​

Susanne (Susie) McHugh (she/her) is a Queens-based dancer, choreographer, and mental health advocate originally from Philadelphia. She earned her BFA in Dance from the University of the Arts in 2014, where she received the Nadia Chilkousky Award for Creativity and Dance-Making for her senior thesis, Choke. In 2018, she participated in the inaugural Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellows Program at Jacob’s Pillow, which inspired her to establish her company Susie McHugh + Dancers.

 

Since then, McHugh has participated in programs and residencies with Mare Nostrum Elements, New Dance Alliance, CHEN Dance Center, and LaRussa Dance Theatre, and was a 2024 EmergeNYC Flagship Fellow at Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Her choreography has been presented at venues throughout New York City and Philadelphia and supported by grants including the NYFA City Artist Corps Grant (2021), the Barbara and Carl Zydney Grant for Artists with Disabilities (2021), and the NYFA Queens Art Fund New Work Grant (2026).

 

McHugh’s artistic practice explores mental health, informed by her own experience as a peer. Alongside her work as a choreographer and art director, she serves as the Helpline Manager at NAMI NYC, where she continues her mental health advocacy work outside of the arts.