American choreographer, dance artist and future psychologist from Kansas City, Missouri. Kostas attended the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) Conservatory of Music and Dance along with training abroad at The London Contemporary Dance School. Haley’s choreographic works have been presented and commissioned by Kansas City Ballet, UMKC Dance Conservatory, Charlotte Street Foundation, 21c Museum Hotel, Creative Intersections x Owen/Cox Dance Group, MashUp Dance Company, tbd Dance Collective, Laguna Dance Festival and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. 

A past recipient of a two year studio residency at Charlotte Street Foundation, and current Artist-In-Residence at Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts.

Kostas has trained nationally at Sidra Bell’s Module at Center for Performance Research, Peter Chu’s Chuthis Movement Intensive, Springboard Danse, Gaga intensive at USC Kaufman School of Dance, and internationally with Punchdrunk and Hofesh Shechter Company intensive at Sadler's Wells in England. 

Kostas is also a past winner of ArtsKC’s Inspiration Grant for her film, “Conversation Between Bodies,'' which premiered at MdW Fair at MANA Contemporary in Chicago 2022. Along with being a past winner of Rocket Grants, funded by Andy Warhol Foundation for RubiX, a collaborative performance outlet merging music, movement and visual arts, which landed a 2019 residency at 21c Museum Hotel in Kansas City. Most recently Kostas was nominated for her practice for the 2024 United States Artist Fellowship, and was the winner of Charlotte Street Foundation’s 2024 Generative Performing Artist Award Fellowship. 

Kostas has worked alongside internationally recognized choreographers to create new works and large-scale productions, such as live performances for The Juilliard School and the TV series SYTYCD. 

Professionally, she has danced in works by a diverse range of choreographers and companies including Aszure Barton, Peter Chu, Justin Giles, Marguerite Derricks (Nip/Tuck), Jaci Royal (Royal Flux), Andrew Winghart and Odyssey Dance Theater. She has collaborated with musical artists such as Quiet Takes, Katy Perry, Capital Cities, Flight of the Conchords and Britney Spears. Kostas has also made her mark in the film industry as a choreographer in the feature DanceOff and is a conversation-starting contributor for {DIYdancer} Magazine.

As an educator she has taught both nationally and internationally for studios and programs, such as Harbour Dance Center, EDGE Performing Arts Center, SoulEscape, The Place, Youth America Grand Prix, Kansas University, Wylliams Henry Contemporary Dance Company, Salt2 Contemporary Dance and University of North Carolina School of The Arts. She has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Dance Conservatory, and has been an Instructor and Guest Choreographer at the Kansas City Ballet since 2014. 

Kostas continues to study psychology as a way to expand her own movement research through the combination and intersection of movement, color and psychology. Most recently she’s been developing KOSTAS, a movement creation company, which will be performing at In The Lowest Ferns in collaboration with their new residency, Infinite Frequencies. She has also been fusing her talents into a new brand, Wiggle Wears that will launch Summer 2025.

Her latest work ‘Circle Back’, was a co-creation with Caroline Dahm for Kansas City Ballet’s 2024 New Moves program, along with presenting ‘Fool’, a special commission for The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art for their exhibition of Niki de Saint Phalle: Rebellion and Joy.