Katherine Healy is a former principal ballerina who also had a professional performing career in figure skating.

Biography

Born in New York City, Healy never competed at an elite level in figure skating; instead, she turned professional at the age of eleven. In 1975, aged six, she appeared in the televised SuperSkates exhibition at Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...

. A few years later, she was the subject of the book A Very Young Skater, published in 1979. She was a protegee of John Curry

John Curry

John Anthony Curry, OBE was a British figure skater. He was the 1976 Olympic and World Champion. He was famous for combining ballet and modern dance influences into his skating.-Early life:...

 and skated professionally with his company.

Healy's true career goal, however, was not to be a figure skater, but to become a professional ballet dancer. She was trained in George Balanchine's School of American Ballet, and performed the character of Marie (more often known as Clara) in the New York City Ballet's production of The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...

in 1978 and 1979.

In 1982, Healy had a major role in the film Six Weeks

Six Weeks

Six Weeks is a 1982 film drama, directed by Tony Bill and based on a novel by Fred Mustard Stewart. It stars Dudley Moore and Mary Tyler Moore....

, with Mary Tyler Moore

Mary Tyler Moore

Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...

 and Dudley Moore

Dudley Moore

Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...

, portraying a young ballet dancer with terminal leukemia

Leukemia

Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...

. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award

Golden Globe Award

The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...

 for this role in the category "Best New Star – Actress".

Shortly afterwards, Healy concentrated exclusively on ballet. After having won the silver medal in the junior division at the 1982 USA International Ballet Competition

USA International Ballet Competition

The USA International Ballet Competition, or USA IBC, is one of the world's top competitions for ballet. Located in Jackson, Mississippi, this competition is attended by dancers from all over the world to represent their country for bronze, silver, or gold medals in a variety of categories of...

, the following year she won the same event in Varna

Varna

Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...

, Bulgaria, becoming the youngest ever to be awarded the gold medal. In 1984, at the age of 15, she joined the London Festival Ballet (now the English National Ballet

English National Ballet

English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin and based at Markova House in South Kensington, London, England. Along with the Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Scottish Ballet, it is one of the four major ballet companies in Great...

) as a senior principal dancer, and performed with that company for two seasons. During her time in England, she performed roles such as Swanilda in Coppélia, and the principal roles in Etudes, The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...

, Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and the Don Quixote

Don Quixote (ballet)

Don Quixote is a ballet originally staged in four acts and eight scenes, based on an episode taken from the famous novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. It was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus and was first presented by the Ballet of the...

Pas de Deux. At the age of sixteen, Sir Frederick Ashton

Frederick Ashton

Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton OM, CH, CBE was a leading international dancer and choreographer. He is most noted as the founder choreographer of The Royal Ballet in London, but also worked as a director and choreographer of opera, film and theatre revues.-Early life:Ashton was born at...

 chose and personally coached her for the role of Juliet in the revival of his production of Romeo and Juliet. She performed Juliet in the premiere of this production in London in July, 1985, at a royal gala attended by the late HRH Princess Margaret.

After returning to the United States in 1986, she entered Princeton University. She graduated Magna cum Laude from Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 in 1990 with a degree in Art History. She was also the recipient of the Senior Thesis Prize in the Department of Art and Archaeology for her thesis on French Impressionism. During her time at Princeton, she continued her ballet training exclusively with Wilhelm Burmann, who remained her private ballet coach for the rest of her dancing career. Also during her college years, she performed as a guest artist in Japan, Canada and with several local companies in the New York area such as the Eglevsky Ballet, Connecticut Ballet and New Jersey Ballet. She performed the title role of Cinderella

Cinderella (Prokofiev)

Cinderella is a ballet, Op. 87, composed by Sergei Prokofiev to a scenario by Nikolai Volkov. It is one of his most popular and melodious compositions, and has inspired a great many choreographers since its inception. The piece was composed between 1940 and 1944. Part way through writing it he...

, Odette in Swan Lake

Swan Lake

Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...

(Act II) and the lead role in Balanchine's Allegro Brillante for the Eglevsky Ballet, the role of Swanilda in Brett Raphael's production of Coppélia

Coppélia

Coppélia is a sentimental comic ballet with original choreography by Arthur Saint-Léon to a ballet libretto by Saint-Léon and Charles Nuitter and music by Léo Delibes. It was based upon two macabre stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Der Sandmann , and Die Puppe...

for the Connecticut Ballet and Odette in Swan Lake (Act II) for the New Jersey Ballet (partnered by Leonid Kozlov). In addition, during her time at university, she trained once again with John Curry and made some sporadic skating appearances. Among these were televised appearances in An Evening With Champions (PBS), Symphony of Sports (ABC Wide World of Sports) and Happy New Year USA (PBS) where she performed a solo La Rose du Bal and was partnered by John Curry in an ensemble waltz from Tchaikovsky's music for Eugene Onegin

Eugene Onegin (opera)

Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....

, choreographed by Tim Murphy.

Following her graduation from Princeton, she worked as a principal ballerina with Les Ballets de Monte Carlo

Les Ballets de Monte Carlo

Les Ballets de Monte Carlo is a classical ballet company established in 1985 by Her Royal Highness the Princess of Hanover in accordance with the wishes of her mother, Princess Grace of Monaco...

 and the Vienna State Opera Ballet

Vienna State Opera Ballet

The Vienna State Opera Ballet, like the opera company, is based at the Vienna State Opera House in Vienna, Austria. The original building was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945....

. In Monte Carlo, she danced (among other roles) the leading roles in George Balanchine's Theme and Variations, Tarantella, Rubies and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux as well as in Antony Tudor's ballet Gala Performance. Roland Petit created a principal role for her in Mozart et la Danse in 1991. In Vienna, her roles included (among other roles) Lise in La Fille Mal Gardée

La Fille Mal Gardée

La Fille mal gardée is a comic ballet presented in two acts, inspired by Pierre-Antoine Baudouin's 1789 painting, La réprimande/Une jeune fille querellée par sa mère...

, Kitri in Don Quixote

Don Quixote (ballet)

Don Quixote is a ballet originally staged in four acts and eight scenes, based on an episode taken from the famous novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. It was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus and was first presented by the Ballet of the...

, Juliet in John Cranko's production of Romeo and Juliet, the title roles in Giselle

Giselle

Giselle is a ballet in two acts with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, music by Adolphe Adam, and choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. The librettist took his inspiration from a poem by Heinrich Heine...

and in Sir Kenneth Macmillan's production of Manon, as well as the title role of Raymonda in revived excerpts of Rudolf Nureyev

Rudolf Nureyev

Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Russian dancer, considered one of the most celebrated ballet dancers of the 20th century. Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance, providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women.In 1961 he...

's production of Raymonda

Raymonda

Raymonda is a ballet in three acts, four scenes with an apotheosis, choreographed by Marius Petipa, with music by Alexander Glazunov, his opus 57. First presented by the Imperial Ballet at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre on in St. Petersburg, Russia...

. She also performed leading roles in John Neumeier's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream (ballet)

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a two-act ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music for Shakespeare's play of the same name. In addition to the incidental music, Balanchine incorporated other Mendelssohn works into the ballet including Overtures to Athalie, Son...

, Hans von Manen's Letzte Lieder, George Balanchine's Serenade, Apollo and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and the principal role of Masha (i.e. Marie, or Clara) in Yuri Grigorovich's production of The Nutcracker. She was featured in the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Day Concert on PBS with Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite

Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...

 in 1993, 1994 and 1996 on worldwide broadcasts. Her appearance in 1996 was in a piece choreographed especially for her by Heinz Spoerli. She returned to the United States in 1997, where she resumed her skating career.

In addition to her work with Curry, Healy was coached as a skater by Glyn Watts

Glyn Watts

Glyn Robert Watts is a British retired competitive ice dancer. His partner was Hilary Green. They are the 1974 World silver medalists and 1974 & 1975 European silver medalists...

 and Richard Callaghan

Richard Callaghan

Richard Callaghan is an American figure skating coach. He is best known as the long-time coach of Todd Eldredge, 6-time U.S. Champion and 1996 World Champion. He also coached Nicole Bobek to her national title, and Tara Lipinski to U.S., World, and Olympic titles.As a competitive skater,...

, and passed the United States Figure Skating Association

United States Figure Skating Association

U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating on ice in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic Committee "USOC" under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act and is the United States member of the International Skating...

's gold-level ice dancing

Ice dancing

Ice dancing is a form of figure skating which draws from the world of ballroom dancing. It was first competed at the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, but did not become a Winter Olympic Games medal sport until 1976....

 test.

She has been married to World and Olympic figure skating coach Peter Burrows for ten years and currently works as a skating coach and choreographer in Monsey, New York

Monsey, New York

Monsey is a hamlet , in the Town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States located north of the state of New Jersey; east of Suffern; south of Airmont and west of Nanuet...

 and in New Hyde Park, New York. She was a regular performer and choreographer for the Ice Theatre of New York

Ice Theatre of New York

The Ice Theatre of New York is a professional figure skating group that performs modern dance choreography on ice. It was founded in 1984 by Moira North, and is currently based at the Chelsea Piers rink complex in New York City. David Liu was appointed Co-Artistic Director for the 2007-2008 season...

 until 2005. Ice Theatre commissioned two original works from her and she restaged Jean Pierre Bonnefoux's work Ice Moves for the Company. She has also appeared in shows such as An Evening with Champions

An Evening with Champions

An Evening with Champions is an annual benefit figure skating show hosted by Eliot House of Harvard University. The event is a two-day skating show in October, which regularly attracts world-class skaters, thousands of spectators, hundreds of Harvard students, special guests, donors, and of course...

, the Equal Challenge of Champions and the Vail Figure Skating Festival.

She taught on the faculty of the Valentina Kozlova Dance Conservatory of New York (New York City) until June, 2008. In January 2008, she won the Outstanding Choreography Award at the Dance Educators of America Semi-Final Competition in New York City for the ensemble piece "Por Una Cabeza" she choreographed for the advanced students at VKDCNY. She currently is on the faculty of the American Theater Dance Workshop (the school affiliated with the Eglevsky Ballet Company) in New Hyde Park, New York and also teaches at Connecticut Ballet (Stamford, Connecticut), in addition to her skating school affiliations.