KJ would rather engage in a conversation that asks about you, gets a little context about you, what inspires you, your research, your hobbies, maybe your pet’s names and then this biography could unfold responsively in real time. KJ emphasizes reciprocity in her teaching and her work, so it makes sense that she would desire it with you, too over a two-dimensional list of achievements that tells you nothing about KJ: the person, teacher, performer, and maker. Whoever you are, you are welcome here. And in return, KJ asks that you welcome her here too. All of her. Even the bits that she is still unpacking and dismantling.
Before we begin.
Let’s take three collective breaths together.
Breathe into a point of connection and exhale
See if you can let gravity have a little bit more of you today
Short Bio: KJ Dye (she/they) is a queer educator, somatic practitioner, performer, collaborator, maker, community facilitator, activist, and truth-seeker that lives by one life rule, momentum. KJ was born and raised in the Appalachia Mountains of Maryland on Massawomeck Territory but has been called to the Salish Sea, the traditional land of the Duwamish People, for the past ten years. KJ’s earliest memories are filled with muddy toes, bike rides light by the glow of fireflies, and the sound of crickets. Her grandfather’s stories and the cold touch of an ice tea in her hand on a humid summer night join her frequently. KJ continues to listen closely for the hidden and untold stories of this life, as it serves to remind her that without society’s taming and conditioning, she was born wild, with an innate desire for connection and belonging.
Expansive Bio: KJ is an educator, performer, collaborator, maker, and truth-seeker that sees movement as a vehicle for change and becoming. KJ earned a Master of Fine Arts in Dance and an Interdisciplinary Specialization in Teaching and Learning for Diversity, Social Justice, and Community Engagement from The Ohio State University. KJ served as a Graduate Associate with OSU’s Be the Street, a performance studies project on Human Mobility and Placemaking, and is the 2021 recipient of the Graduate Associate Teaching Award (GATA) from The Ohio State University Graduate School. KJ served as the MFA Graduate Student Representative for the Undergraduate School Committee and the curator and administrative lead for OSU’s premier Community Conversations series. KJ graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Dance from Slippery Rock University and holds a certificate in Diversity, Intercultural, and Community Engagement from OSU and an Embodied Social Justice Certificate under the advisement of Rae Johnson, Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams, and Dr. Sara King, among others.
KJ has taught as a teaching artist across the Puget Sound including Velocity Dance Center, Bainbridge Dancer Center, Bremerton Dance Center, Cornish College of the Arts, Dance Fremont, and eXit SPACE School of Dance. KJ has had the privilege to perform with Seattle-based companies: Michele Miller and Catapult Dance, Marlo Martin’s BadmamarDANCE, and The Three Yells. Her freelance engagements range from Maya Soto, Nico Tower, Paige Barnes, Ellie Sandstrom, to Eddie Taketa, Daniel Roberts, Ursula Payne, and Jennifer Keller. Her work has been presented at PUSH Dance Company’s 2013 Spring Gala (CA), The BOOST Dance Festival (SEA), Bainbridge Performing Arts Center (SEA), The Ohio State University, and the National American College Dance Festival at the JFK Center for Performing Arts (D.C).
KJ’s teaching and research challenge present-day patterns of disembodiment. Through integrated practice, I engage students in a personal exploration of their social, familial, and cultural conditioning by activating sensation, emotion, and habitual nonverbal communication to imagine new ways of being together and in the world. Her research and facilitation value communal art-making, shared authorship, engaged citizenship, somatic literacy, the embodied impacts of oppression, inclusivity, and accessibility.
“When you are in touch with art, borders vanish and the world opens up. Art can expand the definitions of what it means to be human…Art demands action from the midst of living and makes a space where growth can happen”
– Anne Bogart, And Then You Act: Making Art in an Unpredictable World
KJ Dye 