B.A. in Theater, with a dance emphasis, at Old Dominion University and an M.F.A. at the University of Oklahoma in Modern Dance Pedagogy, Choreography, and Performance. After graduate school, she achieved her childhood dream by joining two of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s casts of CATS, first performing in the Hamburg, Germany production, and later in the National Broadway Tour as Sillabub which played throughout the US and Canada. After years of touring, she would go on to become a professor at the University of Virginia’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (a position she still holds), teaching courses in the Anthropology and History of the Fine and Performing Arts of World Cultures. She also taught Ballet and Jazz Technique at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. 

The starting point of her recording career began when she traveled to Will Ackerman’s renowned Imaginary Road Studios to record a demo in 2001. What began as a demo evolved into recording her first vocal album, Don’t Look Back. As often happens, life intervened. The time from her first recording session to the formal release has been a wonderful journey. Christie is excited to launch her career as a vocal artist with her debut album, Don’t Look Back. Christie released her first single, "Leap of Faith," on April 6, 2023 and the full album will be available on October 26, 2023.