Christen is the Founder/Director of the North Little Rock High School Dance Program where she has taught since 1996. She is an Arts in Education Teaching Artist for the Arkansas Arts Council. Christen is the 2019 recipient of the inaugural Argenta Contemporary Theatre's Christen Burke Pitts “Award for Excellence in Arts Education.” In 2012, she received the Governor's Arts in Education Award from the Arkansas Arts Council and was also named the Arkansas Communication Theatre Arts Association (ACTAA) Teacher of the Year. She holds her MEd from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a BA in Drama/Dance Performance from the University of Arkansas. 

She studied ballet, tap, jazz, modern, pointe, and musical theatre with various instructors across the country including Sally Riggs Insalaco, Debbie Rawn, Dr. Terry Brusstar, Moira Logan, Lorraine Cranford, Dot Callanen, Jana Beard, Cuitlahuac Suarez, and trained at workshops/intensives with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, MOMIX, Pilobolus, Luigi, Frank Hatchett, Finis Jhung, Bill Hastings, Chet Walker, and many others. She was a company member of the University of Arkansas Dance Company and the Memphis Dance Ensemble.

Christen worked as a professional dancer, actor, and choreographer in over seventy-five shows throughout the south at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, the Shoji Tabuchi Show, The Crystal Gayle Show, The Memphis Dance Ensemble, The Disney Channel, The Family Channel, numerous commercials/films, and more.  Her choreography has been seen at the Argenta Contemporary Theatre, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, the North Little Rock High School Theatre Arts and Dance Program,  the University of Arkansas, the University of Central Arkansas, and the touring company of ARTS LIVE. 

She has taught dance, acting, and musical theatre workshops for the ARC National Performing Arts Camp, the Arkansas Repertory Theatre (Summer Theater Intensive-Camp Rep), Arkansas Communication and Theatre Arts Association, Arkansas Dance Network, the North Little Rock Boys and Girls Club, North Little Rock School District Summer Quest program, the ACTing Up Summer Performing Arts Program at the Argenta Contemporary Theatre, and at Studio One for the Performing Arts and DanceWorks Dance Studio. 

Christen helped create the Arkansas Dance Standards used in K-12 Dance Programs across the state by the Arkansas Department of Education. She is a founding Board member/Board Director of Education at the Argenta Contemporary Theatre, and co-founder/board member of the Arkansas Dance Network, Untapped, and TeeBoDans. She is a past Board member of the Acansa Arts Festival Advisory Board and the Argenta Downtown Council. Christen is married to Kyle Pitts and they have two children, Grace and Corbin (both are actors).

The emphasis of my workshops would be to expose dance and theatre students to styles and techniques of great choreographers and directors. The dance and theatre workshops will emphasize the development of individual skills and styles. The students will be nurtured and stimulated in their quest for artistic achievement and technical mastery. The goal would be that the students understand that dance/theatre education is an integral part of human history and they will gain a broad historical and cultural perspective by participating in the workshops. The workshops will involve abstract images, therefore allowing the dancers/actors to develop higher order thinking skills through perceiving, analyzing, and making discriminating judgments about dance/theatre. The dancers/actors will also be able to develop their ability to communicate in a way different from the written or spoken word.