Katie Kasch http://www.chattanoogadance.com Katie Kasch is a native to Wildwood, GA who returned home in 2006 and founded Contrapasso Modern Dance Company in 2007. Previously she worked and lived in both New York City and Denver, Colorado. In New York, Katie studied Simonson technique with Te Perez and Diane McCarthy as well as voice and acting with the New Actors Workshop under George Morrison, Rex Knowles and Sherry Landrum. While in New York she was fortunate to have performing experiences both as a dancer and an actor. She has also been influenced by her exposure to a variety of teachers through workshops and master classes: Donald McKayle, David Dorfman, Oliver Steele, Chris Aiken and Martha Connerton in dance and Dennis Haskins, Suzanne Smartt, various teachers at the Atlanta Alliance Theatre in acting. As a young girl she studied and performed with Chattanooga Ballet for 12 years. And, of course, she did learn a lot from her mother, Cathie Ault Kasch, who directs the dance program at Girls Preparatory School where Katie was a student and won both the Fletcher Bright Fine Arts Award and the Critics Choice Award in Drama. Katie now teaches at Chattanooga State College and continues to perform and host art events at her theater, Contrapasso.