Kate Hilliard
Photo: Sean Rees
Kate Hilliard is an artist, curator and educator. She is the Creative Director at The Orillia Centre for Arts + Culture, fostering programming and residency opportunities for artists across disciplines. Over the years she has cultivated a teaching practice in her own community and in several institutions, including The Stella Adler Studio of Acting in NYC. Kate has instructed at Ryerson University since 2015 and is dedicated to nurturing students in their creative work. She has performed with Le Groupe Dance Lab, The Margie Gillis Dance Foundation, Fortier Danse-Création and was a company member of Dancemakers and The Centre for Creation for five years. After performing Tino Sehgal’s work in several international galleries, Hilliard broke from dance practice to pursue curatorial work with a focus in contemporary performance and visual art. Her own choreography has been commissioned and presented in Canada, the USA, Mexico, and Berlin. Kate’s performance research blends highly codified gestural movement language with improvisation. Her choreographic structures include spoken word, writing, and digital media. At the centre of each choreographic body, Hilliard aims to comment on the experiences that we share in relation to the passing of time. Her 2020 premiere “this happened…” was nominated for The Dora Mavor Moore Award for “Best Original Choreography”. Hilliard studied Art History at The University of Toronto and holds an MFA in Creative Practice from Transart Institute.
Research Interest
Kate’s performance research blends highly codified gestural movement language with improvisation. Her choreographic structures include spoken word and digital media. At the centre of each choreographic body, Hilliard aims to comment on the experiences that we share in relationship to the passing of time.