KHALA BRANNIGAN
ARTIST STATEMENT
I fell in love with dance at an early age in a small studio located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I had my first feelings of love and belonging. Dance absolutely saved my life, and still does to this day. I generate movement that connects the earth’s death and rebirth cycles to the human experience, expressing the constant flux between darkness and luminosity. I tell stories of resilience by creating dystopian, ethereal worlds through dance performance, films, installations, writing, collaboration with other mediums, and teaching. By unraveling the stories that lie within my own body, I bravely turn towards the process of letting go of familiarity and constantly choose the path of transformation. With underlying tones of grief, my work as an artist reveals how deeply connected our bodies are to the earth, expressing the haunting reality of climate change. When I am in a creative process, I aim to retrieve the parts of self that may have been lost due to oppression or living in a toxic society, cultivating a space to rebel against any myths of ‘normal.’ After spending years training in classical forms of dance, my work continues to be highly technical and athletic, simultaneously taking risks through improvisation and spontaneity, and finding joy in connection with others. Both tender and punk rock, my goal as an artist is to access the innate wisdom that lies within the body to speak language that has power beyond intellect.
BIO
Originally from Santa Fe, NM, Khala Brannigan began her dance training at age seven. After graduating high school, Brannigan attended Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet Training Program in San Francisco, CA from 2011-2013. Upon completion of the program, Brannigan was selected as a resident choreographer with SAFEHouse Arts for the next six years. She became a certified GYROTONIC® instructor in 2013, and her first 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training took place in Rishikesh, India, with World Peace Yoga School in 2015. Throughout her time in San Francisco, she received awards from Zellerbach Family Foundation, Dancer’s Group CA$H Grant and presented full evening works at large scale venues such as ODC Theater, Joe Goode Annex, Z Space, and more. Brannigan’s work was presented in multiple local festivals including SF Dance Film Festival and Summer Performance Festival. Brannigan was a company member with Robert Moses’ Kin from 2016-2019, choreographing for the company’s summer intensives, and also taught for Lines Ballet’s community outreach programs. Since relocating to New York in 2019, Brannigan participated in a choreographic fellowship with Sidra Bell Dance New York, guested with Soluq Dance Theater, and presented work at Peridance Capezio Center, Three’s Brewing, Arts on Site, and in September 2021, an evening length work at The Woods Performance Space. After choreographing for the short film directed by Katherine Huggard titled “Amor Fati,” she is currently working towards another evening length piece titled “Blood & Innocence,” teaches for Dancewave’s community programs, is a certified GYROTONIC® instructor at Movement Beyond in Soho, and also teaches yoga at Kula Yoga Project, YO-BK, and Yoga Space NYC.
“…Khala Brannigan, tall with spectacular arms, made me rethink strength and power. In whatever partnership - men or women - Brannigan aimed to be in charge.”
- Rita Felciano (2019) in Robert Moses’ Kin’s The Exceptionally Elderly Overweight Black Man Phoenix
CHOREOGRAPHIC REEL
