Katita Waldo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
April 9, 1968
Washington Ballet
San Francisco Ballet School
- ballet dancer
- ballet master
Katita Waldo | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kathryn Cristine Waldo Grey April 9, 1968 Madrid, Spain |
| Education | University of North Carolina School of the Arts Washington Ballet San Francisco Ballet School |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse |
Marshall Crutcher (m. 1989) |
| Children | 1 |
| Career | |
| Current group | San Francisco Ballet |
Katita Waldo (born Kathryn Cristine Waldo Grey; April 9, 1968) is a Spanish ballet dancer and ballet master. She joined the San Francisco Ballet in 1988, was promoted to principal dancer in 1994, and retired from performing in 2010, but remains in the company as a ballet master.
Kathryn Cristine Waldo Grey was born on April 9, 1968, in Madrid.[1] At age five, after her parents took her to see Swan Lake, she was sent to dance classes at Escuela de Danza Classica. While she initially disliked dancing, her parents had already paid for a year, so she had to stay. However, by the end of the year, she found herself enjoying performing and continued her dance training.[1]
In 1979, when Waldo was eleven, she and her family moved to Ithaca, New York, and she continued her training at Ithaca Ballet. She also attended public school between the ages of eleven and twelve, and later recalled she was "demoralized" there. Due to her experience in public school and the desire to have better dance training, she auditioned for the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, which accepted her when she was thirteen and provided a scholarship.[1] Her parents had avoided sending her to the School of American Ballet after learning of hip injuries suffered by students there.[2] However, in her first year at the school, she started developing a tendinitis in her hips, which worsened during the second year and forced her to drop out. She received therapy in New York, covered by an award she received, and returned to school eight months later.[1] In 1984, she started studying at the Washington Ballet, then in 1986, she moved to San Francisco to train at the San Francisco Ballet School.[1]