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KAT WILDISH

MASTER BALLET

TEACHER

MAKE NOW MATTER. TRAIN TODAY.

INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED BALLET EDUCATION.

Kat Wildish is a New York City-based master ballet and pointe technique teacher for students of all ages & levels. With over 40 years of teaching and professional dance experience, she brings elite ballet training to international dance studios currently via Zoom. 

 

Kat is on faculty at Pace University, Gibney Dance and Art of Dance NJ. Her extensive professional career onstage brought her to dance in world-class companies, including The New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and numerous international companies like Zurich Ballet, The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and The Eglevsky Ballet under artistic director Edward Villella.

ABOUT KAT

*American Ballet Theatre Company: Alumni

*Adjunct Associate Professor: PACE University

*Faculty: Gibney Dance

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Kat Wildish grew up in Tampa, Florida, and shot from the beach to the balletic big time at the age of 15.  She toured the southern United States as a member of Ballet Gala, on stage with such superstars as Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Cynthia Gregory, and Fernando Bujones.  She went on to study at the School of American Ballet, on a two-year full scholarship from the Ford Foundation.  She is one of those rare ballerinas who has appeared with both New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.

 

In NYCB, she danced works by George Balanchine.  Balanchine even hand-picked her to perform in one of his last works, Adagio Lamentoso.  She was asked by Mikhail Baryshnikov to join ABT.  There, she performed in more traditional ballets like Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Sleeping Beauty.  He created the role of the “knitting lady” for Kat and Julie Kent was one of her assistants!  Kat has also performed with the Zurich Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, the American Dance Machine, and countless others.

 

Kat has been teaching throughout her performing career and beyond.  She brings many styles to the studio, from her own extensive studies of Balanchine, Vaganova, Cecchetti, Royal Ballet, and ABT.  She is an ABT® Certified Teacher of Primary through Level 7 and Pas de Deux (the highest levels) of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.  She even participated in the development of the Training Curriculum.


Her New York classes are four-and-five to a barre.  She was recruited to teach in Pace University’s renowned Commercial Dance Program.  She teaches master classes throughout Europe and Asia each year.  Many study with her privately for competitions, Broadway, and the big screen.  Her students have been seen on stage in Aladdin, Chicago, The King and I, Disney’s Frozen, King Kong, The Radio City Rockettes, and countless TV and movie productions.  Kat also produces several NYC theater showcases each year, with casts up to 250 dancers!

 

To study with Kat is to be the beneficiary of superlative technical training, a lifetime of accumulated ballet lore, and a generous, elegant spirit.  She prepares her students not only to dance beautifully, but to live with grace, harmony, and presence.

About
Schedule

Kat currently teaches at Gibney Dance Center and on Zoom from her home studio in Manhattan, guest teaching master classes for several studios worldwide. Private training is available by appointment only at various times throughout the week. Her open adult class schedule is below with Zoom details in the calendar event descriptions.

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Besides her open classes, Kat's current Zoom schedule includes private training lessons, elite YAGP coaching, master classes, Pace University Commercial Dance, Texas State University Musical Theatre, Mossa Dance Academy, L.I., Faulbourg Ballet. IL and Leap of Dance, Nigeria.

 

Over three decades of teaching, Kat Wildish has developed a distinctive, systematic, and highly effective approach to dance education. In her beginner & intermediate technique classes, correct placement is the root of Kat’s pedagogy. She gives a long barre and her entire syllabus is constructed to demand constant awareness of skeletal alignment, core strength, and proper weight distribution. Plus, she nags. The intricacy of her combinations ensures that students learn to pick up steps quickly and accurately, so they’re ready for anything that another teacher—or an audition—might throw at them.

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Kat’s classes are sparked by humor, but her witticisms always have a purpose: She takes her students seriously, whatever their technical level, A broad spectrum of ages and body types are represented, and she attracts an unusually high proportion of men.

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Kat never forgets that ballet is a performing art. Her repertory workshops offer anybody—professionals to complete novices—the chance to rehearse and appear in stagings of classical ballets. She also teaches four-week pointe/variations classes, exploring the fundamentals of pointe work and coaching dancers in classical variations (e.g., Amor from Don Quixote; Sugar Plum Fairy from Nutcracker).

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And finally, there is attitude: Kat teaches more than technique; she cultivates a sense of individual presence. Her classes promote balance, focus, and grace as students move through class—and through life.

Schedule

Open

Virtual Classes

Tuesdays

10:15am Ballet on Zoom

6:30pm Ballet at Gibney Dance and on Zoom

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Wednesdays

6:30pm Ballet at Gibney Dance and on Zoom

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Thursdays

10:15am Ballet on Zoom

6:30pm Ballet at Gibney Dance and on Zoom

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Fridays

6:30pm Open Stretch Class on Zoom

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Saturdays 

10:30am Ballet at Gibney Dance and on Zoom

12pm Pointe at Gibney Dance and on Zoom

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Sundays

2:45pm Ballet on Zoom

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Meeting ID: 876 2542 9422        PW: 5678

Meeting ID: 823 9031 2205     PW: thepark

Zoom Links

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Zoom Links

Online classes during the coronavirus pandemic are donation based. Pay what is comfortable for you...and if you cannot pay right now...no problem. DON'T LET IT MAKE YOU MISS CLASS!

 

Suggested donation of $15. Donations will be shared with our pianists.

Your donation helps offset the cost of the online class technology, lesson planning, virtual teaching time, and the live music. And your donation helps make class possible for those who cannot afford to pay right now.

Payment can be made via Venmo to @kat-wildish or PayPal to kat_wildish@yahoo.com. Thank you for your generosity!

~Kat, Benjamin, Adria, Sean, and Tamara~

Kat's available for private lessons now on Zoom! Enjoy your personal time to refine details, clean choreography, design your own focused training including pointe, turns, and limbs control.

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1/2 hour sessions available for $50 online

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Please contact Kat to schedule and you'll receive your own unique Zoom link and password for weekly ongoing training!

Private Lesssons

Master classes with Kat are now available worldwide via Zoom! Kat can accommodate different time zones online to fit your studio's needs. Current master classes are booked weekly in Chile, Brazil, Nigeria, Ghana, and several states across the US.

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Contact Kat to book yours now!

Zoom Master Classes

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TRAVELING TO NEW YORK CITY? 
Open classes can sometimes be intimidating. Kat Wildish can give your group and/or school an intensive and authentic big-city ballet experience without the hassle.


WANT A GUEST TEACHER IN YOUR STUDIO? Have leotard, will travel! Kat Wildish can bring her expertise to your students for a half day, a full day, a weekend or longer. 


OUTSIDE THE U.S.? Ms. Wildish travels to Italy with her husband, photographer Arthur Coopchik, every summer, and it’s possible she could add your country to her itinerary, time permitting.

KAT WILDISH’S MASTER CLASSES include:
• Classical ballet classes—warmup, barre, center—incorporating diverse training techniques, from American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet to Vaganova, Cechetti, and RAD ( Royal Academy of Dance).
• Up-to-date scientific info on stretching, cross-training, anatomy, placement.
• Male and female variations and corps choreography excerpted from classical ballets, including mime and pointe work where appropriate.
• Ballet crafts workshops may be added (simple tiaras, fairy and sylph wings, ballet skirts, pointe-shoe ribbon sewing, coloring pages). Materials fee applies.
• A 40-minute showing for parents can be arranged, with an intro to ballet and sample exercises.

PRICES: Please note that all fees can be adjusted to suit your studio’s budget!
FOR CLASSES IN NEW YORK CITY: 
75-minute class plus 15 minutes for photos and Q&A for up to 25 students: $250, plus studio rental ($25-65 per hour). Each additional hour, or part of an hour, is $175. Private one-on-one classes can be booked as time and space allows at $100 per hour, plus studio fee ($12-22 per hour).


FOR CLASSES AT YOUR HOME STUDIO:
$450 for a half-day (3 hours), plus travel expenses to and from New York City.
$800 per 6-hour day for a longer visit, plus suitable accommodations (quiet, smoke- and pet-free, convenient to studio) and travel expenses to and from New York City.
Private coaching as well as group classes can be part of the package.

Master Classes

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