Kathleen Rea
Kathleen Rea has been teaching dance and dancing professionally for over 30 years. She danced with Canada’s Ballet Jorgen, National of Canada & Tiroler Landestheater (Austria) as well as freelanced. Kathleen has been and continues to be a faculty member at George Brown College's dance program since 1999. Currently, she also teaches movement at Centennial College Acting Program.
She is the founder and director of REAson d’etre dance, a not-for-profit dance company based in Toronto, Canada. REAson d’etre dance produces a weekly dance jam in Toronto, Contact Dance International Film Festival, and dance-theatre productions.
She has choreographed over 40 dance works and has been nominated for 5 DORA awards. Kathleen has a Master’s in Expressive Arts Therapy with a minor in Psychology and a Psychology certificate from Toronto Metropolitan University. She is the author of “The Healing Dance” published by Charles C. Thomas. Kathleen was a registered Psychotherapist in private practice for 17 years and recently left her private practice to peruse the Moving Breath Project.
Being on the autism spectrum she also identifies as being neuro-atypical and works to educate the world about neurodiversity. While having autism brings with is challenges it also strengthens Kathleen's ability to see details and patterns in both movement, breath, and emotional expression which add to her work.
She has a passion for functional movement and is a certified teacher of the Axis Syllabus. She started on this journey of study after her dance career left her with numerous chronic injuries. Through a slow process of learning to move functionally, she was able to regain her ability to dance. It is a joy for her to pass on a "user guide to the body" so that others can find their own way to arrive at outcomes that support their lives.
Kathleen is passionate about the Buteyko Breath Techniques and practices them daily. They have helped her have enhanced endurance in her dancing and also work to calm her nervous system in the midst of her busy life taking care of her children and running her dance company. Kathleen trained with Patrick McKeown through the Buteyko Breath Clinic and became certified as a teacher in 2022.
Kathleen offers group classes in person in the Toronto area as well as online workshops.