Connor Cornelius
Connor Cornelius (she/her) is a choreographer, performer, and teaching artist based in the Chicagoland area. Under the name GRIT, she recently produced her third evening length concert titled Sportz in February 2023. Besides GRIT, she was honored to have choreographed the Illinois All-State Theatre Festival Musical, Shrek, at the same time. This spring, Connor was selected to present her new physically-integrated piece for MOMENTA Dance Company, Dandelion, for See Chicago Dance's Chicago Dance Month at Navy Pier. This past fall, she was selected to present work in Chicago Live at Navy Pier for MOMENTA Dance Company, CounterBalance, and in the 2022 Delve Choreographer Showcase. In MOMENTA’s fall 2021 season, Connor Artistic Directed the evening concert as well as produced a piece for the Oak Park Art League’s Art for Social Change performance collaboration. That fall, she was also selected to present work at the Simantikos Choreo Kick-Off. Connor has choreographed the musicals: Mamma Mia, Sister Act, Working, Newsies, Chicago, Hairspray, Addams Family and Mary Poppins at OPRF High School. In 2018 and 2017, Connor was selected as one of two artists commissioned for the Going Dutch Festival. In 2016, she was commissioned to choreograph for Simantikos as a choreography competition finalist and selected for the Delve showcase. In 2015, she was selected as one of four choreographers for Dance Chance Redux: 6.0 and chosen as one of ten finalists for Met Dance’s Emerging Choreographer Competition. That year, Connor was also chosen as one of four Chicago-based choreographers for DanceWorks Chicago’s DanceMoves Choreography Competition. Connor's work has been commissioned for Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Project Bound, Evanston Township High School, MOMENTA, and among others. Connor has danced in Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre and Project Bound Dance for two seasons each. Connor also served as DanceWorks Chicago’s Administrative support for three years during that time. Previously, Connor graduated as the Presidential Scholar of the Department of Dance at Western Michigan University, (BFA cum laude, 2014). At the 2013 American Dance Festival, she was chosen to perform in Martha Graham's Helios as well as present her choreography in the student concert. She also performed historical work by Loïe Fuller, participated in a cultural exchange trip to China and Taiwan, and a Student Immersion Trip to Montreal. Connor's choreography was also chosen for American College Dance Festival Association's East Central Conference Gala, the WMU Winter Gala Dance Concert, Western Dance Project's repertoire, and Orchesis Dance Concerts.
Tatiana Castañeda
Tatiana Castañeda is a dancer, singer, and actor originally from Oak Park, Illinois. She is currently a company dancer with Aerial Dance Chicago, under the direction of Chloe Jensen. Tatiana has trained extensively in ballet, modern, jazz, and contemporary dance at The Academy of Movement and Music, The San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Point Park University. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance from Point Park University in the spring of 2020. Since then she has danced with Movement Revolution Dance Crew, Aerial Dance Chicago, and has been a guest artist and choreographer for MOMENTA Dance Company. Tatiana has performed classical ballets and historical modern works, as well as works by Matthew Powell, Dominic Walsh, Jay Kirk, Randy Duncan, Monte Rezell, Chloe Jensen, Tracy von Kaenel, Karen Fisher Doyle, and was a swing for the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center’s 2019 production of In the Heights with choreography by Kiesha Lalama. She has experience teaching ballet and jazz at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels, as well as pre-pointe and pointe. Tatiana is thrilled to be a part of the GRIT Sportz team!
Anita Fillmore Kenney
Anita Fillmore Kenney is an artist, mother, and acupuncturist-in-training. She began her dance training with Stephanie Clemens at the Academy of Movement and Music in Oak Park. Her study of dance performance and choreography continued at the former Barat College, and culminated in the award of an MFA from the Tisch School of the Arts (NYU). Anita had the pleasure of working with a diverse group of emerging and venerable artists in Chicago and New York, including Kyle Abraham, Atalee Judy, Ginger Lane, James Morrow (Instruments of Movement), and ProjectLIMB. For 10 years she served as the associate executive director of MOMENTA, an inclusive dance company based in Oak Park. With MOMENTA, Anita was honored to perform in historical works by Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey; and works by contemporary artists, including Sarah Cullen Fuller, Sandra Kaufmann, Sarah Najera, and Alice Sheppard. After 20+ years of service to the dance community as an administrator, educator, and performer-choreographer, Anita decided to pursue a second career in wellness. She is currently finishing her last year at the Midwest College, where she is studying acupuncture, herbology, and Traditional Chinese Medicine. She would like to thank her husband, Sean, her dad, Bill, and her 6 year-old daughter, Willa, for their unwavering support of her lifelong learning.
Kaitlin Flynn Goodwin
Kaitlin is a dancer, dancemaker, dance educator, community organizer, arts advocate, and mother. Originally from Pittsburgh, she received a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Ohio University. Upon graduation, she moved to Chicago to teach with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s youth dance and in-school programs while also freelancing and performing. Kaitlin has danced with Project Bound Dance, Core Project Chicago, and Christine Hands, among other project-based gigs. 2017 called her back to her roots and she moved to Pittsburgh, launching Courdance, a project-based dance company dedicated to the creation and presentation of contemporary dance.
Kaitlin’s choreographic work has been presented at Ailey Citigroup Theater, Society for Contemporary Craft, Cedar Crest College, Keshet Dance + Center for the Arts, Ohio University, Dogtown Dance Theater, Urbanity Dance, Triskelion Arts, and the Carnegie Museum of Art. She is a 2018 recipient of Keshet Dance + Center for the Arts MakersSpace Experience (Albuquerque) and Urbanity Dance Choreographic Fellowship (Boston). Kaitlin is passionate about dance in public spaces. As a community dance organizer and teaching artist, she has taught for many organizations and created collaborations with Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Public Schools, Point Park University, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Jewish Community Center of Pittsburgh, Chicago Public Schools, Westinghouse Arts Academy Charter High School, Wilkinsburg Children's Library, and Youth Alliance Yoga. She is one of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s ‘13 Luminaries to Meet in 2020’, the site director of Global Water Dances Pittsburgh, and was the regional director and presenter of NACHMO, an annual choreographic challenge presented each January, for three seasons. Kaitlin currently lives in Chicago, manages the dance program at Morton Grove Park District, and is mom to wild and beautiful Winnie.
