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Soloist Kathryn Smoak wins SC Arts Commission Fellowship
Columbia City Ballet Soloist Kathryn Smoak won the SC Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship for 2006-2007. Smoak was chosen from dancers across the state for this prestigious honor.
“This award is a huge honor for me,” says Smoak. “South Carolina has always been my home, and ballet has always been my life, so receiving an award for doing what I do in the place where I love to do it is a tremendous honor for me.”
As a recipient of the Fellowship, Smoak receives $2,500 to recognize and award her artistic achievements as a dancer with Columbia City Ballet.
Smoak, born and raised in Columbia, began her dance training at the Columbia Conservatory of Dance under Columbia City Ballet’s Executive & Artistic Director William Starrett and Prima Ballerina Mariclare Miranda. She was an apprentice of Columbia City Ballet for five years, performing the lead child roles of Clara in Nutcracker and Victoria Harker in Dracula. She became a full company member at age 16, and was promoted to soloist in 2002.
“Kathryn is a consummate performer and team player,” says Starrett. “She’s always positive, and she has a show-stopping personality. She loves a challenge, is a fantastically versatile dancer and is a huge asset to our company and our community.”
In her time with Columbia City Ballet, Kathryn has performed such roles as Cupid in Don Quixote; Chinese, Russian and Spanish in Nutcracker; Maiden in Dracula; and Songbird Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty. She is praised by reviewers for her lively stage presence and quick footwork, who have written “she may be petite in size, but her dancing is colossal in strength and stamina” (Free Times). Another wrote that she “smoked the stage with fiery leaps and spins. She has the passion to become a company star” (The State). In addition to being a professional dancer, she is pursuing a degree in journalism at the University of South Carolina. Kathryn was named a “Young Dancer to Watch” in 2002 by Pointe Magazine.
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