The Department of Theater and Dance and the Office of the Director of the Arts are honored to welcome Kyle Abraham, along with several members of his A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham Company, to Carleton during the first week of January. The artists will teach several classes during the week while working on the creation of a new dance piece themselves. The week culminates with a lecture/demonstration at 7:00 p.m. Thursday, January 9, and a Convocation presenation by Abraham at 10:50 a.m. Friday, January 10. The activities are presented under the auspices of the Ward Lucas Lecture Fund in the Arts.
Kyle Abraham is a 2013 MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, a 2017 Joyce Creative Residency Artist, 2016 Doris Duke Award Recipient and 2015 City Center Choreographer in Residence. His work has been seen with major dance companies and venues including the New York City Ballet, London’s Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and more. The New York Times has raved on “how skilled he has become at mingling the ballet vernacular with other forms, from hip-hop to West African movement” and his unique talent for “finding the person within the dancer and the bodies within a body.”
The mission of A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham is to create a body of dance-based work that is galvanized by Black culture and history and features the rich tapestry of Black and Queer stories. The work, informed by and made in conjunction with artists across a range of disciplines, entwines a sensual and provocative vocabulary with a strong emphasis on music, text, video and visual art. While grounded in choreographer Kyle Abraham’s artistic vision, A.I.M. draws inspiration from a multitude of sources and movement styles.