A.I.M BY KYLE ABRAHAM

the company

“elastic and electric, luxuriantly rippling, poetically arranged with moments of perfect stillness that arrive amid splashes of expression.”
–Dance Magazine

Contemporary dance company A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, considered “one of the most consistently excellent troupes working today” (The New York Times), provides multifaceted performances, educational programming, and community-based workshops across the globe. Led by acclaimed Choreographer and Artistic Director Kyle Abraham’s innovative vision, the work of A.I.M is galvanized by Black culture and history, and grounded in a conglomeration of unique perspectives; described by Abraham as a “post-modern gumbo” of movement exploration.

A.I.M is one of the most active touring dance companies in the United States, with an audience base as diverse as A.I.M’s movement vocabulary, drawing inspiration from a multitude of sources and dance styles. Since A.I.M’s founding in 2006, Abraham has created more than 15 original works for and with the company. To expand its repertoire and offer a breadth of dance work to audiences, A.I.M commissions new works and performs existing works by outside choreographers, such as Trisha Brown, Bebe Miller, Andrea Miller, and current A.I.M dancer Keerati Jinakunwiphat.

Kyle Abraham’s unique vision and illumination of poignant and relevant issues set him apart from his generation of choreographers as a leading creative force in dance. A.I.M extends this vision and amplifies surrounding artistic voices to share movement and community-based work with audiences around the world.

the director

Princess Grace Statue Award Recipient (2018), Doris Duke Award Recipient (2016), and MacArthur Fellow (2013), KYLE ABRAHAM (he/him) began his dance training at the Civic Light Opera Academy and the Creative and Performing Arts High School in Pittsburgh, PA. After graduating from Schenley High School, Abraham continued his dance studies in New York, earning a BFA from SUNY Purchase and an MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Abraham later received an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from Washington Jefferson College. Abraham is currently the Claude and Alfred Mann Endowed Professor in Dance at The University of Southern California (USC) Glorya Kaufman School of Dance (2021-present). Prior to USC, Abraham served as a visiting professor in residence at the University of California, Los Angeles’s (UCLA) World Arts Cultures in Dance program (2016-2021). Abraham serves on the advisory board for Dance Magazine, and in 2020 was selected to be their first-ever Guest Editor. Abraham also sits on the artistic advisory board for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the inaugural Black Genius Brain Trust, and the inaugural cohort of the Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab, a partnership between the Prada Group, Theaster Gates Studio, Dorchester Industries, and Rebuild Foundation. In addition, Abraham was named a Kennedy Center Next 50 Leader (2021), a list of leaders who exemplify the Center’s mission to help shape culture and society through the arts. Abraham was named to the inaugural 100 ArtDesk magazine (2022) for “pushing new frontiers in creative work” and was one of Native Son’s 101 Class of 2022 honoring “Black gay men who have had an impact this year.”

He was a recipient of a 2022 Dance Magazine Award, one of the field’s highest honors, and was called a “voice of a generation” by the magazine. Rebecca Bengal of Vogue wrote, “What Abraham brings … is an avant-garde aesthetic, an original and politically minded downtown sensibility that doesn’t distinguish between genres but freely draws on a vocabulary that is as much Merce [Cunningham] and Martha [Graham] as it is Eadweard Muybridge and Michael Jackson.” His company, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, is widely considered “one of the most consistently excellent troupes working today” (The New York Times). Led by Abraham’s innovative vision, the work of A.I.M is galvanized by Black culture and history and grounded in a conglomeration of unique perspectives; described as a “post-modern gumbo” of movement exploration. The company’s recent works include An Untitled Love (2021), a thumping mixtape celebrating culture, family, and community, that was included on The Boston Globe’s and The Guardian’s “Best Dance of 2022” list; Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth, described as “a brilliant collaborative feat”; and A.I.M’s Emmy-nominated film If We Were a Love Song (2021), a series of poetic vignettes set to the music of Nina Simone. In addition to performing and developing new works for his company, Abraham has been commissioned by a wide variety of dance companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The National Ballet of Cuba, New York City Ballet, and the Royal Ballet.

Abraham has created four works for New York City Ballet; Love Letter (on shuffle) (2022); the dance film When We Fell (2021); a collaboration with Principal Dancer Taylor Stanley, Cesnoms que nous portons (2020), a Lincoln Center and NYCB commissioned solo; and The Runaway (2018). The New York Times hailed When We Fell as among the most beautiful dance films of the pandemic” and The Runaway (2018) was recognized on its “Best Dance of 2018.” Abraham has created two works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Are You In Your Feelings (2022) and Untitled America (2016). Untitled America is a three-part commissioned work for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater that was described by The New York Times as “potent and explosive and wonderfully of the moment.” Other works include The Weathering (2022), commissioned by The Royal Ballet; Unto The End, We Meet (2020) for National Ballet of Cuba; and Abraham was the final choreographer commissioned by Paul Taylor before his passing, creating Only The Lonely (2019) for Paul Taylor American Modern Dance. In addition to performing and developing new works for his company, Abraham has been commissioned by a wide variety of dance companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The National Ballet of Cuba, New York City Ballet, and the Royal Ballet.

Abraham has also choreographed for many of the leading dancers of our time. Most recently, to be seen (2020), a new solo for American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Calvin Royal III, premiered during the virtual Fall For Dance Festival. Of this solo, The New York Times observed “how skilled [Abraham] 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.” Abraham created Ash (2019), a solo work for American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Misty Copeland that also had its premiere at Fall for Dance. The Serpent and The Smoke (2016) toured as part of Restless Creature, a pas de deux for Abraham, and acclaimed Bessie Award-winning and former New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Wendy Whelan. Off the stage, Abraham choreographed the music video for Sufjan Stevens’ Sugar (2020) and the feature-length film The Book of Henry (2016) for acclaimed director Colin Trevorrow. In his early career, Abraham served as a choreographic contributor for Beyonce’s British Vogue cover shoot (2013) and was named a Joyce Creative Residency Artist (2017-18), a City Center Choreographer in Residence (2015), the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award recipient (2012), a USA Ford Fellow (2012), and the New York Live Arts Resident Commissioned Artist (2012–2014). Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater premiered Abraham’s Another Night (2012) at New York City Center. OUT Magazine labeled Abraham as the “best and brightest creative talent to emerge in New York City in the age of Obama” (2011). Abraham is the recipient of a Bessie Award for Outstanding Performance in Dance for The Radio Show (2010), a Princess Grace Award for Choreography (2010), and was selected as one of Dance Magazine’s “25 To Watch” (2009).

Abraham’s choreography has been presented throughout the United States and abroad. Notable venues and festivals include Brooklyn Academy of Music, Danspace Project, Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center, Harlem Stage, The Joyce Theater, and Lincoln Center in New York; Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Los Angeles Music Center in California; Dance Center at Columbia College Chicago in Illinois; ICA Boston and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts; Bates Dance Festival in Maine; American Dance Festival in North Carolina; The Andy Warhol Museum, The Byham, and The Kelly-Strayhorn Theater in Pennsylvania; Performing Arts Houston and TITAS in Texas; On The Boards and Seattle Theatre Group in Washington; and The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Internationally Abraham’s works have toured to Théâtre Paul Eluard, Maison de la Danse, Théâtre de la Ville, and L’Onde in France; Tanz Im August and Kampnagel Festival in Germany; Project Arts Centre in Ireland; The Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum in Japan; and the Royal Opera House and Sadler’s Wells in the United Kingdom, among others.

‘A.I.M MIXED REPERTORY PROGRAMS give a glimpse into the company’s versatility and virtuosity through an exciting range of choreographic works. Highlights choreographed by Artistic Director Kyle Abraham include ‘If We Were A Love Song’, a series of poetic vignettes set to some of Nina Simone’s most intimate songs; ‘Drive’, a high-energy, propulsive work set to thumping club beats that premiered at New York City Center’s 2017 Fall for Dance Festival; and the energetic solo ‘Show Pony’. Also available to tour are ‘Meditation: A Silent Prayer’; ‘Studies on a Farewell’; and beloved and newly commissioned works by guest artists, including works by Bebe Miller; Maleek Washington; and current A.I.M dancer Keerati Jinakunwiphat, who choreographed ‘Big Rings’. Newer pieces that are part of the current repertory are outlined below.

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5 Minute Dance (You Drivin’?)

‘5 Minute Dance (You Drivin’?)’ is a new quartet, created in part during Abraham’s first semester working with the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance at USC. After exploring a new duet in the studio with A.I.M dancers Keerati Jinakunwiphat and Kar’mel Antonyo Wade Small, Abraham brought this work in progress to his students at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. Assigning the students different variations of the work, the duet has now become a quartet. Music by pioneering electronic musician and past A.I.M collaborator Jlin scores the dynamic work.

Motorrover

‘Motorrover’ is a new duet, both abstract and tender, created by Kyle Abraham in conversation with Merce Cunningham’s 1972 ensemble work, Landrover. Cunningham said his original idea for Landrover was to capture “the sense that we move in our country–across varied spaces–with varied backgrounds.” He initially considered performing the work in front of a continuously changing landscape, although in the performance there was no décor. Abraham’s work also appears unadorned, with no music or set. But in the silence, one can almost hear the earth rearranging itself, as America continues to shift, beneath the dancers’ steady feet.

Uproot: Love and Legacy

‘Uproot: Love and Legacy’ by Maleek Washington focuses on themes of love, ancestry, and lineage, as it explores the idea of the first family, the family tree. Through vignettes of movement, the dancers create different portraits, reminiscent of family photos. The work was conceived with the Black community and African diaspora in mind, highlighting those who have built and left a legacy for us, as well as the stories that are currently being left behind for those who come after. In the work, dancers search for their soulmate with their ancestors guiding them toward one another, supporting them to create a future of their own. Washington sought to capture the spiritual connection between generations, and between individuals.

Rain

‘Rain’ by Bebe Miller is an evocative and captivating work that explores the nuanced relationship between physical energies and moral character. The choreography, set to a haunting score, takes audiences on a journey of resilience and hope. As the soloist navigates the stage, their deliberate motions evoke a sense of both fragility and strength. “Rain” invites contemplation on the pursuit of solace, the revival of the human spirit, and the transformative power of nature. With its rich emotional depth and powerful storytelling, “Rain” continues to captivate audiences well after its premiere in 1989, showcasing Bebe Miller’s artistry and cementing its place as an impactful work within the repertoire of A.I.M by Kyle Abraham. Bebe Miller’s personal notes on the work highlight the introspective nature of “Rain” as a hard-fought journey aimed at deliverance. Within the works fluid movements, audiences can feel the generative rub and the felt friction that carry us all forward on our transformative paths. As the soloist seeks arrival, rest, and a profound sense of being, “Rain” invites audiences to embrace their own journeys and find resonance in the transformative power of movement and the human spirit.

AN UNTITLED LOVE (2021)

AN UNTITLED LOVE is Kyle Abraham’s new evening-length work. Drawing from the catalogue of Grammy Award-winning R&B legend D’Angelo, this creative exaltation pays homage to the complexities of self love and Black love, while serving as a thumping mixtape celebrating our culture, family and community.

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CREATIVE DANCE CREATION WORKSHOP

A.I.M creative dance creation workshops are a guided process that allows students to create work within an encouraging, secure, and motivational environment. In the workshop participants will develop material over the course of at least three days, and will receive feedback from the company.

LECTURE DEMONSTRATION

A.I.M lecture/demonstrations are hands on, active, informative, and most of all fun. Company members demonstrate the explorative creative process of our current repertory by sharing our unique methods of invention, from initial movement generation to the end result.

REPERTORY CLASS

These workshops are for dancers and ‘non-dancers’ alike. They are designed specifically for or related to a piece of repertory, use the themes, impacts, and the inspirations from many of Abraham’s works for the company. Audiences, students and communities convene in conversation, deepening relationships to the work and between the company and the communities that host our art.

TECHNIQUE CLASS

Classes taught by A.I.M emphasize four of the company’s core movement values: exploration, musicality, abandonment, and intuition. The opening warm-up sequence focuses on the fluidity of the spine, articulation, and core body strengthening; and then builds up to challenging, creative and invigorating phrase work. Students experience a personalized postmodern movement vocabulary full of intricate gestures and signature A.I.M movement.

UNIFYING UNIQUENESS

Part conversation and part movement workshop, Unifying Uniqueness investigates the ideologies surrounding uniqueness and likenesses in each participant. Led by one or two A.I.M company members, students of all levels will learn phrases of material from A.I.M repertory; engage in a dialogue centered around early memories; and integrate movement with ideas of perception, family, and freedom.