KT NELSON
      choreographing and convening



CHOREOGRAPHING


After 47 years of making movement-centered work, I’ve found myself drawn to creating dance with unexpected collaborators. I’ve found choreographic partnerships with a live chorus and a cathedral, an enormous amount of lime green confetti, seaweed, a room full of clothes, and copious plumes of smoke. I’ve enjoyed collaborating with younger artists and working with a greater range of movers.

CONVENING


Whether we are dancing, playing tag, falling in love or rolling down a grassy hill, convening around our bodies can open a doorway into meaning. I’m interested in how conversations rooted in the body can help us see through another’s eyes while affirming our personal experiences. Practicing and conversing together offers us new opportunities for seeing and considering. I explore this potential through workshops, conversations and facilitation. 


RECENT PROJECTS
Sketchbook was a free informal evening of four new/in-progress works, co-produced with Cauveri Suresh, at Joe Goode Annex in January of 2026.



Clouds from a Crumbling Giant with Inkboat. I loved working on this project. I functioned as an “outside eye,“ replacing Shinichi as he moved away from directing and stepped into performing. Alongside a magnificently varied ensemble of artists, Shin wove a tapestry of worlds; arriving and departing, collecting and dispersing, questioning time as well as our fate. Presented at Z Space in Spring 2026.




FUTURE PROJECTS
      



Unreliable Narrator with Kat Galasso and ODC Dance in July 2026. I resisted Kat about doing this project. I had no interest in performing at 71 years of age. Yet when I did,
I tapped into an old deep love of performing. Thank you Kat for finding the story of the real people at ODC.


Path of Miracles, in April 2026. The journey in making Path, started by walking the Camino Santiago with my husband, and culminated in a collaboration with Volti and ODC with Joby Talbot’s score. This was as good as it gets when you make art.



The Genesis Project with visual artist Emma Fineman. This project will be performed at Grace Cathedral in January 2027. I am assisting Emma in bringing 12 panels of a mural into a live performance setting with choreographers, composers and musicians. Collaborators include: Babatunji Johnson, Charmaine Butcher, Sidney Chen, Ross Wallace Chait, Shinichi Iova-Kova, and Khatchadour Khatchadourian.

Into the Night is a small work for Susan Weber’s Parkinson students at Berkeley Ballet Theater. I am working with composer David Cerf capturing reflections on what is lost and found when we encounter forces beyond our control.


Sketchbook #2 will present works by Karla Quintero, Bear Graham, Matt Robidoux on January 23rd, 2028 at Bandaloop Studios in Oakland. Check back in ten months to see if the program has shifted...as all our lives do.





HoldYouMe is a film collaboration in progress with Natalia Roberts and dancers Kira Fargas and Hadassah Perry filmed at Joshua Tree.






contact: nelsonkt55@gmail.com
website design by fae labonte 2026