Katie Drablos in NPAFE’s words…

Drablos performing in “Almost 36” at Arts On Site

…Once a Radio City Music Hall Rockette and now an acclaimed and entrusted choreographer, performer and mentor at dance studios in the United States and abroad, Katie Drablos is a uniquely talented human being with an inspiring story for everyone.

…Katie was living quite the life as a successful New York City teacher, dancer and choreographer right up to 2021, when in a flash she was diagnosed not with a canker sore in her mouth and instead with a rare form of tongue cancer, one which by all accounts should have brought her career in dance – and likely her life – to an end.

Drablos and her mom Kelly at Arts On Site, March 2022

…Her road to recovery was hard. Very hard. It included tongue surgery and reconstruction, a neck dissection, and harsh chemo and radiation. Despite all the odds, by April 2022, on her 35th birthday, Katie had already regained her health, enough so to present her story of recovery in “35 – A Celebration Of Being Alive”, several short dance performances interwoven into a story of survival narrated by her mom and offered to full houses at the famed Arts On Site showplace in Manhattan’s East Village.

Drablos and dancer-and-Rockette Kathleen Laituri wowing the audience at the March 2023 “Almost 36” premiere

…More was to come. In her March 2023 New York City “Almost 36” premiere, Katie`s mom was again the featured narrator as 22 dancers from among New York City’s best skillfully offered up 13 live contemporary dance shorts to an SRO audience enraptured by her personal and powerful choreography. 

…Katie’s decision in 2009 to move to the Big Apple and her successful Rockette audition at Radio City Music Hall was just the beginning. She danced in hundreds of shows at Radio City, performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Live! with Regis and Kelly, the Martha Stewart Show, and ABC News Live, also presenting in dance festivals, cabaret showcases, DanceBreak, the Ace Awards, and many industry events.

…

Drablos’ 2019 improv solo in Manhattan’s Central Park to the music of “Let It Breathe” by Water Liars

That’s not all. Katie soon became known in the New York City world of dance as a preferred “go-to” teacher not only for choreographing contemporary dance but also for musical theater, jazz classes and workshops. One look at the videos below and you’ll see why.

…Self-evident in her 2022 and 2023 Arts On Site performances? The extraordinary love and loyalty of everyone performing on the stage for Katie and all that she is in the way of personal principle, creativity, tenacity, and respect for her colleagues.

At work teaching young dance students in Mexico City

…Today, Katie is on the faculty at Steps On Broadway where she leads weekly professional contemporary classes, also choreographing and teaching at dance studios across the United States and internationally. Her pieces range widely in tone, feel, and style but always with a focus on the emotional arc she is determined to create, whether she is performing solo or with professional dancers, students and friends.

Collaborating on choreography with dancers

…In her choreography classes and on stage herself, Katie is focused on quality as much as content, centering her creative vision on the feelings she is determined to evoke and share with the audience.

…This includes creating dance in video form as a powerful way to reach new audiences with her own personal artistic statement, her distinct choreographic style, and her belief that performers who may have special abilities like Down Syndrome are full of drive and talent.

…You’ll see exactly what that means in the videos down below.