CT
I am deeply invested in an artistic practice that explores contemplative ritual through improvisation as a way to deconstruct our conditioning to be available for authentic connection to the process and each other. This approach to making has strengthened in the last several years, and I will continue to expand this practice as it has revealed truths about how we can become the most clear channel for expression in service of art making without losing sight of oneself. My practice is presence and support. I work with many people, non-dancers and dancers alike. I know we can support each other through physical research, self inquiry and curiosity. I aim to foster a safe and compassionate environment for myself and the people in my process, and I facilitate this through improvisation, contemplative dance practice, writing, collective choreography, somatic awareness and story telling. Dance for me is a liberatory practice and I wish to share this practice with others.
I am inspired by our human nature to make sense of belonging and purpose. I work with compositional improvisation as a way into this knowing. My current process examines methods of rewriting memories of belonging to help validate how we presently identify with past experiences. I often use spatial constraints in an effort to bring the audience into the action, challenge the performers and ignite a relationship between audience and performer. My goal is to facilitate active viewing.
Kellie Ann Lynch is Co-Artistic Director and co-founder of Elm City Dance Collective in New Haven. Through classes and workshops; after school programs; open studio showings and unique and experiential dance productions that inhabit traditional to non-traditional spaces, ECDC works towards sustaining a positive dance ecology in New Haven. ECDC can often be seen performing in different sites around the city from Light House Point Park to the local city buses and The Green. Through Kellie’s choreographic vision, ECDC’s site-responsive performances frequently connect to activist projects such as water conservation, pedestrian safety, aquatic life and themes of property access and ownership. Kellie has choreographed and directed over ten Elm City Dance Collective projects in the last decade.
As a performer and collaborator, Kellie’s dance work extends beyond Elm City Dance Collective. She currently tours nationally and internationally with David Dorfman Dance and was a dancer with Adele Myers and Dancers for 10 years. She has had the pleasure of working with renowned companies and choreographers such as Kate Wear Company and Doug Elkins & Friends as well as many more incredible artists in the Northeast region. She has performed at many of the leading dance venues and festivals in the nation such as The Joyce Theater, NYU’s Skirball, Jacob’s Pillow, Bates Dance Festival, The Yard and American Dance Festival to name a few.
Kellie has received artist fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and Connecticut Office of the Arts (formerly Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism); and is a 2014 “Arts Award” recipient, a recognition award distributed by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. Her work has been commissioned, produced and performed throughout the Northeast including at Bates Dance Festival where she was an Emerging Choreographer in 2015. In 2020, she was a recipient of the Artistic Excellence Award, a fellowship awarded by the Connecticut Office of the Arts. She has been on faculty at several colleges and universities in the Northeast including Connecticut College and Wesleyan University. She holds a BA in Dance from Rhode Island College and an MFA in Dance from Smith College.
Additional Content:
4 minute teaser
in-process
Institution/Business Type:
Artist / Creative (Individual)
Legal Status:
Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship
Institution/Business Type:
Artist / Creative (Individual)
Legal Status:
Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship
Primary Discipline:
Dance - Modern / ContemporaryActivities and Services:
Populations Engaged:
Geographic Reach:
Awards:
Awards:
Education:
Teaching Settings:
Ages Served:
Subject Areas:
Teaching Settings:
Ages Served:
Subject Areas:
NEST Eligible Artist
Technical Requirements:
Fee Range:
$3,000 - $8,000State of Residence:
ConnecticutMinimum Number of Performers:
7Maximum Number of Performers:
10