Courtney Collado (Mx. CiCi, she/they) joined the Kansas City Ballet School faculty in 2018. A dancer, choreographer and teaching artist from New York City, Courtney brings her knowledge as both an experienced administrator and a working artist-educator to her role as Kansas City Ballet School Operations Manager. With their passion for transformative discipline, restorative justice, and culturally-sensitive teaching practices, Courtney is excited to contribute to the inclusive efforts of the School and Company.
As a young dance student, Courtney trained on scholarship at the Academy of the Colorado Ballet (Denver, CO), Boston Ballet School (Boston, MA), Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble and David Taylor Dance Theater (Denver, CO), Contra Costa Ballet (Walnut Creek, CA), and Jacob’s Pillow (Lee, MA). At age 14, they attended the Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, MA as a boarding student, dancing with the National Youth Ballet through 1998. Upon graduating from Walnut Hill, Courtney attended the Tisch School for the Arts at New York University where they worked with notable choreographers and dancers and created several works of their own. After graduating with a BFA in Dance in 2001, Courtney danced professionally with modern dance companies and choreographers in New York City for over a decade.
After relocating to Kansas City, MO in 2013, Courtney served as a Senior Coordinator in the Student Services department at the University of Kansas Medical School (KUMC), leading the Membership and Group Fitness teams at the Kirmayer recreation center. They also partnered with fitness facilities and dance schools, teaching and coaching ballet, modern dance, and choreography intensives in addition to Pilates, anatomy, kinesiology, and injury-prevention workshops and teacher-trainings. Their work as an educator has taken Courtney around the country to dance studios, Pilates and yoga studios, schools, and universities. With extensive education in anatomy, physiology, and human biology, Courtney has led instructor-training courses for Pilates Academy International (PAI), SilkSuspension, CARDIOLATES, the Pink Ribbon Program, and other modalities.
Since joining the Kansas City Ballet School faculty, Courtney has taught ballet, modern, and contemporary dance, adult/studio ballet and improvisation, and led workshops in injury prevention, filmmaking for dance, choreography, and kinesiology. Courtney earned an MFA in Dance in 2022 as part of a low-residency cohort at Hollins University, engaging in coursework and research in Roanoke, VA, New York City, Kansas City, MO, Frankfurt and Berlin, Germany, and Zurich, Switzerland.
As a certified ABT-curriculum ballet instructor, Courtney served on the Ailey Camp-Missouri faculty as the ballet instructor for two years. Most recently, Courtney was the Art Programs Resource Leader at Paseo Academy of the Fine and Performing Arts, producing numerous shows and concerts, supporting the artistic faculty, and managing the shared performing arts center at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary/Paseo Academy.
At present, Courtney resides in Kansas City with their son and husband, contributing to and performing with Tyrone Aiken/Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey and regularly teaches multiple disciplines in both the Kansas City Ballet Academy and Studio programs. They are thrilled to be able to invest their time and energy to the Kansas City Ballet School, staff, and faculty in a meaningful way.