For the past two decades, Kathleen Wessel has called Atlanta home, home-base, and muse. A Florida native, she began her dance training at the School of Performing Arts outside of Orlando and otherwise grew up outside: in the pool and the ocean, on the track and the tennis court. She moved to Atlanta in 1999 to attend Emory University where she became the University's first female pole vaulter - a short-lived title as her skills were limited and the second female vaulter was much better. Into the studio she went, pursuing an interdisciplinary course of study that included psychology, sociology, and movement practices. After graduation, Kathleen briefly moved to London where she trained at the London Contemporary School and immersed herself in the city's rich artistic landscape. She returned to the U.S. to pursue an MFA in dance performance and choreography from Florida State University, graduating at the top of her class.

Currently, Kathleen is a faculty member in the Department of Dance Performance and Choreography at Spelman College in Atlanta where she teaches courses in Critical Writing for Dance, Choreographic Process, Improvisation, and Contemporary dance technique. She is a contributing dance writer for ArtsATL and Dance Informa publications and continues to choreograph and perform professionally. As a founding member of the Atlanta-based contemporary company Staibdance, Kathleen has traveled to Sorrento, Italy as a faculty member on the annual Staibdance Summer Intensive and Stockholm, Sweden on a teaching residency. Her movement studies have also taken her to Tel Aviv, Israel where she worked with Ohad Naharin and the Batsheva Dance Company. She has taught at Emory University and Oxford College of Emory, where she served as director of Oxford Dance Company for three years. Her choreography has been presented throughout the Southeast and has been twice selected for American College Dance Association Gala concerts.