About

Kathleen Dyer - Artistic Director

Kathleen Dyer has choreographed extensively for the past twenty years, creating repertory works, site-specific installations, dance films, and evening-length pieces for her company, KDNY, a New York City contemporary company. Dyer’s movement vocabulary is a fusion of graceful, technical virtuosity with nuances of idiosyncratic or comedic tangents. At times athletic or vulnerable, poised and empowered, Ms. Dyer represents the multifaceted qualities attributed to the modern female. Her energetic and technically specific work explores dance’s capacity to communicate both literal and metaphoric meanings simultaneously, making Dyer’s work accessible to dance aficionados and mainstream audiences.
Dyer began her dance career in Alabama where she danced for the Huntsville Community Ballet then earned her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance Florida State University in Tallahassee via scholarship. After graduation, Dyer danced with several New York dance companies, including Nikolais Louis, while actively pursuing her own choreography. Her works have been restaged on regional companies around the country and she has collaborated with like-minded female artists in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Georgia, Arizona, Florida, Texas and Washington to create new site-specific renditions of her popular works. Dyer has also created several works for university dance programs and other dance companies in Alabama, Texas, and Florida.
“KDNY offered wit and substance…was certainly quirky….they gathered in formation with big sweeping movements…Complex and layered images erupted at surprising moments…”
Margaret Putnam, Dallas Morning News
Over the past decade, Dyer’s work has received a number of accolades and presentation by prestigious performing arts festivals, such as Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts, the New York International Fringe Festival, North Carolina Dance Festival, Alabama's Panolply of the Arts, Connecticut Dance Alliance, the Festival of Independent Artists in Canada, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. Dyer’s creative accomplishments have been acknowledged with NY grants from the Department of Cultural Affairs, American Music center’s Live Music for Dance, Artist Fellowships from the Connecticut Commission of the Arts and Choreography Awards from regional festivals.
“The near capacity crowd…showered the dancers with rousing applause….Dyer mixes vigorous athleticism with plenty of nuanced and quirky moves.”
Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Austin American-Statesman
KDNY’s pursuit of dance is a distinctly communal act. Her repertory primarily consists of ensemble works, and she has created several projects to develop female arts partnerships, with dance artists in Washington DC, Tampa, FL, Atlanta, GA, Philadelphia, PA, and Houston, TX. Her artistic goals are to inspire physical and emotional empowerment through movement, and to gain a greater understanding of the female psyche as it presents itself physically. While on tour, KDNY has provided master classes, repertory workshops, and lecture demonstrations in our native New York and across the country in a number of states including Texas, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Oregon, Virginia, Alabama, Florida,Georgia, Arizona, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. KDNY is also committed to bringing dance to young audiences through school performances, open rehearsals, and new dance comedies choreographed specifically for youthful imaginations.
Special Thanks to Resident Composer, Cristina Spinei and partnering musicians, Monica Horn and Cadillac Moon Ensemble
Copyright © 2020 KDNY Dance Company. All rights reserved.