Patrik Kasper

Patrik Kasper trained under the Vaganova method with his mother, Madame Waltraud Karkar, at the Central Wisconsin School of Ballet. He received a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City and was selected to train with Robert Joffrey at The Joffrey Workshop in San Antonio. He continued his Vaganova training with Irina Kolpakova (Kirov Ballet, American Ballet Theatre) and Vladimir Semenov (Kirov Ballet, American Ballet Theatre), and then went on to train with Joan Lawson (Royal Ballet), Wayne Stewarte (Royal Ballet), Basil Thompson (Royal Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet Company), and Woytec Lowski (English National Ballet, Boston Ballet). He professionally danced and competed for 15 years with companies around the United States performing a wide variety of roles, from classic to neoclassic, and had the opportunity to perform choreography by Balanchine, Petipa, Paul Taylor, Kathryn Pozin, and Margo Sappington. He was a member of the USA Team that traveled to the Varna International Ballet Competition (the olympics of dance), where he and his dance partner placed in the top six and became the first Americans to reach the finals in 10 years.

Separated by Joseph Pilates by only two degrees, Patrik was trained and certified by the world-renowned Pilates instructor Romana Kryzanowska (protege of Joseph Pilates). Patrik owned and operated a Pilates studio in Chicago where he worked with a wide range of clients of all ability levels. When he returned to Wausau in 1997, he pioneered the Pilates movement in the state when he founded the Bodyinform Studio, the first comprehensive Pilates studio to be housed and affiliated with dance training in Wisconsin. There he trained health professionals on the Pilates method for rehabilitation and general wellness, conducted workshops for area companies, and created an exercise program for the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. 

Patrik also joined his family at the Central Wisconsin School of Ballet in 1997. At that time, he assumed co-directorship of the School’s nonprofit organization, Wausau Dance Theatre (WDT). As co-director of WDT, he started Storybook Weekend and produced and directed productions such as Alice in Wonderland, Carnival of the Animals, Sleeping Beauty, and The Tale of Peter Rabbit. For Carnival of the Animals, he directed renowned actors such Tony Randall, Elliot Gould, Danny Glover, and Henry Winkler and was invited to assist Garielle Whittle of New York City Ballet with setting Jerome Robbins’ Circus Polka . He also co-created over 72 masks that were featured in Puppet Magazine and were the subject of an exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. In 2008, he took WDT’s production of Alice in Wonderland on tour throughout the state of Wisconsin. For all of his work with WDT, Patrik was featured in Dance Teacher magazine.  

A highlight of his career with the Central Wisconsin School of Ballet came in 2004 when the School toured in Germany by the invitation of Prince Moritz Landgraf Von Hessen.

More recently, Patrik founded Sneaker Moves, a dance and movement program for K-12 students; he trained with American Ballet Theatre to become an ABT Certified Teacher; and he is part of the team that rewrote the dance curriculum for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. 

He currently serves as Director of both the Central Wisconsin School of Ballet and Wausau Dance Theatre, providing vision, oversight, and instruction for students and instructors alike.