Kailee McMurran is an award winning dance filmmaker who resides in Portland, Oregon. She is also the founder and director of Portland Dance Film Fest, a multi-day dance film festival that curates and screens submitted films from around the world.
Kailee spent her formative years in Alaska, studying ballet and competing in gymnastics for 11 years. She holds a degree in Graphic Design from Western Oregon University where she also danced nationally & internationally as a principal with Rainbow Dance Theatre under the co-direction of former Pilobolus dancer Darryl Thomas & former Merce Cunningham dancer Valerie Bergman. Notable performances include the 2011 World Expo in Shanghai, China and the gala performance of the American College Dance Festival.
In 2011 she co-founded SubRosa Dance Collective, a women-ran collective that produced five evening length performances, three dance films (including Trussed, awarded Best Film at Richmond Dance Festival, and Unfolding, which received an honorable mention at Jacksonville Dance Festival, the Audience Award at Portland Dance Film Fest, and screened in over 20 festivals), all while contributing to the Portland arts community.
Kailee has been performing with Do Jump since 2011, a physical theatre company that uses circus, comedy, joy, and acrobatics. In 2012 she performed on a broadway tour consisting of 36 shows at the New Victory Theater in Times Square.
She also runs a stationery and watercolor business called Selkie Stationery
She did all of this while holding a handstand, where she is happiest.