Central Illinois Ballet
Company Members

Katie Connell
Katie was born and raised in Dayton, OH, and began dancing under the direction of Camille Izard Morris at Oakwood Ballet School. She went on to train and perform at Dayton Ballet School and alongside Dayton Ballet’s professional company through the Dayton Ballet II program in productions such as Karen Russo Burke's production of The Nutcracker and Septime Webre's Swan Lake. She has spent summers at Louisville Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Ballet Tucson, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and Orlando Ballet School, the latter two of which she also was a Resident Assistant and helped mentor younger dancers. She most recently graduated Summa Cum Laude, with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography and minors in Health Promotion and French from the University of South Carolina. There, she had the opportunity to perform original faculty works as well as choreograph her own piece on her peers. Katie is so grateful to be joining Central Illinois Ballet this season and would like to thank all of her family and friends for their support.