Catherine Coury – co-founder and co-director of Marcat Dance and Festival Vildanza – is a principal dancer and the creative assistant of choreographer Mario Bermúdez, as well as a Gaga teacher (Ohad Naharin ´s Movement Language) and Ilan Lev Practitioner.

Her interpretation as a dancer for Marcat Dance has been recognized with several awards such as “Best Female Contemporary Dancer” at the Escenarios de Sevilla (2023), the Lorca Awards (2023) and the PAD Awards in Seville (2020).  She is the recipient of the 2024 Paul Boylan Award from the University of Michigan.

Dedicated to dance education, in 2019 Catherine began the first-ever Study Abroad Program with the University of Michigan in Spain, where students from the United States join professional European dancers to learn the Marcat Dance repertoire and technique.

Prior to Marcat Dance, Catherine lived and worked in New York City for five years freelancing with choreographers Shen Wei and  Shannon Gillen. As a performer she toured internationally in venues including the Lincoln Center (NYC), Art Basel (Miami), Festival de Danse (Cannes), and Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre (Moscow), among others. As a dance administrator, Catherine played an integral role in the development of Andrea Miller’s Gallim Dance and The Playground NYC. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Catherine received her BFA from the University of Michigan.