"Abattoir…a fierce and disturbing work...edgy and intriguing"
Globe and Mail
Gemini nominated Director and Award winning Choreographer Allen Kaeja entered the field of dance after 9 years of wrestling and Judo. He has created over 90 dance pieces since 1982 and choreographed for 17 films. Allen is Co-Artistic Director of Kaeja d’Dance with his life partner Karen Kaeja and is currently studying for his Masters degree at York University. He is co-founder of the CanAsian International Dance Festival and the Fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists (fFIDA). His stage works have been presented in festivals around the world including Sweden, Israel, UK, Portugal, India, Mexico, Venezuela, Spain and the USA amongst others. Allen’s awards include the prestigious Clifford E. Lee, K.M. Hunter and Paul D. Fleck Choreography Awards (Canada), Bonnie Bird Award (UK), UNESCO citation and the Moving Picture award for best performance (Canada) among others. Allen’s most recent full evening production Abattoir premiered in Vancouver March 2008 and continues to tour.
Allen’s most recent dance film Between Seams is premiering Italy in June 2008. It features Karen and Sylvie Bouchard, and is his 8th Bravo!FACT short. Kaeja has co-directed eight award-winning dance films with Mark Adam and a series of four films with Douglas Rosenberg in conjunction with Wisconsin Public Television and Bravo!FACT. The Kaeja films have been screened all across the globe and have been nominated for the American Choreography Awards, Gemini Awards and the Banff World Television Festival Awards. They have received special ‘Jury Mentions’ from the Rocky Awards, IMZ and a ‘Certificate of Distinction’ from American Dance Festival. The Kaeja films are also a part of the permanent collection at the MoMA and Jewish Museum in New York and Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel.
Allen and Karen teach Master classes and residencies in Kaeja Partnering and Contact Dance. Allen is currently on faculty at the School of the Toronto Dance Theatre and Ryerson University. He also taught Canada’s first “Hands-on” University Dance Film course in Canadian history this year at Ryerson. They developed the EXPRESS DANCE approach, now integrated into the education system through a partnership with the TDSB, TCDSB and Prologue for the Performing Arts. Renowned for their education and outreach projects, they provide subsidized workshops, dance enrichment opportunities and performances to underserved communities in Canada and abroad.
Allen has recently been commissioned to create a new work, Beyond Borders, on Mexico City’s Nemian Dance Company, which will premiere at the Theatre de la Ciudad, October 2008. As well, Soulpepper Theatre Company (Toronto) has commissioned a new creation from Allen in collaboration with Albert Shultz (Director), Anton Piatigorsky (writer) and David Buchbinder (Composer) adapting Between Two Worlds as a Dance/Theatre/Music production set to premiere in June 2009.
