KATHERINE ORLOFF, PAST DIRECTOR
Ballet, Modern, Choreography, Somatics
Katherine Orloff was the founding dance director at CocoSPA, beginning the foundational program in 2016.
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Katherine received her classical training at the Contra Costa Ballet Centre under the direction of Richard Cammack and Zola Dishong. While at CCB, she danced lead roles from The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake, and had the privilege of training with such guest instructors as Michael Smuin, Violette Verdy, and Suki Schorer. Ms. Orloff received additional training at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, North Carolina School for the Arts, and the University of California, Irvine, where she was a double major in Dance and English.
While attending UCI, she had the great honor of studying with Mr. Donald McKayle, performing the original lead role in "ASH," Mr. McKayle's response to the events of September 11th. Upon graduating from UCI, Ms. Orloff joined Company C Contemporary Ballet, where she performed works by Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, and Antony Tudor. A former guest artist with Sacramento Ballet, Peninsula Ballet, and Berkeley City Ballet, Ms. Orloff has also worked independently with Amaranth Contemporary Dance Company.
No longer a full-time performer, Ms. Orloff has devoted much of the last decade to dance education. Recently, she was on faculty at California State University, East Bay where she taught Ballet Technique, as well as the course "Theatre Arts and Social Change," a class examining the relationship between social justice and the arts. Ms. Orloff holds a BA in English from UC Irvine, an MA in Liberal Arts from Stanford University, and a Level One Certification in the Elemental Body Alignment System, a somatic movement practice developed by Mr. Scott Putman.
To remain engaged in the academic subjects that deeply move her, Ms. Orloff was a presenter at the 2015 Graduate Liberal Arts Symposium at Reed College and recently had a paper published in the academic journal Western Tributaries. Having always found that her artistic and academic interests drive and complement one another, Ms. Orloff is a strong advocate for interdisciplinary education and was thrilled to direct the dance program for the Contra Costa School of Performing Arts from 2016-2022.