Originally from Versailles, Cati Jean grew up in Grasse, south of France and studied Ballet with Annie Oggero since the age of 8. She studied extensively with renowned teachers and choreographers from the Nice conservatory, Rosella Hightower and Bruno Vandelli school in Cannes, Rafael Reyes from the Cuban Ballet Company; The Marais School in Paris; and Jacqueline Fynneart, floor barre teacher at the Paris Opera.
She performed a wide range of the classical repertory before studying the Jose Limon and Martha Graham techniques of Modern and Contemporary dance in Paris. Cati has been a guest teacher at many famous schools, including: Bardar in Oslo, Norway; Stockholm Ballet Academy, Sweden; Tokyo Broadway Dance Center, Japan; Harmonique Dance Center, Paris, France; Ema Pulido Dance Center, Mexico City, Mexico; and the Festival of Dance, Perugia, Italy. Cati’s love of dance and years of teaching experience make her an inspiring teacher and has established her as an inventive choreographer.
As a performer, Cati worked in television for 5 years in Paris while performing in the renowned cabaret shows Alcazar de Paris and Le Paradis Latin. Subsequently she lived in Japan for a year where she performed and taught. She later moved to Los Angeles to undertake a scholarship program at the EDGE Performing Arts Center. She also began training in the Aerial Arts, thereby expending her palette of visual dimension and adding to her vocabulary of movement. Cati has worked with artists such as Prince, Bryan Setzer Orchestra, Toni Braxton, Ricky Martin, The Gipsy Kings, East 17, Jay-Z and Tina Turner. She has also worked with Robin Williams and Isaac Hayes at the 72nd Academy Awards and Brian McKnight at the 27th American Music Awards. Her film credits include Ms Santa Claus and Cinderella choreographed by Rob Marshall, featuring Whitney Houston and Brandy ; Three to Tango, Rock Star, Ocean’s Eleven, featuring George Clooney and Brad Pitt; Jag, The Shield and Kiss Kiss, Bang, Bang, featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer.
Cati is the Producer, Creator and Director of the successful French-style cabaret "L’effleur des Sens": www.leffleurdessens.com and the Conceptual artist and Choreographer of the Luxurious Cabaret show in Los Angeles, "Nuit Blanche": https://www.nuitblanche.me She choreographed several acts for Kylie Minogue ‘s world tour 2011 “Aphrodite, les Folies” as well as for the alternative rock band “Janes Addiction” world tour 2011. She choreographed for Carrie Underwood for the Country Music Awards and the American Music Awards 2009 and had the honor to be invited to work with Dita Von Teese at several of her special events in Los Angeles. She judged, choreographed and created the concept for the "Apache" episode of Bravo’s reality dance show, Step It Up and Dance; created aerial choreography for the feature film Powder Blue and trained lead actress Jessica Biel for her dance sequences. She has choreographed for the MGM Grand Hotel, Pepsi and Benson & Hedge commercials, the Spike TV awards, the feature film Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, the television show The Shield and music videos for a variety of artists such as the punk band Rancid, the R&B group Silk, independent performer Arden Kaywin, Genevieve Mariko Wilson and Maiya Sykes. Cati also choreographed for Satellite Party, an alternative rock band conceived by current Jane’s Addiction front man Perry Farrell.
She is an adjunct professor at Santa Monica College and has coached numerous actors including Jordana Spiro (My Boys, TBS), Elisabeth Harnois (One Tree Hill, WB), Nadine Velazquez (My name is Earl, NBC), Madeline Zima (Californication, HBO/Showtime) Ana Ortiz and America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), Sarah Carter (ROGUE, Direct TV; Hawaii, Five-0, CBS), prepared actress Zoe McLellan (NCIS, New Orleans, CBS / Dirty Sexy Money, ABC) for the character of Roxy in the Broadway musical “ Chicago” , and coached Operatic Soprano Shana Blake Hill in the Opera "Carmen" at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. Along the years at SMC, she has developed her personal technique on the "Elements" and "Sense Memory" to help dancers building a deeper sense of themselves and their characters. Cati has develop numerous Neo classical/ Modern choreographies for some young ballerinas for competitions as well as audition for the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Cati is also involved into creating visual numbers for aerialists, directing live shows and filming short dance movies . She is presently the Co-Artistic Director and board member of the Los Angeles International Dance film festival "Dance Camera West".