Noelle Kayser is an award-winning choreographer, director, and multi-disciplinary performer based in Chicago. She is the inaugural resident choreographer for Open Space, a Whim W’him Choreographic Shindig winner, the 2025 BalletX Choreographic Fellow, a 2026 Ballet Collective Commission for Developing Choreographers recipient, and a Jacob’s Pillow Choreography Fellow. Noelle has created work for companies including Dance Aspen, MADCO, Visceral Dance Chicago, Ballet Arkansas, and SALT among many others. She has served as Ballet Mistress at the Lyric Opera, was the founding rehearsal director and administrator for PARA.MAR Dance Theatre (2022 Dance Magazine Top 25 to Watch), and named one of NewCity Magazines, “The 50 People Who Really Perform for Chicago”. Noelle’s short dance film “dust”—produced by Open Space—has been screened in Germany, Sweden, Greece, South Korea, Mexico, Italy, London, and throughout the US. Noelle is currently the Artistic Liaison for South Chicago Dance Theatre.
In addition to her choreographic work, Noelle has performed works by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, Ihsan Rustem, Wen Wei Wang, Danielle Agami, Robyn Mineko Williams, Kevin O’Day, and Alice Klock, among others. She has had the privilege of dancing with companies such as NW Dance Project, LED Boise, Open Space, The Cambrians, and Visceral Dance Chicago among others. She has taught for organizations such as Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the Goodman Theatre, and Visceral Dance Chicago. As an actor, Noelle has narrated 16 audiobooks for Audible, appeared in advertising campaigns, and performed in stage productions at The Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and The Alliance Theatre among others. Most recently, she won the 2024 Jeff Award for Best Ensemble for her performance as Selene in The Penelopiad at The Goodman Theatre, and starred in Anna Long’s short film Death in the Desert (Best Actress in a Short at the Idyllwild Film Festival & Best Short Drama at the Breckenridge Film Festival).
