She graduated with a degree in drama from Manchester University before going on to study at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq.
Willson founded London-based performance company Clod Ensemble in 1995 with composer Paul Clark and has directed all of their productions to date.
[2] Her performance work sometimes takes inspiration from medical themes and explores ways of seeing, thinking about and experiencing the human body.
[3] Recent works include: Placebo[4] – a piece in which seven dancers explore the placebo effect commissioned by The Place; choral lament Silver Swan[5] in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall (2011); Red Ladies[6] – a piece for 18 identically dressed women performed across an entire city (locations include London with Southbank Centre, Porto with Serralves Museum , Margate, with Turner Contemporary); An Anatomie in Four Quarters – a site specific performance originally created for the entire auditorium of Sadlers Wells, London (2012) and Under Glass[7] – a piece in which all the performers are in glass boxes and jars (Sadlers Wells 2009–2017), which won a Total Theatre Award for Physical / Visual Theatre in 2009.
[10] Willson pioneered the award-winning[11] Performing Medicine programme which encourages people working in healthcare to appreciate the choreographic, non-verbal and spatial dimensions of care.