Artistic Director: Caitlin Brozna-Smith

Caitlin, from Denver Colorado, began her dance and music training at an early age as a supplement for competitive figure skating, studying classical ballet and jazz. After obtaining her B.F.A. in Musical Theatre and Dance from the University of Colorado at Boulder and traveling the world on Semester at Sea, her love of dance and world cultures inspired her to branch out to study more world forms of dance, including Belly Dance, Salsa, African, Brazilian Samba No Pe and Bollywood.

Caitlin went on to receive her Master of Arts in International Affairs & Communication from the University of Denver in 2005.

Caitlin first started her training of Samba no pe in Salvador, Bahia Brazil during her travels in 2001. From there she continued studying the past 13 years with Samba Ottawa & and currently with Sashya Jay. Caitlin has studied with Brazilian Samba masters & professionals Mayara Lima, Mayombe Masai, Evelyn Bastos, Patrick Carvalho, Alvaro Reys, Marcelo Chocolate, Thai Rodrigues, Preta Nascimento, Rodrigo Marques, Mayara Santos, Roangela Silvestre, Dandha Da Hora, Luiz Claudio Martins, and the King of Samba himself Carlinhos do Salgueiro.

In addition to Escola de Samba Denver, Caitlin founded and owns Bella Diva World Dance  in Denver and is currently an Adjunct Professor on faculty at the University of Denver in the Theatre Department and the Lamont School of Music instructing Musical Theatre dance, World Dance, stage movement and choreographing for shows.

To date, Caitlin has traveled to and studied in 38 different countries and hopes to add to that number traveling the world with her family.