Kate Pagano

Kate is originally from Texas where she trained with the Houston Ballet and Houston Performing Arts High School and then furthered her education at NYC’s Marymount Manhattan College where she received a BFA in Contemporary Dance Performance, Magna Cum Laude. Her experiences in Houston and NYC have allowed her to train with renowned teachers such as Joe Lanteri, Joey Dowling, Katie Langan, Sheila Barker, Anthony Morigerato, Justin Giles, Mandy Moore, David Parsons, and Andy Blankenbuehler. Her professional performance career has taken her all over the world with Celebrity Cruise Lines, Universal Studios, Busch Gardens, the Super Bowl, various TV shows and films, and on the Cinderella Castle stage at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in the Equity production of Dream Along with Mickey. Kate has performed in over 15 regional theatre productions including Spamalot, White Christmas (Rita), Crazy for You, Swing!, Guys and Dolls, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Potiphar’s Wife), and La Cage (Bitelle). She has been a proud member of Actor’s Equity and a dance captain in several productions. Kate has been on staff for many nationally acclaimed dance competitions and conventions including NYCDA, Onstage NY, Legacy Dance Championships, and Platinum National Dance, where she has served as a teachers assistant and/or on the judging panel. She has nearly 20 years as a teacher and choreographer, specializing in areas such as musical theatre, lyrical and contemporary, leaps and turns, strengthening/conditioning and injury prevention techniques for dancers, and has received numerous 1st overall and choreography awards for her works, with her routines being selected to perform in closing ceremonies at Break the Floor conventions. To further her education and passion for rehabilitation, Kate graduated with her Physical Therapist Assistant Degree in 2019, is now also a licensed, PTA, and feels grateful to implement this knowledge into her dance teaching curriculum for safe techniques. Kate is on staff with Relative Motion, an injury prevention program for dancers, where she is as a master teacher, a content creator for social media, and a contributor to program curriculum, traveling nationally to implement the program’s material into various dance studio syllabi. Kate is very passionate about blending her rehabilitation and dancing skills together to foster injury prevention in technically-driven dancers, and she is looking forward to bringing this material to her students this season at The Dance Company!

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Favorite Inspiration: Dancers going for it!
Favorite Way to Learn: Live performances, exploring new/creative ways to cross-train dancers 
Favorite Style of Dance: Broadway shows 
Favorite Music: Jazz


GOALS:
I hope to share my experience with my dancers to prepare them for the real world and instill confidence in them, by educating them on the tools of the trade. 

 

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”