Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Katherine Williams began training at the age of four with the Hawaii State Ballet. After moving to Maryland with her family at the age of six, Katie began studying at the Ballet Royale Academy under the direction of Donna Pidel. She stood out because of her natural grace and progressed quickly within the studio. Katie has always been devoted to ballet and an extremely hard worker. During middle and high school she trained after school for eight hours each day. In order to help pay for her ballet classes she spent her day off from dancing helping to clean and maintain the studio. It is this dedication and passion, which led her to excel in ballet.

 

At Ballet Royale Academy Katie experienced a range of classical and contemporary instruction. She attributes the comprehensive education and high caliber instructors as the main factors of her early success. At Ballet Royale Katie was continually cast in leading roles, and attended summer intensive programs at the Rock School, Boston Ballet, SAB, ABT, and Stiefel and Stars. Katie began participating in national competitions like Youth America Grand Prix at the age of 11.

 

 In 2001, Katie won her first Hope Award at the regional YAGP competition in Winston Salem, NC, and went on to win 2nd place at the finals in New York City. She continued participating and in 2003, Katie won the Youth Grand Prix at age 13. She was then offered a full scholarship to the Boston Ballet Summer Dance Program. In 2005 she was a Top 12 Finalist at the YAGP Finals in New York, and received a full scholarship to join the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at ABT. From 2004 to 2007, she attended American Ballet Theatre's Summer Intensives as a National Training Scholar and, in 2006, she also attended the Stiefel and Stars Summer Program. 

At the age of 16, Katie decided to leave her home in Maryland and move to New York City to pursue her dream of becoming a professional dancer at ABT. Katie joined the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at ABT in the Fall of 2005. While continuing her intensive training she finished her high school degree at the Professional Children's School in NYC. Upon graduating she attended Columbia for a semester until she joined ABT's Studio Company in January 2007. Katie remained at ABT's Studio Company for a year and joined American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in December 2007, then joined the corps de ballet in June 2008.

 

As a member of the corps de ballet, Katie's roles with ABT include: Shade Soloist in La Bayadère, one of the Nutcracker's Sisters in Alexei Ratmansky's The Nutcracker, the Fairy of Sincerity in The Sleeping Beauty, the Italian Princess in Swan Lake, and roles in Airs, Company B, Continuo and In the Upper Room. She created a role in Benjamin Millipied's Everything Doesn't Happen at Once. Katie has also performed with Hawaii State Ballet in Cinderella and The Nutcracker and with Baltimore Ballet in The Nutcracker and an Anniversary Gala. 

 

Katie's performances with American Ballet Theatre are sponsored by Avery and Andy Barth, in memory of Laima Barth. 

 

Click here to see Katie's bio on The American Ballet Theatre's Website.