HISTORY OF CODC
Catey Ott Dance Collective (CODC) originated in 2005 in Milwaukee, resided in NYC from 2007-2012, and now calls Milwaukee home. The collective has performed over 100 works at various venues throughout New York City and Milwaukee. The New York theater performance venues include Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, 92Y, Dance New Amsterdam, Green Space, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Williamsburg Arts neXus, Spoke the Hub, Solar One, The Flea, Gibney Dance Center, and Muller/The Works Studio, among others. In Milwaukee, CODC has performed numerous seasons at Danceworks Studio Theater, MKE Fringe Festival, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, Marquette University, Lake Arts Project, Pius XI High School, and other concert events. CODC tours to NYC annually while creating new and exciting company works and community events in the Milwaukee area all year round.
ABOUT CATEY OTT THOMPSON
Catey Ott Thompson, director of Catey Ott Dance Collective since 2005, has a BFA and MFA in dance from UWM under the direction of Ed Burgess, Marcia Parsons, Janet Lilly, and Simone Ferro. Catey now resides in Milwaukee after dancing in NYC for 14 years for Soundance, Heidi Latsky, Allyson Green, Sean Curran, Bill Young, Li Chiao-Ping, Eun Jung Choi, Aviva Geismar, Chris Ferris, Shannon Hummel, Carrie Ahern, and many others. She toured to Slovakia and Budapest with Allyson Green and to France with Carrie Ahern. Catey studied ballet with Christine Wright for 12 years at Gibney Dance Center in NYC, and also currently online with this amazing mentor. In Milwaukee, she danced for Danceworks Performance Company, Wild Space, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, and others. She has been a personal trainer (AFAA), yogi, and Pilates (Kane School of Core Integration) instructor since 2000, and worked for Park Slope Yoga Center/Devi, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, and Brouk Moves in NYC for many years. Catey spent 9 years as an adjunct faculty member in the Dance/Theatre Department at Marquette University, while also being a guest artist at Pius XI High School and directing MKE Dance Theatre Network. She currently teaches contemporary modern, ballet, dance history, careen seminar, composition and choreography, and repertory at Milwaukee Ballet School and Academy.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
As a dance artist and choreographer, it is my mission to draw up unusual yet resonating stories from the collective unconscious to create abstract choreography for a company of professional contemporary modern dancers. In each of my dances, the quirky and ornamented gestures that stylize my work are well integrated with highly physical and technical dance phrases, which together are layered and structured in unique ways. I also tap into my emotions in the development of the dance material and then invite the dancers to bring their pallets of emotional expression into the performance of the work.
All are welcome in the safe and supportive studio space where I intuitively teach and guide dance and movement classes. As a teacher at the university level, I am committed to sharing foundational and informed technical methods that simultaneously take into consideration the whole selves of all dancers. I am committed to positively impacting the collective dance community as well as how this method impacts the field of dance. Encouragement is offered to authentically move with focus, self-awareness, and attentiveness to the rhythm and space between selves and others. The learning environment is built on positivity, curiosity, confidence-building, and passion to embody the movement material being presented. The atmosphere in the studio is professional yet open-minded, non-judgmental,and exploratory with the mission to establish functional and anatomically sound technical approaches and habits to the form of dance movement. The craft, techniques, and function of the stylized foundation of dance movement techniques, including contemporary ballet, is approached with the goals of balance, harmony, symmetry, and respect and appreciation of all physicalities, genders, and learning styles. This includes making mindful accommodations within the realm of dance education for human uniquenesses and individualized needs to best enhance the mental, physical, and emotional wellness of every student. The benefits of the practice of dance movement, including contemporary ballet technique, are multi-faceted since they build awareness of the bodymind, connect people to themselves and the community in space. The goal is for the dance students to inherently refine the physical potential and artistry of the human body. The encouragement of expression, musicality, wholeness and harmony are at the heart of my educational methodology.