OWNER/ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
KATIE CARAMICIU
Certified Danscend Level 2 Mental Wellness Dance Educator
Katie is an award-winning Rhode Island–based dance artist and choreographer with more than 25 years of experience in performance, education, and mentorship. Passionate about sharing her love of dance from an early age, she began teaching and choreographing immediately after high school, launching what would become a distinguished and highly respected career.
Early recognition as a two-time American Dance Awards Regional Young Choreographer set the stage for Katie’s rapid rise in the New England dance community. She soon became one of Rhode Island’s most sought-after instructors and choreographers, known for her innovative vision, technical excellence, and ability to inspire dancers to perform at their highest level.
Her choreography has earned consistent regional and national acclaim at some of the country’s most prestigious competitions. Her work has received numerous top honors, including National Championships, Industry Dance Award nominations for Best Jazz, Best Open, and Best Lyrical/Contemporary, as well as awards for Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Technique.
Beyond the competition stage, Katie’s professional credits include working with MTV on an episode of Made, choreographing for the Providence College Dance Team and Johnson & Wales University, serving as co-choreographer for Curtain Call Costumes’ 2015 Dance for Film project (written and directed by William B. Wingfield and Monique Borromeo), and leading choreography for Experiments in Theater’s production of High School Musical Jr.
Through every project, Katie brings artistry, discipline, and heart—empowering dancers to grow not only as performers, but as confident and expressive artists.
In 2020, Katie founded Konnectivity Contemporary Dance Company, a professional contemporary company based in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. The company made its debut in April 2021 with The Human Narrative, a powerful inaugural production that established Konnectivity as a bold and compelling new voice in the regional dance community. Her second full-length repertoire performance, Self-Conceptions, premiered in summer 2022 to critical acclaim, further solidifying the company’s artistic presence and reputation for emotionally resonant, thought-provoking work.
Katie’s passion for excellence and commitment to comprehensive, high-level training are reflected not only in her choreography, but in the achievements of her students. Her alumni have gone on to successful professional careers across the country and internationally, performing and working with prestigious organizations including the Radio City Rockettes, New England Patriots Cheerleaders, Atlanta Hawks Dancers, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Island Moving Company, Providence Ballet, Brickhouse NYC, Dancers Unlimited NYC & Hawaii, and Verve, among others.
Through visionary leadership, artistic integrity, and an unwavering dedication to mentorship, Katie continues to shape the next generation of dancers while expanding the reach and impact of contemporary dance in Rhode Island and beyond.
MEET OUR FACULTY
Ballet | Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT)
Certified Progressing Ballet Technique Instructor
KATIE KELLEY STAMM
Ballet | Pointe | Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT)
Certified Progressing Ballet Technique Instructor (Level 1, 2, 3)
Certified Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet Curriculum
Originally from Cranston, RI, Katie began her classical dance training at the age of five at the Festival Ballet Providence school. She performed as a member of Festival Ballet’s Junior Company under the direction of MaryAnn Mayer and Mihailo Djuric for four years and graduated from the school in 2013. During her time as a student, she performed with Festival Ballet’s professional company in the corps de ballet in Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and multiple productions of The Nutcracker. She has also trained at the Harid Conservatory on full scholarship and danced with Ms. Gelsey Kirkland Ballet in NYC.
In 2013, Katie began an apprenticeship with Part of the Oath Dance Theater under the direction of Dr. Colleen Cavanaugh and Danielle Genest-Konicheva, and continued as a soloist until the company’s final performance in 2016. In 2017 Ms. Katie co-choreographed a new production of The Nutcracker for The Talent Factory in North Kingstown, RI. Her contemporary choreographic debut placed in the Top 12 at the YAGP Boston competition in 2018, and her choreography has also placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd at the W.B.A.C. Grand Prix in 2020. She has coached classical and contemporary dancers to go on and place in the top 10 at YAGP and the CT Classic in 2021 and 2022, as well as 1st and 2nd place winners at Revel, A.D.E, and 5th place winners at Radix.
She is certified to teach Junior, Senior, and Advanced levels of Progressing Ballet Technique © and is certified in the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet curriculum by Marcia Dale Weary.
Katie is excited to continue to nurture and inspire the next generation of dancers.
A native of Attleboro, Massachusetts, Josh Thake received comprehensive training at Brae Crest School of Ballet (Home of The State Ballet of RI) with Herci Marsden; Boston Ballet School with Cecilia Marina and Franco DeVita; and San Francisco Ballet School with Parrish Maynard, Jorge Esquivel, Jean-Yves Esquerre, Jeffrey Lyons, Pascale LeRoy, Shannon Bresnahan, and Gloria Govrin.
Josh has toured to Japan and Southeast Asia with Les Ballet Grandiva (Now Les Ballets Eloelle) and all over North America, Europe, Brazil, Japan, and Thailand with Les Ballet Trockadero. Having both ballerina and danseur perspective, his professional career has given him the experience to navigate through ballet’s traditional gender norms and create an encouraging environment that allows students to shine with their natural potentials. He has choreographed parody works for State Ballet of RI including Réchauffé Brillante, Western Hyperbole, and Fantasie Valse; as well as a Cinderella Departure for the Ball. Currently he is a company dancer with Newport Contemporary Ballet. Josh is certified in Progressing Ballet Technique™ and is looking forward to sharing his passion for the art of ballet with any and all that wish to learn and grow.
JOSH THAKE
ELIZABETH REILLY DONABEDIAN
Ballet
Elizabeth Donabedian began her serious ballet training with Christine Hennessy, Winthrop Corey, Wayne Stewart, and Mark Schneider, and furthered her studies through summer programs and supplemental training with Boston Ballet, David Howard, Jeanette Neill, and the Dance Complex of Boston. She went on to dance professionally with Festival Ballet of Rhode Island, founded by Christine Hennessy and Winthrop Corey. During her career with the company, Elizabeth performed numerous soloist roles in full-length classical ballets, including The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Grand Pas de Quatre, and Giselle. In addition to her classical repertoire, she appeared in a variety of contemporary, modern, and jazz works through the company's choreographic showcases and performances. In recent years, she has performed as a guest character artist with Festival Ballet Providence, Heritage Ballet, and Ocean State Ballet.
For nearly four decades, Elizabeth has shared her passion for dance as a teacher of classical ballet, pointe, and jazz. While dancing with Festival Ballet, she also coordinated outreach programs for Providence schools and volunteered her time teaching ballet in after-school programs. She also served as a rehearsal assistant and school choreographer, helping to cultivate the next generation of dancers. Throughout Rhode Island and Connecticut, Elizabeth has taught in numerous dance intensives and workshops and served as Ballet Director at a local Rhode Island dance school, where she choreographed, among many other classical pieces, a full-length production of The Nutcracker. She has also spent more than twenty years coaching dancers for YAGP and other regional and national dance competitions.
Beyond her work in the dance community, Elizabeth holds a Master’s Degree in Education with a concentration in Reading and is a certified Reading Specialist/Consultant and Elementary Teacher. She has dedicated twenty-five years to educating students in the Providence and Pawtucket school systems. A former Ms. Rhode Island, Elizabeth has remained active in the pageant community as both a mentor and judge. Today, she continues to enjoy teaching adult dance classes and finds great joy in watching her daughter share the same love and appreciation for dance that has shaped so much of her own life. For more than thirty years, Elizabeth has devoted herself to enriching the lives of dancers and students through her artistry, teaching, and mentorship. She looks forward to continuing to inspire, educate, and share her love of dance with future generations
JAY LEÓN
Contemporary | Hip Hop | Jazz
Jay León is a dancer, choreographer, and director from the New England and East Coast region. Jay has trained and studied in a number of prestigious institutions and programs such as Ballet RI-formerly Festival Ballet Providence, Marymount Manhattan College, Stacey Tookey's Camp Protege, CLI Conservatory under the direction of Teddy Forance and New England based dance crew, Livlihood. León has had experience both, through these training opportunities and professionally, to work on stage and camera. She was featured in a Bose ad campaign, directed and/or choreographed various personal concept videos and New England music artists' music videos, taught in several studios and schools, and performed in a number of productions with Boston Lyric Opera.
MICHAELA PENDOLA MACHADO
Musical Theater | Tap
Bio coming soon
OLIVIA BEAUDOIN
Ballet | Contemporary | Pre-K
Olivia Beaudoin is a dancer, educator, and choreographer from Massachusetts. Since her introduction to dance at the age of 2, she has had the privilege of dancing at studios such as the Northwest Arkansas Conservatory of Classical Ballet, Festival Ballet Providence and Konnect Dance’s Professional Company, Konnectivity.
Over her dance career, Olivia has performed in professional productions of the Nutcracker, showcases for Konnectivity, and at the NYCDA Foundation’s Destiny Rising event at the Joyce Theater. She began choreographing in 2019, and since then her choreography has received national recognition, including the YAGP Outstanding Choreography Award. Olivia is committed to fostering a warm, compassionate
environment for each dancer to find and develop their artistic voice.
ABBIE DUVA
Pre-K, Kinder, Combo
Bio coming soon