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Kat Nasti

Kathleen (Kat) Nasti received her BA in Classical Studies and Theatre (Dance Emphasis) from Dickinson College, MFA from University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and MBA with a certificate in Project Management from Lehigh University.  Administratively, Kathleen has worked across a breadth of non-profit roles, responsibilities, and landscapes, including executive direction for the arts and higher education, scholarship (research/publication), dance programming & presentation, fundraising, grant writing, tour organization, hospitality, and artist representation.  As an artist/educator, she has performed and taught across the country and abroad, and presented her work in numerous venues throughout the east coast.

 

Her leadership roles include:  Head of the Open and Children's Division at Ballet Rhode Island (Current), Executive Director for the Offices of the Vice President and Provost for Research and Graduate Studies at Lehigh University (PA), Executive Director for Green Street Studios (MA), Executive Director for the Muhlenberg College Community Dance and Pilates Center (PA), Founding Director for the Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange (PA), Co-Director of Tracks//Where will Dance Take You & Arc: Dance Research Lab (MA), and Sustainability Coordinator for Recycling and Composting at Sharon Public Schools, where she used the arts to educate/inspire K-12 students about Environmentalism (MA). 

 

Kathleen grew up in the ballet studio and trained with Scranton Civic Ballet, Central PA Youth Ballet, Burklyn Ballet Theatre, and Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts.  She found her place of “ballet belonging” in her early twenties in the studios at Peridance, Steps on Broadway, City Center, Dance Space, and Broadway Dance Center, where she gained insight and inspiration from David Howard, Zvi Gotheiner, Kenny Larson, and Beth Goheen, among other master educators.  It was in these spaces, dancing within multi-generational environments, learning from progressive teachers who nurtured and educated diverse adult populations from a somatic and anatomical base, where she found her true passion in ballet and dance education.  This training opened the door to new approaches and applications to ballet that led to a performance career that has included: The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Swing Dance America, American Dance Machine, Pilobolus at the MIT Centennial, Alyce Finwall Dance Theatre, Lisa Giobbi Movement Theatre (Aerial Track Harness), Scott Lyons, Jerry Mitchell (Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids), Skip Costa, Giada Ferrone, Lars Rosager, Edward Augustyn, 1,000 Virtues Dance, Zoe Dance, Reggie Wilson, Daniel McCusker and Max Stone, among others.  

 

As an educator, Kathleen was a member of the Muhlenberg College teaching team for nearly 9 years.  She has also taught for: Cedar Crest College, Dean College, The University of Scranton, Temple University, Dickinson College, Providence College, Roger Williams University, Sungkyunkwan University (Korea); and at the American College Dance Festival and PA Governor’s School for the Arts.  She has also taught in the youth environment in many studios across the country.

 

As a choreographer, she has set work on numerous colleges throughout the east coast. She has also been creating work for her own company, Kat Nasti Dance, for the last 15 years.  She is a 2017-2018 Next Steps for Boston Dance Artist (Funded by the Aliad Fund and the Boston Foundation) and one of the 2017 Boston Center for the Arts choreography residents.  She was a Dance Catalyst with the Dance Complex and an emerging artist choreographer for Green Street Studios. Her work has received support from NEFA, James Spriggs Charitable Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council  - Sharon Cultural Council, and Lehigh Valley Arts Council, among others; and has been presented by Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston Center for the Arts, The Mills Gallery, The Dance Complex, Green Street Studios, Three Rivers Arts Festival Pittsburgh, APAP (River City Artists Management), Steps on Broadway, and many colleges and festivals throughout the east coast.  She has choreographed for Boston Circus Guild and the film Acquiescence (Manya Glassman, Director); and was a performer in the film, Morphing Gravity (Lisa Giobbi, Choreographer). 

 

Kathleen resides in Providence metro area with her family.  She is an avid traveler and spent 2012/2013 living in Korea and China, where she studied Mandarin and Traditional Korean Dance Forms for her MFA thesis; and spent 2015 in Sofia, Bulgaria. 

 

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Certifications and Specializations:

  • Pilates Mat and Apparatus (Kane School of Core Integration, NYC)

  • Pilates for Dancers (Kane School of Core Integration, NYC)

  • Project Management Certificate (Lehigh University)

  • Stott Pilates, Training Completion (Sheri’s Pilates Studio, PA)

  • Irene Down Certification in Helix Choreography (NYC)

  • Irene Dowd Continued Education, Anatomy for Dance (NYC)

  • Ashtanga Yoga, 20-year practitioner (PA, NYC, Shanghai, and RI)

  • Publication:  Reliability and validity of goniometric turnout measurements compared with MRI and retro-reflective markers, Journal of Dance Medicine and Science, 2008;12(4):142-52.

  • Publication:  The Shape and Form of South Korea's Twenty-First Century Dance Landscape, Congress on Research in Dance, 17 September 2015

  • Moderator:  Dance Entrepreneurs’ Funding Think Tank

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