MARY KATE SHEEHAN

is a modern and contemporary dance artist and teacher currently based in Athens, Greece. She is from San Diego, CA, where she trained in ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, pointe, theater, tap, hip hop, and Irish dance at the Academy of Performing Arts under the direction of Kevin Patterson and Liam Harney. She trained at the Joffrey Ballet School and performed professionally in New York City for 8 years. Mary Kate holds a B. A. in Performing Arts with an emphasis in Dance from St. Mary's College of California.

Mary Kate has performed with many acclaimed companies and choreographers including Yvonne Rainer, KEIGWIN + COMPANY, and Sean Curran Company at theaters including Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, and New York City Center. She has performed Yvonne Rainer's seminal work Trio A (among other works) at MoMA in New York City and the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin as well as Rainer's Parts of Some Sextets for the Performa19 Biennial in Brooklyn. Mary Kate has also performed the work of Sidra Bell, Pat Catterson, Tyler Gilstrap, Marlena Wolfe, Darrah Carr, Shelly Hutchinson, M. Eugenia Demeglio, and more. She is a long-time collaborator, teacher, and performer with Julia Ehrstrand/Ehrstrand Dance Collective, and she is the General Manager of Sidra Bell Dance New York.    

Mary Kate has performed in the USA, Mexico, Sweden, Ireland, Ghana, Cyprus, Greece, and Taiwan and has taught students of all ages in New York City, Sweden, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, Greece, Taiwan, Mexico, Japan, and South Africa in professional, pre-professional, and outreach settings. In NYC, she taught at both STEPS on Broadway and Peridance Capezio Center. She currently teaches Contemporary, Jazz, Tap, and Irish Dance at the Professional School of Dance at Athens Conservatoire (Ωδείο Αθηνών) as well as Jazz in the pre-professional school.

Mary Kate has collaborated with Brooklyn-based multi-media immersive performance company The Windmill Factory (Artistic Director Jon Morris) in many capacities: as Choreographer’s Assistant to Tyler Gilstrap, as performer, and as Dance Captain including for installation events at Panorama Music Festival in New York City in 2016 and 2017.  

Mary Kate is a highly-acclaimed champion Irish step dancer, trained by Liam Harney and Michelle Malone-Chiles. Part of her professional work has included the integration of Irish dance and music with contemporary dance.  

In 2021, Mary Kate completed her 200hr Yoga Teacher Training with Love Story Yoga of San Francisco, CA under the direction of Stephanie Snyder, Susannah Freedman, and Jason Crandell with an emphasis in bhakti yoga and philosophy. She is currently in the process of completing her 300hr Teacher Training with Jason Crandell with an emphasis in functional anatomy and sequencing.

CV

*EXTENDED CV AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST*

COMPANIES

Yvonne Rainer (Yvonne Rainer, Artistic Director) Dancer

KEIGWIN + COMPANY (Larry Keigwin, Artistic Director) Dancer

Seán Curran Company (Seán Curran, Artistic Director) Dancer

Ehrstrand Dance Collective (Julia Ehrstrand, Artistic Director) Dancer, Rehearsal Director

the Wolfe project (Marlena Wolfe, Artistic Director) Dancer, Rehearsal Director

Darrah Carr Dance (Darrah Carr, Artistic Director) Dancer, Rehearsal Director

TunanuT (Tyler Gilstrap, Artistic Director) Dancer, Rehearsal Director

Hutchinson Collaborative (Shelly Hutchinson, Artistic Director) Dancer, Rehearsal Director

Sidra Bell Dance New York (Sidra Bell, Artistic Director) Company Manager

MAJOR STAGE PERFORMANCES

Parts of Some Sextets (1965) (Yvonne Rainer) Performa19 Biennial New York City (Gelsey Kirkland Performing Arts Center)

Yvonne Rainer: Early Dances 1961-1969 (Trio A with Flags, Talking Solo, We Shall Run, Chair-Pillow) (Yvonne Rainer) Judson Dance Theater: The Work is Never Done at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA, NYC)

Trio A, Talking Solo, and Chair/Pillow (Yvonne Rainer) Dublin Dance Festival, Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin, Ireland)

Canvas (Larry Keigwin) New York City Center, Vail Dance Festival: ReMix NYC

Dream'd In A Dream (Seán Curran) (Swing) Brooklyn Academy of Music Harvey Theater

Les Fêtes de l’Hymen et de l’Amour (Seán Curran) Opera Lafayette at John F. Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center

No. 30 & Platform 1 (Julia Ehrstrand) Pingtung Performing Arts Center (Taiwan)

Victory Dance (Darrah Carr Dance) New Victory Theater on 42nd Street

Dingle Diwali (2012 Bessie Nominee) (Seán Curran) Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out

Dansforum Festival (Julia Ehrstrand, Festival Director) Viksjöforsbaletten (Sweden)

TELEVISION / FILM / INSTALLATIONS

Prohairesis Dance Film with RAREdancework (Artistic Direction Rebecca Arends, Cinematography Chrysanthi Badeka) with 2024 Festival Release

Panorama Music Festival 2017 Dancer and Dance Captain in spatial installation Right Passage

(Created by The Windmill Factory with choreography by TunanuT Productions)

Panorama Music Festival 2016 Dancer for film animation with The Windmill Factory, TunanuT, & Invisible Light Network

So You Think You Can Dance Ukraine Assistant Choreographer to Shelly Hutchinson

So You Think You Can Dance Season 8 Semi-Finalist

Good Morning America Dancer/ Extra

TEACHING

Athens Conservatoire | ΩΔΕΙΟΝ ΑΘΗΝΩΝ (Greece)

Contemporary, Jazz, Tap, and Irish Dance Faculty

Seed Dance Company Winter Workshop (Taiwan)

Contemporary Master Class Instructor for Ehrstrand Dance Collective

Peridance Capezio Center (NYC)

Modern and Contemporary Faculty for Open Classes & Pre-Professional Training Program

STEPS on Broadway (NYC)

Contemporary Faculty

Balettakademien Göteborg (Sweden)

Modern, Contemporary, Partnering, & Repertoire Guest Faculty

Balettakademien Stockholm (Sweden)

Modern Dance Guest Faculty

Viksjöforsbaletten (Sweden)

Program Director Fall 2017, Lead Instructor, & Outreach Teacher

New York Dance Project (Davis Robertson, Artistic Director) (NYC and Florence, Italy)

Modern, Contemporary, & Yoga Faculty

Cape Academy of Performing Arts (Cape Town, South Africa)

Guest Modern Teacher and Repetitor

REHEARSAL DIRECTING

José Limón Dance Company

    Rehearsal Assistant to Seán Curran in the creation of Nocturnes for Ancestors (2013) (Premiere at the Joyce Theater NYC) (Under the direction of Carla Maxwell)

Montclair State University

Rehearsal Director for The Collective by choreographer Tyler Gilstrap for Works-A-Foot 2013

Battlefield (Choreographed by Robert Battle)

    Rehearsal Director to Tyler Gilstrap in setting on Joffrey Ballet School Pre-Professional Company (2014) and Young Dance Makers Company (2016)

New York Dance Project (Davis Robertson, Artistic Director)

Rehearsal Director for choreographer Tyler Gilstrap

the Wolfe project (Marlena Wolfe, Artistic Director)

Rehearsal Director for all company work for the Wolfe project 2013-2015

Big Data 2.0 Tour (North American Tour)

Rehearsal Director with choreographer Tyler Gilstrap in collaboration with The Windmill Factory

MISCELLANEOUS

International Champion Irish Step Dancer, Company Manager, Public Speaking, Driver’s License (Manual and Automatic Driving Experience), Singing, Greek language, Basic Spanish language, Basic French language, Basic Swedish language, USA and EU Passports and Citizenship