Minnesota roots: meet the artists
Some of the dancers on the Fall Forward stage this weekend GREW UP in Minnesota, went on to some of the world's most respected companies, and came home.
Alexander HILLE
Alexander grew up in Minnesota, trained at the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, and earned his BFA from Juilliard. From there: principal roles with Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Benjamin Millepied's Los Angeles Dance Project, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and Cirque du Soleil.
Since 2020, he's danced with Munich's Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, where he lives with his husband and dance partner, Pier-Loup Lacour. But he's never let go of home — returning year after year to set work and teach.
For Fall Forward, he created something new: a world-premiere ensemble, The City Knows Your Name, choreographed specifically for this festival. In this work, Hille turns his attention toward home, reflecting on a city marked by recent unrest, but also by resilience, collective memory, and the quiet pride of those who continue to call it home.
He and Pier-Loup also perform a duet.
KAITLYN GILLILAND
Kaitlyn was, in a sense, born into Twin Cities dance. Her grandmother, Loyce Houlton, founded Minnesota Dance Theatre; her mother, Lise Houlton, led it for decades. Kaitlyn trained with both before carrying the family name to New York City Ballet, where she danced from 2006 to 2011 and was named the company's 2010 Janice Levin Dancer. She went on to become a celebrated interpreter of Twyla Tharp's work, appearing in the Bessie Award–winning revival of In The Upper Room.
In 2024, she came home — founding A Dancer's Place Productions to build performing opportunities for local dancers, reinvesting the legacy she was raised in back into the community that made her.
This weekend, Kaitlyn performs in Alexander Hille's world premiere, The City Knows Your Name.
PIER-LOUP
Originally from Montreal, Pier-Loup began his career with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens before joining Ballets Jazz de Montréal. He has performed with Cirque du Soleil Events and Les 7 Doigts, later moving to Germany to dance with the Gärtnerplatztheater in Munich and Richard Siegal's Ballet of Difference in Cologne. His collaboration with choreographer Andonis Foniadakis includes performances across Greece and the restaging of Kosmos in the United States and Germany. He is currently a member of Ballet of Difference at the Staatstheater Nuremberg.
L’amour et la Violence
A room that remembers. Two figures return to the same place, though nothing is where they left it. They search for one another through echoes, habit, and the invisible architecture of a life built together. Beneath the tenderness lies the quiet violence of time, change, and the courage to be truly seen. What remains is not certainty, but the mysterious decision to reach for one another once again.
Fall Forward Festival
Weekend 2
AUGUST 20 - August 23
Luminary Arts Center
