HILARY GRUMMAN

Hilary Grumman is a Seattle-based artist, educator, and community organizer. Drawing on training with international practitioners and 15 years of independent floorwork research, Hilary co-founded Undercurrent in 2017 as a dance company committed to nurturing floorwork technique, experiential design, multi-media performance, and care-centered community building.

After growing up in Washington and earning her BFA from CalArts, Hilary pursued floorwork training with Piso Móvil, Psico-Físico, RUBBERBAND, Flying Low, Jorge Crecis, Adam Barruch, Tunç Leech Lisovest Parkour, Ihsan Rustem, Moving Air, Duela-Cemento, A Surprised Body, CONTINUUM, and Ákos Hargitay's Bodyparkour. Deepening her research, she was awarded an Annual Residency at Delfos Danza in Sinaloa, Mexico, a Season Residency at London Contemporary Dance School in the UK, and a Summer Festival Scholarship at ImPulsTanz in Vienna, Austria. Weaving these methods into her own investigations, she has cultivated a cohesive, injury-preventative approach to fluid floorwork sequencing, innovative inversions, and immersive movement exploration. In 2025, she launched the Undercurrent Research Lab, employing five professional dancers to continue to embolden and develop floorwork partnering and movement innovation collaboratively.

Since 2017, Hilary has been an Artist in Residence at Fremont Abbey Arts Center, researching with local artists and leading 2-4 drop-in Undercurrent classes per week. She helps organize social, political, creative, outdoor, and mutual aid events for the community, including retreats, backpacking trips, dancer dinners, public shows, protest caravans, voting support, grocery deliveries, and guest artist residencies. She is a Kawasaki Artist in Residence at the University of Washington and on faculty Cornish College of the Arts at Seattle University. She has led pop-up floorwork workshops globally, including at Festival International de Danza Contemporánea de la Ciudad de México, New York City Center, Mark Morris Dance Center, Peridance Center, AWID Forum Brazil, The Dance Complex Boston, Spectrum Dance Theater, Bodies of Empowerment SF, EDGE in CDMX, Mosswood Hollow Retreat Center, and the 2022-2026 Pro Cohort of Seattle Festival of Dance + Improvisation (FKA Strictly Seattle). She loves hosting workshops with other floorwork practitioners and has had the pleasure of teaming up with Nicole von Arx / NVA & Guests, Babatunji Johnson, Ground Grooves, Rascal Randi, 2nd Best Dance Company, Lavinia Vago, Tom Weinberger, Elia Mrak, RUBBERBAND dancers, et al. She has performed in Seattle, Mazatlán, London, Vienna, Tijuana, Montreal, Lewiston, Valencia, and Los Angeles. Her choreographic commissions include new works for Walk Don’t Run, Velocity Dance Center, University of Washington’s KAIR, CO—, Actualize AiR, Cornish Dance Theater, Seattle Art Fair, Sessions in Place, The Round, Ode at Mini Mart City Park, Kaylee Elizabeth, Studio Current Sessions, Starbucks, and westFEST, and she was previously a collaborative member of Daniel Costa Dance, Yaya by Liv Fauver, and The Royal Society.

In addition to dance, she has worked in the human rights sector since 2011, radicalizing philanthropy practices internationally, advocating for Indigenous-led grassroots movements (including Native Movement and Grassroots Global Justice), contributing to Grassroots International’s Solidarity in Action Host Committee and EDGE’s Global Engagement Lab, and serving as Vice President for the CarEth Foundation. From 2012-2014, she had the honor of working for Wave Books, the beloved poetry publisher of her former teachers Maggie Nelson, Anthony McCann, Harry Dodge, and Eileen Myles. Having grown up living and working at a retreat center, she carries an unwavering respect for and commitment to service as a holistic way to gather and care for others.

Further information about Hilary+Undercurrent’s offerings can be found on our home page.