Kathleen McAree

Kathleen McAree is the Founder of Relevé Connect, a curated professional platform for the dance industry, and a dance artist whose career of more than 25 years has moved through nearly every room the industry has: the studio, the stage, the film set, the university classroom and the adjudicator's table.

She began training at The Harlem School of the Arts at twelve, and at fifteen came to Englewood, New Jersey, to study under Roberta Mathes, the teacher who shaped her and who today serves on Relevé's Honorary Founding Board. A scholarship student at Steps on Broadway, Kathleen later returned to teach at The School at Steps. She studied dance at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts before earning her BFA from Montclair State University, and holds certification in American Ballet Theatre's National Training Curriculum, Primary through Level 3.

Her performance work includes appearing as a featured dancer in Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way, starring Al Pacino, performing in an MTV London music video, and touring Australia with Dance Across the Dateline in 1997.

From 1999 to 2013 she taught at Queensborough Community College, City University of New York, rising from adjunct to full-time Lecturer in Dance. With Emily Berry, she co-directed the QCC Dance Ensemble, bringing guest artists including Robert Battle and Keith Thompson to work with students. She has presented on dance at the New York State AHPERD conference and adjudicates throughout the tri-state area.

She owned and directed Dance Education Unlimited from 2001 to 2005. As Master Class Series Director for the Elan Awards, working alongside producer Bruce Robert Harris, she directed master classes during seasons honoring Susan Stroman, Jerry Mitchell, Bebe Neuwirth and Rob Marshall.

Relevé Connect grew out of what she saw from inside those rooms: gifted artists whose training, experience and creative work were rarely treated as the professional assets they are. Relevé exists so that dance professionals are seen, valued, marketed, protected and monetized, and so their work can be licensed long after their bodies can no longer perform or teach it.

Kathleen is a member of the faculty at bergenPAC in Englewood, New Jersey, where in 2024 she served as liaison for its outreach program in the Teaneck public schools. She also contributes to arts outreach programs throughout the Hudson Valley.