Kathryn Contessa began her training with the Mid-Ohio Valley Ballet in West Virginia. Upon graduating high school she attended the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music & Dance.
She began her professional career dancing with the Cincinnati Ballet in large scale classical productions such as Swan Lake, Giselle, The Nutcracker, and Romeo & Juliet. She then danced with the Richmond Ballet performing in several productions including George Balanchine’s, Serenade.
She began her contemporary dance career with the Charleston Ballet Theatre of South Carolina under the direction of Patricia Cantwell and resident choreographer Jill Eathorne Bahr. Kathryn was featured in many of Bahr’s ballets such as Dracula and Seven Deadly Sins as well as performing a variety of works in the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. She was also featured in guest choreographer Daniel Pelzig’s Nine Lives.
Director, Shoreline Ballet
Kathryn Contessa
Kathryn went on to receive her BFA in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University. While a student at VCU she joined Amaranth Contemporary Dance company under the direction of Professor Scott Putman. She has been a guest performer with the Peter Sparling Dance Company and Jacobs Campbell Dance. She has served as both the Director of Studio programming as well as Director of Community Outreach for the Peter Sparling Dance Studio in Ann Arbor, MI.
She was an adjunct dance lecturer at Eastern Michigan University and taught at summer intensives at the University of Michigan. Kathryn taught for the New Haven Ballet under the direction of Jared Redick. While there she conceived, developed and directed DanceAir, a community outreach program for the New Haven Ballet that brought dance to over 200 New Haven public school students.
Kathryn is certified in the American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum Primary-Level 3. She is also a certified IM=X Pilates instructor. Kathryn lives in Guilford with her husband and four daughters. She is thankful for the opportunity to share her love and passion for dance to the shoreline community.
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