Photo credit: Andréa de Keijzer. Dancers: Jennifer Dallas

Kẹmi Contemporary Dance Projects (Kẹmi) was founded in 2008 by Artistic Director Jennifer Dallas. We are dedicated to maintaining connections and creating dialogue between the physical human body and the virtual age. We collaborate regularly with dance artists and musicians in divergent cultural, geographic and economic settings to convey the infectious joy of dance.

Kẹmi presented its first full-length show prior to incorporation under the name Kẹmi Collective. The production between here and now was part of the DanceWorks CoWorks 2007-2008 season presentation and was supported by the Toronto Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.

In February 2011. Kẹmi presented Longer Than A Shadow as part of the DanceWorks CoWorks season, along with guest artist Bienvenue Bazié of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Presented at Dancemakers Centre for Creation in Toronto, the program was generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council.

Message from Artistic Director Jennifer Dallas

I am product of the traditional western dance arena who has spent a significant part of my movement life as a student and contributor in the contemporary dance environment of West Africa. I am commited to developing a personal language in dance which, results in a unique choreographic and artistic experience.

Along with the use of exotic textiles in fabric throughout my costumes and sets I have concentrated on developing a movement vocabulary that illuminates impulses and reactions felt by the body when it is communicating most directly with the music.

I've spent five years and as many trips abroad researching and experimenting, primarily in West Africa, and always with the knowledge that to depart from what I have known is fundamental to the creative process. Extended personal and artistic contact with foreign artists has allowed me to exchange and develop distinct ideas.

For me, the dance studio is where human and artistic knowledge is shared and where fresh and varied concepts in movement occur. It is here that human interaction can enjoy the beauty and freedom of transcending age, race and experience by engaging in the process of creation and creative exchange without boundaries.