Board of Directors
Kenneth Walker, Chairman
Consuelo Shroder
Irene Tang, Chief Financial Officer
Holly Powell, Secretary
MISSION
Kenneth Walker Dance Project is a contemporary ballet company dedicated to the expression of the modern condition through the lens of the classical vocabulary.
To achieve its mission the company will:
- Provide a breadth of dance experience.
- Create original dance works.
- Engage with the audience via the work and dance literacy.
- Build upon the ballet tradition to create a more expansive form of expression.
The vision of KWDP is to bring the artist and audience to the poetics of the human condition. Inherent in this vision are several tensions: taking artistic risks without leaving our audience behind, managing financial stability while allowing for artistic experimentation, being sensitive to the community while recognizing that ballet is not a mass art form. We believe the transforming capacity of art and its power to affect human life will fulfill these objectives.
HISTORY
KWDP grew out of the former Ballet Pacifica, where Kenneth Walker, a dancer with BP at the time and a few of his colleagues created a show to perform at a festival. The success of this project spawned a collaboration that was brought home to the community in which Kenneth was born. KWDP’s first dancers volunteered their talents and time to grow the organization into an exciting collaborative rather than a traditional company. Kenneth invites the thoughts and ideas of his dancers when creating new works and offers dancers the opportunity to find their own voice within the work. KWDP has a solid reputation for presenting performances which meld collaboration between interesting music, talented dancers and innovative movement to create a meaningful artistic experience.
The company presents annual concerts and has appeared at festivals throughout LA, including the Pasadena Dance Festival, Los Angeles Dance Invitational, Mix Match Festival, Palm Desert Choreography Under the Stars, Dance! Now at the Miles Playhouse in Santa Monica, MAD BAD Festival in the San Francisco Bay Area, AAPHERD Southeast Conference in Virginia, Central Coast Summerfest in Monterey, California, American Dance Guild‘s annual showcase in New York, Golden West College Professional Dance Invitational, and twice at Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC.
Mr. Walker’s choreography has been well received by audiences and respected dance artists alike. John Meehan former director of Hong Kong Ballet, described Walker’s Savage Grace as “…a fun piece, full of energy with some nice choreographic invention” and Alun Jones, former director of Louisville Ballet, called it “tremendous.”
Nominated for a Lester Horton Award for Outstanding Performance by a Company, KWDP performs the ballets of Kenneth Walker exclusively to date and is based in the Los Angeles area.
REPERTOIRE
Scar Tissue, CSU Dominguez Hills, Dance Department
In Her Footsteps, Kenneth Walker Dance Project
Echo of a Place of Remembered Beauty, KW Dance Project
The Seasons, KWDP
Rito Transcendete South Bay Ballet
The Folly of Staring at the Sea Kenneth Walker Dance Project
The Things we Left Behind, CSU Dominguez Hills Dance Department
Soft Ambient Pulse, KWDP
Hum, KWDP
Before the Verge, KWDP
A little Mozart, KWDP
Drift, KWDP (original score)
Gate, KWDP (original score)
Transient Memory, KWDP
Purgatory, Sacramento Ballet
Ease of Euphoria, KWDP
No Axe to Grind, Chico Community Ballet
Focus on the Middle Distance, KWDP (original score)
My Gorgeous Grief, KWDP
Sola, KWDP
Groove Juice, Dance Peninsula
Elegance, KWDP
Flesh and Blood, KWDP
Suburban Symphony, KWDP
God Has Kissed Our Eyes, (excerpts) Chico Community Ballet
Dirty Faced Angels, Ballet Pacifica; Dancer Choreography Project
Someday, Maybe, Forever, World Arts and Cultures senior project
Savage Grace, South Bay Ballet
Sometimes the Sun Sets Sooner than Usual, Southern California Dance Theatre
All That Glitters, SCDT
Store in a Cool, Dry Place, Sarasota Ballet of Florida
Crocodile Tears, Sacramento Ballet
Angel’s Lament, Sacramento Ballet
Kenneth Walker Dance Project
PO Box 41
Lomita, CA 90717