ABOUT
Unapologetically Versatile Movement Specialist KD has lived a life dedicated to the embodiment and education of movement arts. KD is an intimacy professional, aerial therapeutics mobility specialist and an international artist-educator based in NYC with years of experience teaching, developing programming, choreographing and performing in dance, somatics and aerials.
KD attended University of NC School of the Arts in high school for contemporary dance. At age 18 she moved to the Lower East Side in New York City to continue independent studies in dance and became formally trained in 1st generation Dunham Technique by Ned Williams, Jr. Hailing from the Dunham School NYC lineage, she moved through the field with quantum focus having tremendous knowledge passed onto her by Katherine Dunham and Ned Williams, Jr. learning the rigorous dance technique as a mobility technique for mind, body and spirit. KD later received her bachelors from SUNY Empire State transforming life and work experience for the academic lens by designing her degree in The Education of Movement Arts. KD received her masters degree in health arts and sciences with a concentration in embodiment studies from Goddard College. KD’s graduate work is an auto-ethnographic body of work that explores creative and kinetic therapeutics within a context of socio-political aspects of mobility through the lens of experiential and embodied knowledge in the innovative field of Aerials as Therapeutics.
Teaching & Leading
KD has taught across movement cultures in the ever shifting landscape of movement arts, as well as across cultures globally. KD teaches professional dancers, performance athletes, celebrity clients, professional clinicians and beginner movers through customized privates, group classes, workshops, immersions, teacher trainings and programming development in dance, somatics, core strengthening, mobility and aerials. KD understands the importance of arts, athletics and humanities as activism and the power of fearlessness in doing things differently on a curricular and interdisciplinary level. KD has the unique ability to balance the infinite nature of creative processes with frameworks that provide structure for students whether in dance technique, exploratory choreographic processes, revolutionary mobility techniques or integrative arts. With a strong belief in performance art as activism and a gift for technical, gestural, somatic and sensual movement, KD is a teacher who develops strong embodied dancers and movers, honoring authenticity that cultivate into thriving collectives.
(Some) Iconic spaces/studios include Alvin Ailey (professional division and extension), Ned Williams Dance Theater Workshop, AntiGravity Skyloft/Worldwide Headquarters/Advanced Training Institute: Thailand, Peridance, United Nations International School NYC, East Tennessee State University, Sacred Brooklyn, Virgin Athletic: Singapore & Italy, Hercules Club: Greece, Viva Trainings: Switzerland, Soulbox Jakarta.
Brand representation for AntiGravity, Inc and Soulbox Jakarta (Puma, Nike NTC).
Assisted and demonstrated for masters in their fields Ned Williams, Jr (Dunham Technique), Christopher Harrison (AntiGravity Techniques) and requested demonstrator for Keith Tyrone Williams (Jacob’s Pillow / Dunham Technique).
KD has performed from a young age and initially began choreographing solo pieces in tap and jazz on pointe. As a performer, KD is known for her rawness in live performance and graceful delivery of technique where you “FEEL” as an audience member. KD has performed in formal and informal settings for choreographers such as Heidi Latsky, Ron Brown, Ned Williams, Jr. Dance Theater Workshop, Ballet African Roots Musical, M’Zawa Danz, performing in NC, NYC, and West Africa. KD has had the honor to perform as an actor, choreographer and dancer in iconic venues, indie film, indie theaters, off-broadway and cultural spaces such as Wow Cafe (Coconut Blood), St. Marks Theater (Dangerous Curves), C-squat (El Evictor), Summerstage, NY Public Library, 777 Theater (Many Faces of Eve) and The Tank (Through the Looking Glass). KD has held Harrison AntiGravity® Hammock demonstration performances for health and wellness advocacy, major studio openings and deal-making business ventures throughout the world, as well as a chosen aerialist for NYC’s human art installation ONE. As a choreographer, KD has a unique gift and strength to go deep with performers working from the inside out to fully grasp and deliver the art and experience. KD embraces a nuanced approach to movement initiation and execution and her creative processes are as exploratory and intuitive as they are precise and functional. KD is a solo choreographer and performer in aerial burlesque utilizing groundbreaking choreography and apparatus such as pole/silks fusion, floor flow aerial hammocks and aerial painting.
Choreography & Performance
Program Development
As a dancer, as well as being raised by the arts, activists, educators and amazing coaches, entering arts program development has been a natural progression. As a free-lance arts program developer, KD is sought out for her ability to “break down” versatile movement art forms into approachable methodologies for performance and education. KD customizes programming with an ability to balance creative design and functional implementation for a range of progressive, choreographic,and educational settings. KD’s passion for “human centered” educational environments fuels her design, curriculums, consultation, and implementation. KD has worked worldwide across disciplines and fully believes that arts & culture nurture the common threads of humanity.
Programming examples include Soulbox Jakarta: SoulBarre Essentials/Hot/Cardio, AntiGravity: Techniques, Teacher Trainings & Online Digital Academy, Early Childhood Education (The Maple Street School): Integrated Arts through Literacy & True Play in the Urban Environment, DuYe Moves: Choreography in Process Series, DevaYogaMynd: Somatic Movement, as well as customized group and private programming in dance, movement, mobility, somatics and aerials.
Aerial Therapeutics
KD has worked as a mobility specialist in aerial therapeutics for over 15 years. KD initially began working with AntiGravity, Inc in their transition from aerial entertainment into aerial yoga serving as a Master Instructor Trainer and Curriculum Director where her role was to deconstruct aerial yoga into progressive multi-genre offerings and multi-tiered educational teacher trainings. KD has worked with private clientele and lead group classes, workshops, intensives and teacher trainings worldwide. Clients span across the healthcare fields in performance arts and performance athletes reaching sports medicine psychologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, behavioral therapists, VA hospital therapists, sports and spa massage therapists, acupuncturists, doulas, extreme performance athletes, aerial choreographers and performers, professional dancers, as well as the (then) ever-growing field of present day yoga, pilates and fitness instructors. As an aerial hammock specialist, KD knows the ins & outs of the apparatus for therapeutic and conditioning use. Evolved from performance athletes taking care of their bodies, the elements that come from the experience can be equally healing, liberating, and relieving. Through the injury prevention and rehabilitative qualities of movement as well as the pioneering ways it introduces new ways of moving to the human body, people worldwide have overcome fears and experienced pain relief while the benefits of the aerial hammock provide new skill sets for health and wellness experts in their respective fields revolutionizing mobility.
Intimacy Professional
As an intimacy professional, KD facilitates advocacy and choreography to bring artistic vision to life. In advocacy, KD supports communications in collaboration, boundaries and consent where transparency is not control. As a choreographer of intimate scenes KD has a niche in choreographing gestural nuance to intense simulated scenes that evoke powerful storytelling of the human experience(s). KD has completed training with Intimacy Coordinators and Professionals, attended the Intimacy Professional Summit and is in pre-production with Crossroads Girl Productions on the upcoming series Calabash Way.
