Kathy VanDereedt

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Teacher Bio

Kathy VanDereedt is a performing artist, choreographer and dance educator based out of NYC. Her versatility has enabled her a long and varied career that spans 20 years across multiple disciplines. In 2024 she performed in her fourth production at The Kennedy Center, dancing the work of co-choreographers Jessica Lang and Kanji Segawa in The Washington National Opera’s Turandot, with the World Premiere of their newly-commissioned ending.

Other career h...read more

Kathy VanDereedt is a performing artist, choreographer and dance educator based out of NYC. Her versatility has enabled her a long and varied career that spans 20 years across multiple disciplines. In 2024 she performed in her fourth production at The Kennedy Center, dancing the work of co-choreographers Jessica Lang and Kanji Segawa in The Washington National Opera’s Turandot, with the World Premiere of their newly-commissioned ending.

Other career highlights include: Romeo & Juliet (chor. Jonathan Goddard), La Traviata (chor. Parker Esse), Carmen (chor. Anna Maria Bruzzese), the Emmy Award-winning show The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (chor. Marguerite Derricks), the International Tour of Disney’s The Beauty and the Beast (chor. Matt West), and various regional productions including White Christmas, Crazy For You, The Producers, and more. She has also danced for companies Bryn Cohn & Artists (Bryn Cohn) and BODYART (Leslie Scott), and performed the works of Purdie Baumann, Calen J. Kurka, and Chris Hale, to name a few.

As an in-demand educator, Kathy is known for encouraging body awareness and anatomical knowledge in the classroom, where she strives to inspire dancers of all ages to be curious about and take care of their instrument. She has taught and choreographed across North America, and has served on faculty with the Musical Theatre Department of New York Film Academy, the former NYC-based Pre-Professional Contemporary Training Program under Pushing Progress, and many top dance studios in the northeast. In 2024, Kathy is traveling with Artists Unite Collective, where she will be leading classes on Technical Foundations and how it relates to movement. Her choreography has been seen across the US and Canada, and most recently Kathy’s work was selected to be showcased at the National High School Dance Festival, which features prominent performing arts programs from across the country.

Kathy knows that the journey of training and pushing to reach new levels of strength and artistry is never done, and enjoys challenging her students, along with herself, to always continue learning and growing as artists. www.kathyvandereedt.com

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Class Descriptions

Contemporary/Contemporary Jazz

Class will start with a full and efficient warm up including a brief center barre, focused on grounding and centering the body, waking up the spine, finding proper alignment, working safely through full ranges of motion, and moving on and off the leg. Following the warm-up, dancers will explore a short phrase that works to find full-bodied movement, groundedness, musicality and self-expression, while in a safe and supportive environment that encourages dancers to take risks and make strong choices.

Jazz

Class will start with a full, energetic warm-up designed to find strong lines through the body, practice proper alignment and use of technique, and work through full ranges of motion. Warm-up will include a short center barre and standing leg work to get the dancer fully aligned and ready to move with confidence. Dancers will then move across the floor to further ground themselves and challenge depth of travel, weight transfer, change of direction, and jumps and turns technique. Lastly, a combination will be taught to explore technique, style and musicality, where dancers are encouraged to find joy, freedom and individualism in their performance.