Catarina grew up dancing in Rhode Island, where she trained and competed nationally in a variety of styles for 10+ years. Through spending her summers at intensives where she developed her creativity, she fell in love with creating pieces of her own.

Catarina was a 4-year member of the Rutgers University Dance Team. While pursuing a degree in Psychology at Rutgers, she competed in Division 1A Pom and Jazz at UDA Nationals and performed at the University’s basketball and football events. She also took several dance classes within Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts to continue developing her modern, ballet, and improvisation technique. In 2018, she was selected to be a member of the US National Pom Team and earned a gold medal at the 2018 ICU World Championships. Catarina was also an instructor for Universal Dance Association for 2 years. As a UDA staff member, she judged dance team competitions and taught technique, pom, jazz, and hip hop at camps across the country.

Her versatile upbringing combined with her time in the dance team world has resulted in her expressive yet polished style of performing and choreographing. She has spent the past few years both dancing and working in Human Resources in NYC. Catarina is looking forward to returning as a 4th time choreographer with DanceWorks New York City for Season 21!