KATI PAYNE
Kati Payne is a collaborator, performer, stage manager, writer, and lifelong student. Kati’s practice of writing imaginary dances that was handed down to her from Barbie Diewald urges her to investigate translations back and forth between dance and text. Her background in production management and technical theatre bleeds into all of her work, and has historically brought her into contact with the dearest of collaborators, team mates, and friends, all of whom she considers genius.
The Swimmer by Kati Payne (Image courtesy of the artist)
As an alumna of Pioneer Valley Performing Arts, Kati was honored to perform Bill. T Jones' Continuous Replay for the first time under the direction of Stuart Singer and Paul Matteson (2013). She revisited the work again at the American Dance Festival under Shayla-Vie Jenkins (2019). Kati has also trained and performed with Vertigo Dance Company’s International Dance Program in Jerusalem, Israel. She has been featured in works and repertory by Nacera Belaza at Danspace Project, Vertigo Dance Company, Summation Dance, James Morrow / THE MOVEMENT, Sidra Bell, Dante Brown, Shakia Johnson, and in Saleka Shyamalan’s music video Clarity. Kati maintains an ongoing and decidedly non-culminating collaboration with London-based maker Anna Dighero, and her reviews have been published by East London Dance.
Kati earned her BFA in Dance Performance in the spring of 2021 from the University of the Arts, under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield. She is currently based in Western Massachusetts where she has a close working relationship with her mentor Jennifer Polins, and Polins’ School for Contemporary Dance & Thought. She is a resident stage and project manager at Down Right Productions.
