What is Dance Theatre of Illinois
Dance Theatre of Illinois (DTI) is a non profit dance company, formed by professional dancers.
Our repertory includes contemporary and classical ballet pieces.
Our rehearsal location is at the Urbana Fine Arts Center and our performances take place at various venues throughout the year.
Our repertory includes contemporary and classical ballet pieces.
Our rehearsal location is at the Urbana Fine Arts Center and our performances take place at various venues throughout the year.
Our Mission
Our mission is to increase the awareness of high-quality dance arts through educational programs, performances and community engagement.
The Company
Luciana Rezende
Artistic Director
A former professional ballet dancer, Luciana Rezende started taking ballet classes at the Lucia Toller Academy, Brasilia DF, Brazil. Later she studied under the tutelage of internationally respected teachers, as Sulamith Messerer, Elena Kunikova, Martin Putke, Eugenia Feodorova and Giselle Santoro. After finishing her degree at the University of Brasilia (Brazil), Ms. Rezende came to the US on a full scholarship granted by the Joffrey Ballet School (NY).
As a dancer, she has performed principal roles for several professional ballet companies in Brazil and in the US, including Ballet of Brasilia, Brazil; Garden State Ballet, NJ; Mid-Illinois Ballet, IL and Chicago Festival Ballet, IL.
Ms. Rezende has been teaching classical ballet for over twenty years in the Champaign-Urbana area, and guesting with dance schools in the Midwest. She has worked as a guest teacher for many dance schools in the state of Illinois, including the Faubourg Ballet Theatre (Chicago, IL) and Central Illinois Ballet (Peoria, IL). Ms. Rezende is in charge of the ballet program at the Montessori School of Champaign-Urbana.
Ms. Rezende has privately coached students to successfully medal at international ballet competitions.
As a ballet director, she has staged full-length ballets and conducted ballet classes for students age 2 to adult, levels beginner to professional.
Luciana Rezende is the Artistic Director of Dance Theatre of Illinois.
As a dancer, she has performed principal roles for several professional ballet companies in Brazil and in the US, including Ballet of Brasilia, Brazil; Garden State Ballet, NJ; Mid-Illinois Ballet, IL and Chicago Festival Ballet, IL.
Ms. Rezende has been teaching classical ballet for over twenty years in the Champaign-Urbana area, and guesting with dance schools in the Midwest. She has worked as a guest teacher for many dance schools in the state of Illinois, including the Faubourg Ballet Theatre (Chicago, IL) and Central Illinois Ballet (Peoria, IL). Ms. Rezende is in charge of the ballet program at the Montessori School of Champaign-Urbana.
Ms. Rezende has privately coached students to successfully medal at international ballet competitions.
As a ballet director, she has staged full-length ballets and conducted ballet classes for students age 2 to adult, levels beginner to professional.
Luciana Rezende is the Artistic Director of Dance Theatre of Illinois.
Ralitza Iordanova
Production Director
Rali, is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher, with training in Vaganova, RAD, and Cecchetti ballet techniques. Rali studied ballet and contemporary theatre in Sofia, Bulgaria, at the Vaganova ballet school “Krassimira Koldamova,” under the instruction and directorship of prima ballerina Academician Krassimira Koldamova. Rali furthered her dance education in Auckland, New Zealand; there she trained with “L’Academie de Dance,” under the RAD ballet system and “Black Grace” – a NZ contemporary dance company. Rali’s early career as a performer and a young choreographer includes ballet and contemporary productions, dance tours, TV productions, musical theatre, movies, and music videos.
Rali received her teacher training and certification at American Ballet Theater in New York, USA, through the “ABT National Training Curriculum” program, under the instruction of Raymond Lukens and Franco De Vita. Her career in the performing arts continued as a teacher, choreographer and performance producer at Faubourg Theatre in Chicago, USA. As an instructor and choreographer, Rali trained and coached dance students and future dance professionals for international ballet competitions, including YAGP, Prix De Lausanne, WBAC, WBC, and IDO Championships. As a performance producer, she directed theatre staging, casting, choreography, lights and sound design.
Rali’s focus is on developing young dance artists with impeccable technique, musicality, mental agility, and love of life and creativity.
Rali received her teacher training and certification at American Ballet Theater in New York, USA, through the “ABT National Training Curriculum” program, under the instruction of Raymond Lukens and Franco De Vita. Her career in the performing arts continued as a teacher, choreographer and performance producer at Faubourg Theatre in Chicago, USA. As an instructor and choreographer, Rali trained and coached dance students and future dance professionals for international ballet competitions, including YAGP, Prix De Lausanne, WBAC, WBC, and IDO Championships. As a performance producer, she directed theatre staging, casting, choreography, lights and sound design.
Rali’s focus is on developing young dance artists with impeccable technique, musicality, mental agility, and love of life and creativity.
Corbin Phillips
Choreographer/Dancer
Corbin Phillips is a dancer and choreographer from Champaign, IL. He graduated from The University of Iowa with a BFA in dance and a focus on Choreography. He grew up training locally and spending time with schools such as Ballet Chicago, Tampa Ballet, Next Generation Ballet, Joffrey Chicago, and Dance Theater of Harlem. Through college he trained in various modern and contemporary styles while continuing his ballet training. His choreographic works explore the contrast between classical ballet lines and idiosyncratic movements while creating a fluidity between the technique and natural movements of gravity and transformation. His works have been presented at the University of Iowa, the YAGP Chicago Regional Competition, and various performances throughout the greater Chicago area. In Fall of 2023, he started the CU Dance Festival which has held 4 concerts since. He is currently the resident choreographer for the Dance Theater of Illinois and is starting his first season with Ballet Quad Cities.
Katie Koprowski
Dancer
Katie Koprowski was born in Chicago into an artistic family. Her mother was a dancer/actor, and her father was a writer/producer. By the age of three, she began her formal dance training at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. Under the tutelage of ballet masters Dolores Long, Birute Barodicaite, Patty Klekovic, and Victor Alexander, Katie learned Cecchetti/RAD/Vaganova ballet, character, and contemporary styles. Throughout high school in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, she danced professionally with the Ruth Page Civic Ballet in their Nutcracker, Coppelia, Tarantella, and Midsummer’s Night’s Dream productions. Today, as a PhD student in Bioengineering at Illinois, Katie teaches/leads weekly advanced ballet classes & artistically directs/produces performances in theater venues across campus for Illinois Ballet Company--the newest professional-level college ballet troupe at the University of Illinois. At Urbana Fine Arts, she teaches floor barre and ballet silver.
Siggi Tubbs
Dancer
Siggi Tubbs is a ballet dancer trained in the Vaganova technique under the tutelage of teachers such as Luciana Rezende, Mikhail Tchoupakov, and Sascha Radetsky. After a semester at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, he began coaching diving athletes using ballet exercises to improve their form in the air. As a dancer, Siggi focuses upon developing a quality of movement unique to his anatomy but remaining within the restrictions of a given technique. He has performed principal roles and variations from ballets such as The Nutcracker, Giselle, and La Bayadère—as well as in modern dance pieces with alums of the dance department such as Jade Katch. He currently seeks to learn more about 20th-century modern techniques.
Lilian Rice
Dancer
Lillian Rice is a Dance Instructor for the Champaign Park District’s Dance Arts Conservatory. She has been training in Classical Ballet since the age of 5, at Champaign Ballet Academy and Champaign Urbana Ballet. As a company member, she performed numerous significant roles in various ballet productions. She is a recent graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she majored in Art Education. Lillian began training with the Urbana Fine Arts center this October and is excited to further her dance career.
Jasmine O'Connor
Dancer
Jasmine O’Connor began her dance training at Christine Rich Studio at the age of 2. She has been trained intensively in ballet, jazz, tap and hip hop by teachers with extensive knowledge and experience in the professional field of dance.
Through her 14 years of training she has developed a love for all dance styles as well as teaching.
She has been a finalist at the YAGP 2019, perfrorming in the Ensemble piece "Unafected When We Join" and she has choreographed contemporary pieces for the UFAC students.
She has previous involvement conducting and directing activities for children of all ages at the Urbana Fine Arts Center Summer Program as well as in various events held by different organizations in the Champaign-Urbana area. Lately she was in charge of the UFAC afternoon summer program, preparing and teaching Musical Theatre, Acting, and Viriety Theatre classes for children ages 6 to 12.
Jasmine O'Connor has been trained to work with pre-school old age children and she has been conducting the UFAC children's ballet classes for over 5 years.
Through her 14 years of training she has developed a love for all dance styles as well as teaching.
She has been a finalist at the YAGP 2019, perfrorming in the Ensemble piece "Unafected When We Join" and she has choreographed contemporary pieces for the UFAC students.
She has previous involvement conducting and directing activities for children of all ages at the Urbana Fine Arts Center Summer Program as well as in various events held by different organizations in the Champaign-Urbana area. Lately she was in charge of the UFAC afternoon summer program, preparing and teaching Musical Theatre, Acting, and Viriety Theatre classes for children ages 6 to 12.
Jasmine O'Connor has been trained to work with pre-school old age children and she has been conducting the UFAC children's ballet classes for over 5 years.
Lisette Tokarskiy
Dancer
Lisette Tokarskiy started ballet when she was four years old and has been dancing ever since. She has danced in several ballet studios before starting college about three years ago and has been trained in the Vaganova method. She has mainly danced in the studios Lincolnshire Academy of Dance, under the tutelage of Kate Khorolinsky, and in Illinois Classical Ballet, under the tutelage of Stella Voskovetskaya. In those studios, She performed in Swan Lake and La Bayadere productions and performed various classical ballet variations. She has competed in YAGP a few times and in 2018 placed Top 24 in the classical ballet category. This is her first year taking classes at the Urbana Fine Arts Center and being a part of Dance Theater of Illinois.
Dagny Ingle
Dancer
Originally from Macon, Georgia, Dagny began dancing at the Madison Studio of Dance Education. At 15, she was invited to study with the Atlanta Ballet pre-professional academy, furthering her studies during summers at San Francisco Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Dagny has danced professionally with Bossov Ballet Theatre, Louisville Ballet, Alabama Ballet, and Ballet Quad Cities. Her favorite roles include Cygnet in Robert Curran's Swan Lake, Friend of Coppelia in Roger VanFleteren's Coppelia, and Juliet in Courtney Lyon's Romeo and Juliet.
Stefhanie Loaiza
Dancer
Stefhanie Loaiza was born and raised in Costa Rica, where she began dancing at the age of 5. At 12, she pursued more technique‑based training in ballet and jazz, later expanding her studies to include lyrical, contemporary, and tap. Her formal ballet training followed the Royal Academy of Dance program, completing examinations up to Grade 8. She has experience teaching ballet and jazz and has both competed as a dancer and choreographer at dance competitions such as All Dance, Costa Rica Open Dance Fest, and Stage Dance Championship, earning first‑place awards in ballet and lyrical. Stefhanie has performed in productions such as The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Paquita, Giselle, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, and the national production Las Ramas del Ciprés during the 2023 Costa Rican National Theatre season. In 2024 she moved to the United States to persue her M.S in Food Science at the University of Illinois Urbana‑Champaign and is a current member of the Illinois Ballet Company.