Sarah Hillmer

Sarah Hillmer has more than 20 years of experience in the professional dance world as a dancer, rehearsal director, assistant to choreographers, stager, educator, creator, and arts administrator.

She has worked with the Atlanta Ballet, staibdance, and as a founding member of glo. Hillmer served as a Rehearsal Director at the Atlanta Ballet from 2013-2019 where she forged artistic relationships with Twyla Tharp and Helen Pickett. Hillmer staged work for Twyla Tharp at Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Atlanta Ballet, and her work as a stager and assistant for Helen Pickett have taken her to Alberta Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, New York Theatre Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Scottish Ballet, Smuin Ballet, UArts, and UNCSA.

Hillmer is the Founder and Director of ImmerseATL, a training and mentorship program that serves dancers at pivotal stages in their ever-evolving journey as artists through the Artist Program and the ImmerseATL Collective.

As a choreographer, Hillmer has been commissioned to create work for Atlanta Ballet’s Wabi Sabi, Backside of the Tent Productions, Emory Dance Company, and Admix Project. She has been a co-collaborator with George Staib on two productions; fence in 2019, which was funded by a grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, and Dido & Aeneas in 2023, a collaboration with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra.

As an arts administrator, Hillmer currently serves as staibdance’s Executive Director. During her five-year tenure she has planned and managed six national tours, two world premieres, annual workshops, an annual two-week summer intensive in Sorrento, Italy, (MC)2-Atlanta’s first multi-cultural dance festival, as well as a docuseries based on (MC)2 and a podcast series, Secret Architecture: the process of process.

Additionally, Hillmer serves as Business Operations Manager for Windmill Arts, an organization dedicated to the advancement of new work in the arts.