Kitty McNamee

Kitty McNamee is a highly-regarded choreographer, earning distinction from Dance Magazine as an artist with “an outsize talent for that most elusive gift, originality.” Kitty began her career as the Artistic Director of Hysterica Dance Company, a consistently prolific and creative collective that redefined dance in Los Angeles. Kitty’s career has successfully spanned live performance, television, and film. She finds her work across genres to be incredibly invigorating; the cross-pollination from low to high art fuels her creativity. The LA Times declares her work “exciting and distinctive” with “a serious dose of beauty and depth.” Recent work includes choreography for Tales of Hoffman (LA Opera), A New Kind of Strong Campaign (Target), Secret Cinema’s live performances with Laura Marling (London), the World Premiere of Colony Collapse (Oregon Shakespeare Festival - World Premiere), and The Fantasticks (Pasadena Playhouse).

Kitty loves working with actors and is known for her ability to draw out organically nuanced performances. She has coached and choreographed for Paz Vega, Julianne Hough, Margaret Cho, Vanessa Williams, Vittorio Grigolo, Lily Tomlin, Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazon, the men of 90210, and the women of The L-Word. Kitty has loved choreographing Beautiful and Twisted, Petals on the Wind, and Lizzie Borden for Lifetime. She has also created movement for music artists Laura Marling, Belly, Fono, Josh Kelley, Kait Weston, Kinky, Hecuba, Nicole Turley, Henry Wolfe, and Ariana Delawari. Recent stage work includes RIFT (Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music), the creation of the new ballets Traces and Transit (National Choreographer's Initiative), and Colony (LA Ballet). Kitty collaborated with music icon Easy Mike to create a new hip-hop ballet of On the Waterfront for Muse/ique. She has a long and fruitful relationship with the LA Philharmonic where she has choreographed, directed, and developed new productions, including Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Wing on Wing.

Select Credits Include: Tales of Hoffman, Lucia de Lammermoor, Don Carlo, La Rondine (LA Opera), La Traviata (LA Opera, San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera), Romeo and Juliette (LA Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago). Select Clients Include: Target, Mercedes-Benz, Adobe, GreyAnt, Uniqlo, Proactiv, Wynn Hotels, Devlinhair/Novartis, Flash on the Beach, MADD, Hexbug, Magic Sofa.