Kesha McKey – Dance/USA Artist Fellow

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Image description: A medium light-skinned woman wearing a deep rustic orange colored short sleeve top in front of a charcoal gray backdrop. She is smiling with red lipstick and her hair is styled in a medium length naturally curly fro-hawk. Her arms are crossed in front and her head is slightly tilted to the right. She is wearing small dangle pearl earrings. Photo by Melisa Cardona.

Kesha McKey

she/her/hers

Chahta Yakni (Choctaw), Chitimacha; New Orleans, LA

Kesha McKey is an African American female performing artist, choreographer, and educator born and raised in New Orleans. After graduating from NOCCA, she received her B.S. in Biology pre-med from Xavier University of LA and an MFA in Dance Performance from UW-Milwaukee. She is the founding Artistic Director of KM Dance Project, an essential artistic platform for emerging Black choreographers in NOLA. McKey’s most recent choreographic work, Raw Fruit, has received a 2021 National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Award and a 2019 NEFA National Dance Project Production Grant – being the first dance company in Louisiana to receive this award. Her other recent awards include a 2022 Urban Bush Women (UBW) Choreographic Center Initiative 2.0 CCI Alum, 2020 Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans SweetArts Award, 2019-20 UBW CCI Fellowship, 2018/19 CAC Southern Crossings Residency, and a 2016 Dancing While Black Fellowship. 

Her most recent performance credits include: Urban Bush Women’s Hair and Other Stories 2018-19 tour, Junebug Productions’ Gomela:to return 2018-19 tour, Junebug Productions’ Homecoming Project 2018-2020 and the Lula Elzy N.O. Dance Theatre. Her recent choreographic credits include: 2019 NPN Conference, 2018 UBW SLI, 2018 Women in Dance Conference, Junebug Productions’ Power of the Black Feminine, 2016 Alternate Roots Week, Peridance 2016 APAP Showcase. McKey has previously served as a Program Coordinator for the Ashe CAC Kuumba Institute, and currently serves as a collaborator for Dancing Grounds Dance for Social Change and as the Director of Arts at NOCCA. She has served as a dance educator for over 25 years and is committed to sustaining the artistic voice of Black dancers and choreographers in New Orleans.

For more information about Kesha McKey:

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Image description: A medium light-skinned African American woman in mid-movement dancing under a white special light on a blackbox stage. She is standing in an externally rotated squatting position with legs open wide. Her arms are in mid-movement emulating a stirring action - as if she is holding a large bowl with one arm and stirring with the other. Her hair is styled in a medium cut naturally curly fro-hawk. She is wearing a loose white knee length tank dress. Photo by Melisa Cardona.

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