Kinetic Reaction is an interdisciplinary dance company exploring the intersection of science, movement, and storytelling. Founded by choreographer Katherine Marotta, the company turns scientific ideas into contemporary dance, so audiences can feel complex concepts through the body.
Each piece starts with an idea from science, health or the world around us and asks what it looks like in a body.
fₓ = 1/(2π) × √(k/m)
First Shown:May 2026
This piece explores the themes of vibration and natural frequency through movement. After researching the science behind natural frequency and examining a variety of vibration patterns, these concepts were translated into physical choreography. The work investigates how energy travels through the body, how resonance can be embodied, and how subtle shifts in rhythm and force can create dynamic changes in movement quality and intention.
We make connections every day through shared human experiences, but what if these concepts can be abstractly connected to how the entire universe was created and continues to expand? The purpose of this project is to explore the relationship between theoretical physics: specifically, String Theory and the East Asian concept known as Red String Theory, using movement to highlight their shared themes of connection. While researching String Theory out of personal interest, I noticed striking parallels between the scientific idea of interconnected vibrating strings that connect the entire universe and the cultural belief that people are bound together by an invisible red thread. This discovery inspired the thematic foundation of the piece, which blends scientific principles with human emotion and storytelling.
Creative Process
First Shown:November 2025
This choreographic work explores the parallels between architecture and dance, inspired by years of conversations with my father about architectural design on the way to dance class. Through research and conversations with architects, I translate their creative processes and designs into movement, using spatial patterns, structure, and descriptive qualities drawn from architectural styles. The piece highlights architecture as an art form, emphasizing that designers are artists who simply work in a different medium. By incorporating visual materials such as drawings and renderings alongside movement, the work celebrates creativity as an interdisciplinary experience present in everyday life.
Side Effects May Include
First Shown:May 2025
This piece communicates the 2012 New England Compounding Center (NECC) outbreak, in which contaminated steroid injections were distributed to patients across the United States, resulting in more than 750 infections and over 100 deaths. The choreography explores how failures in pharmaceutical safety and regulatory oversight can transform a medical treatment intended to help patients into a source of widespread harm. By translating the outbreak into physical expression, the piece emphasizes the real human consequences of inadequate safeguards and the critical role of FDA oversight in preventing contaminated medications from reaching patients.
Omerta
First Shown:November 2024
This piece was created to explore the themes and principles associated with the Italian Mafia, including loyalty, honor, family, secrecy, and power. While the Mafia is often portrayed in famous films and popular culture, the values, codes of conduct, and complex relationships that shape its internal structure are not always fully explored. Through movement, the piece examines these underlying principles and the tensions between loyalty, personal identity, and the consequences of living by such a code.
The Outside
First Shown:November 2024
This piece explores dissociative disorders as distinct mental health conditions rather than complications that exist only alongside other diagnoses. Through movement, the choreography examines the experience of disconnection from oneself, one’s surroundings, or one’s sense of identity. The piece aims to bring attention to the complexity of dissociation and challenge the misconception that it must always be associated with another mental health condition to be understood or recognized.
Vero Se
First Shown:November 2023
This piece was created to raise awareness of body dysmorphia within the dance industry, where the pressure surrounding appearance and body image can deeply affect dancers’ relationships with themselves. “Vero Se,” meaning “true self,” explores the journey toward self-acceptance and learning to see oneself beyond external expectations. Throughout the piece, the dancers remove their T-shirts as a symbol of shedding negative self-perceptions and embracing their authentic selves. The work hopes to encourage open conversations about body image and create space for dancers to feel more comfortable and confident in their own bodies.
About
Where the arts and sciences meet
Kinetic Reaction Dance Company is an interdisciplinary dance company exploring the intersection of science, movement, and storytelling. Founded by choreographer Katherine Marotta, the company transforms scientific concepts, questions, and discoveries into physical experiences through contemporary dance.
Drawing from Marotta’s background in both dance and biology, Kinetic Reaction creates work inspired by subjects ranging from natural frequency and physics to neuroscience, biomedical ethics, and the human body. Rather than illustrating science literally, the company uses movement to investigate how scientific ideas can be felt, interpreted, and experienced through the body.
Kinetic Reaction is committed to interdisciplinary collaboration and creating work that invites audiences to engage with science from a new perspective. Through movement, music, visual design, and storytelling, the company seeks to make complex ideas accessible, thought-provoking, and deeply human.
Katherine Marotta is a New York City-based dancer and choreographer who uses movement to explore and express scientific ideas. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Dean College with a BA in Dance and Biology, where her interdisciplinary practice developed through choreography exploring concepts including natural frequency, Newton’s Laws, and biomedical ethics.
Her choreography has been presented at Dean College, Arts Mosaic, The Dance Complex, Arts On Site, and Spoke the Hub. Her training includes the Limón Training Program, Paul Taylor Company Summer Intensive, Limón Intensive, and AMassiT Choreography Mentorship.
Katherine is interested in interdisciplinary collaboration and the ways choreography can translate scientific concepts into physical and emotional experiences. She aims to create work that invites audiences to engage with science through movement, storytelling, and embodied experience.
The Moving Scientist
Follow Katherine's journey as a young choreographer, from the science behind each piece to life as a 22-year-old building a dance company.
Kelsie is currently a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science as well as an Associate of Arts. She is performance driven and has gotten many opportunities to perform and choreograph within Dean College as well as outside of school. She continues to seek any and all performance opportunities to keep her passion and love for dance alive and to tell a story through movement.
Julia is currently in her senior year, pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in performance. While in pursuit of her degree, she has been able to perform and choreograph for showcases at Dean College, as well as outside performances not affiliated with the school. Through her studies, she has also been able to refine her teaching approach allowing for her to continue sharing the love and joy of dance in any way she can.
Pieces
Creative Process
fₓ = 1/(2π) × √(k/m)
Will Williams
Will Williams is a dancer from Ames, Iowa. He began his training at Robert Thomas Dancenter and has since studied ballet and contemporary among many other styles. He has attended summer intensives by NYCDA and Steps on Broadway. Will is currently a student at Dean College where he continues to build on his classical technique, explore movement, and prepare for a career in dance.
David is a sophomore in college on track to obtain his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance with a concentration in performance. He aims to inspire community and a sense of self-worth with his dancing and convict emotions out of those watching. Throughout his years of training, he has had the opportunity to work with world-renowned choreographers like Barak Marshall, Zak Ryan Schlegel, Yusha Marie Sorzano, and Carmen Rozestraten to name a few. At Dean College he has been given ample opportunities to perform and strengthen his artistry.
Pieces
fₓ = 1/(2π) × √(k/m)
Side Effects May Include
Summer Lee Edwards
Hi, I’m Summer Lee! I’m a commercial dance major at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee and have been dancing since I was 3 years old. I’m passionate about performing, choreography, and sharing my journey as a dancer through creative movement and lifestyle content.
Daniella Molinaro is currently a senior Dance major with a minor in Psychology at Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts. While being a part of performances and events such as Choreographer's Concert, Faculty Showcase, Fall Dance Concert, and more at Dean, Daniella also teaches various styles of dance classes at local recreational studios. She believes dance is a way to express emotions, ideas, and information, as well as a visceral way to connect through differences and experiences.
Kinetic Reaction
