Amber Willett is a choreographer based in Spokane, Washington. She makes contemporary ballets and other dance projects for a range of international dance companies.
Choreography
Willett’s commissions include Apex for Convergence Ballet Theatre, Romeo & Juliet for City Opera Ballet, La Reponse for Seattle International Dance Festival, and Hart Island for the Village Theater.
She has served as Choreographer-in-residence for Inztanz International Center for Dance in Tübingen, Germany, and as a recipient of the Body-Space-Time residency at the University of Washington Dance department.
Collaborations have included her Neighborhood Nutcracker Project, Seattle Pacific University Orchestra, The Guild Dance Company, and Roger Fisher (Hart) music video.
Training and Teaching
Born in Denver, Colorado, Willett trained at Belliston Academy of Ballet and with Makhatelli Ballet School, where she worked with artists such as Jessica Lang, Kim Robards, Amy Earnest, Lance Harding. She was a finalist and scholarship recipient at the Denver Ballet Guild Young Dancers Competition. Her training includes summer intensive courses at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Ballet Magnificat, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. After graduating high school, she moved to Seattle, WA to dance in the Professional Division program at Pacific Northwest Ballet on scholarship, where she danced in ballets such as Kent Stowell's Nutcracker, George Balanchine's Midsummer Night's Dream, and Balanchine's Who Cares?.
Her performance career includes dancing with Whim W'him (Olivier Weavers), and as a company member with Sonia Dawkins Prism Dance Theater, where she worked with artists from companies such as New York City Ballet (Stephanie Saland), Netherlands Dance Theater (Maurice Causey), Alonzo King Lines Ballet (Keelan Whitmore & Meredith Webster), and Alvin Ailey Dance (Anthony Burell).
She served for 8 years on faculty as a Ballet and Modern Dance teacher at Pacific Northwest Ballet. She lives in Spokane, Washington with her poet husband.