Katarina Danks

Katarina Danks is a Southwest Florida based contortionist and dancer with a passion for performance and creating beautiful works of art in motion. She is a former student of Dance Extensions Performing Arts Center in Pittsburgh, PA under the direction and training of Betsy Shuttleworth. Throughout her adolescence she trained in both Mongolian and Western contortion techniques, learning from the world’s most prestigious trainers and performers from Europe, Canada, the U.S., and circuses like Cirque du Soleil, the Big Apple Circus, Ringling Brothers, and Circus Roncalli. At sixteen she began her career under the management of Ska von Schöning and SHOWBIZ Productions, traveling to performances in Germany and Austria.

She has since then performed and lectured at the 2006, 2009, and 2016 International Contortion Conventions in Las Vegas, founded by von Schöning. Katarina now performs, trains, and choreographs for audiences and students in the Southwest Florida area, where she received her B.S. in Marketing.

She offers a contortion program in Cape Coral, FL, where she is the co-owner and co-director of Melody Lane Performing Arts Center with a group of the best dancers and instructors in the area. She focuses on the importance of stretching safety and developing proper technique at young and middles ages. Her performance works include demanding musicality, intricate choreography, and crowd-pleasing elements and stunts. Katarina’s skills include contortion, handbalancing, dance technique, ballet, tap, aerial hoop, single trapeze, partnering/ pas de deux, and tumbling.