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.
Corbin Phillips
Choreographer/Dancer
Corbin Phillips is a dancer and choreographer based outside of Chicago Illinois. He received a BFA in Dance from the University of Iowa in 2020, with a focus on choreography. Growing up, he trained heavily in ballet and travelled to schools across the country including Ballet Chicago, Next Generation Ballet, Joffrey Ballet and the Dance Theater of Harlem. His choreographic work explores the contrast between his classical training and idiosyncratic movements, while aiming to create a fluidity between the two.
Kelsey Drew
Dancer
Kelsey Drew, born and raised in central Illinois, started her dance training at the age of 15 after a decade in competitive gymnastics. Under the tutelage of Ekaterine Bezirgani and Patricia Zimmerman she performed in ballet productions such as The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Don Quixote, as well as several Cunningham inspired showcases. In 2024 Kelsey graduated from Oklahoma City University, a program ranked amongst the top ten dance schools in the country, with her Bachelor's of Science in Dance Pedagogy. There she built her teaching philosophy around inclusion, safety, and the health of dancers by learning how to properly teach all ages and skill levels. As an upperclassman Kelsey performed in OCU's American Spirit Dance Company, choreographed for the schools contemporary Spirit of Grace company, and lectured in several undergraduate research days on the importance of ballet's history and it's cultural relevance. Her repertoire includes training in styles such as: ballet, jazz, tap, theatre, modern, contemporary, lyrical, and acrobatics.
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.
Kelsey Plath
Dancer
Kelsey Plath holds a BFA in Dance from The Ohio State University, where she studied under Guggenheim Award recipient Abby Zbikowski, and Crystal Michelle Perkins of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. Her training includes ballet, Cunningham, Graham, jazz, krump, and West African movement. In Fall 2023, she was selected to perform a restaging of José Limón's Missa Brevis under the direction of Artistic Director Dante Puleio. During her junior year at OSU, she was one of 10 students chosen to perform and choreograph pieces in Bahia, Brazil. Prior to college, she trained for 14 years at Twin Cities School of Dance (Bloomington, IL), including 4 years as a member of the Repertory Company and 11 years with the Ballet Company. At TCSD, she had the opportunity to perform numerous lead roles, such as Snow Queen, Paquita, and Lilac Fairy.