Kate Harpootlian is a director, choreographer and screenwriter whose sharp storytelling ranges from darkly comedic to beautifully heart-rending. A restless pursuit for personal challenge and growth has led to a wide-ranging career that has given her the skills to glide effortlessly between the different mediums of producing visual narratives. Whether as a creator of movement, cinematic visuals, or written words, Kate excels in the creation of story.

Kate began her career as a professional dancer with credits that include Shaping Sound Dance Company, JLO AMA’s, Carrie Underwood’s “Something in the Water,” Dancing with the Stars, Merce Cunningham’s "Inlets II", Boardwalk Empire, Ellen, SYTYCD Season 12, Billy Bell’s Lunge Dance Collective, works by Jason Parsons, and In The Heights.

Although Kate excelled in her career as professional dancer, her true love was always choreography. She was the runner-up at the Capezio Ace awards for choreography in 2016 and was given the opportunity to premiere her work, Better Late Than Never, at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, which was later brought to Jacob’s Pillow’s Inside Out Festival. Her choreography credits include Insitu Site Specific Festival, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, Martha Graham Next Wave Festival, Steps Performance Lab, Lindenwood University, John Hopkins Peabody Conservatory, and assistant choreographer of the The Wrong Man at MCC Theatre.

As the pandemic shut down much of the dance industry, Kate decided to take on a new challenge and enrolled at The New School. She graduated a year early in 2022, summa cum laude with a degree in film production. Her short film “Anyone Who Knows” has played at numerous festivals including Cinequest, San Francisco Dance Film Festival, Indie Memphis, Portland Film Festival and was a finalist at Dance Camera West. She has two other short films, “At First Sight” and “Artifice”, hitting the festival circuit in 2024.  Her script, How To Start A Cult, was the comedy genre selection for the ISA Fast Track Fall fellowship and a top ten finalist for Cinequest.