about Katie

Katie is an accomplished contemporary ballet dancer with over 20 years of experience performing on prestigious stages across the East Coast, Central Asia, and Europe. An honors graduate of the Kirov Academy of Ballet, she received the Honorable Merit Diploma from the Tersiphora Foundation from St. Petersburg in 2004. After relocating to Rhode Island, Katie introduced the Gyrotonic Expansion System to the region, founding the largest studio in the state. A certified Pre-Trainer, she empowers others to become Gyrotonic instructors and offers transformative private and group classes for all ages and abilities, emphasizing integrity, timing, and alignment. Katie also freelances in art galleries and creative spaces, serves as an adjunct professor at Roger Williams University, and is the Dance Director of Puddingstone, an arts organization presenting live classical music, dance, and visual arts in intimate settings. For inquiries, please contact her studio.

What is the GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM®?
Within this movement system, we have two parts; with a machine’s guidance and resistance, known as GYROTONIC®, and without the machines, known as GYROKINESIS®. It comes from the combination of two Greek words “Gyro” to move to turn around an axis and “tonic” stretching referring to the healthy ability of the muscle (contracting and extending to the maximum).

When did you become a trainer of the GYROTONIC EXPANSION SYSTEM®?
I started trying Gyrotonic in 2009 in NYC and immediately starting working to become a licensed trainer. I knew I wanted to do this movement system forever, to help heal my deep old injuries and trama while understanding and education myself about my body for the future. My goal is to take this and support all other bodies looking in their own respective ways to do the same. Investing in the “BODY BANK” in forever.

What is your training background?
I took the Rejuvenation Course in Germany with the creator Juliu Horvath in 2013. Before that time I enjoyed my time with Authorized Master Trainers Erika Hassan and Lucrezia Caricola (Gyrokinesis), Billy Macagnone (Gyrotoner, Archway, Pre-Training, JSB), Sebastian Plettenberg, Clyde Rae Jolie-Ashe, and Young-ah Kim (Gyrotonic). There are so many wonderful top trainers across the globe and I felt it was important to have a variety in my training. I enjoyed my time with Master Trainer Emily Smith in NYC, Master Trainer Megan McLauren in South Africa, and the Gyrotonic application for Golf with GPA/Gyrotonic instructor Dave Rasmussen. Working with Alicia Head (Gyrokinesis Spinal Essentials) and Paul Horvath (Applications for the Shoulder Girdle) reminded me how valuable this work is for retraining old injuries and preventing future ones. I ask you, “What kind of life do you want to live? Life quality and the ability to move around are key. What we do and don’t do is an influence on that. If you haven’t given Gyrotonic a try, do it today.”

What do you love most about the work?
There is so much to love about it! From the studio’s perspective, I enjoy the expression on my client’s faces when they feel a positive shift. They generally always feel lighter, taller, happier. I can see changes in a client by how they move around the studio, even when they haven’t. They are generally ready for more explorations of the work and come to understand how the body works together. Many share how it is helping in their day-to-day life and life choices. From a personal perspective, I feel the changes in my body and therefore my life. This work guides me to work intelligence, working smarter not harder. To remind me how to be kind to myself and others. The sport of dance is very physical on the body and when I don’t cross-train with Gyrotonic my joints feel compressed and my muscles ache often. I can feel like I am working very hard but the progress is slow, with the Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis work, I gain deep and efficient connections so the progress is immediate. I am grateful to help as many clients as I can while also helping my body recover.

What’s your biggest challenge?
Get my clients to practice their “homework” or we say “home play”. Because you should have fun in your body! Nothing will happen without practice. However, I am increasingly impressed as more clients return to boast they have been adding and remembering and noticing a massive difference. Especially when the body releases pain it has held for years… it is worth it when I get to hear and see the difference in the clients!