jk-co
Presenting Denver would like to shine the spotlight on Kimberly Chmielewski, Jenny Gram, and jk-co!
Choreographer Name: Kimberly Chmielewski & Jenny Gram
Company Name: jk-co
Hometown: Chicago, IL & Santa Clara, CA
Current city you live in: Denver, CO
Education: BFA University of Iowa
Presenting Denver: How did you learn about the Festival, and what is your interest in it?
Kimberly Chmielewski and Jenny Gram: Kimberly Chmielewski had the honor of performing in the Presenting Denver Dance Festival last summer with Hannah Kahn Dance Company on the main stage, and on the public stage with Maureen Breeze Dance Theatre and New Nu-World Contemporary Danse Theatre. Jenny Gram first learned of the festival when performing for Presenting Denver’s Wine & Works-in-Progress this last winter. We’re thrilled to be working with Presenting Denver again and to share our work in a space that celebrates Denver artists.
PD: If you ever have free time, how do you spend it?
KC & JG: Like most of us, Kim and Jenny have very little free time. With what time we do have, we grab coffee and plan for the future.
PD: Who is your audience? Do you often see the same people at performances, or is there a wide variety of faces?
KC & JG: We’re extremely grateful to have a strong network in the Denver dance scene that supports our growth as artists and as a company. We often see familiar faces at performances, but really enjoy and appreciate meeting new audience members.
PD: What is the best piece of dance career advice you’ve ever been given, and by whom?
KC & JG: Michael Medcalf advised Kim in college to be okay hearing no. No doesn’t mean you’re not good enough, not talented enough. It’s 50/50. It just means you’re not the right fit at the moment. If you want it badly enough you keep working until that no becomes a yes.
Jenny was advised by David Dorfman to see as much dance as possible when living in New York. You develop a palate by seeing the good and the bad. That’s how you form a choreographic voice.
PD: At this time in history, what do you feel is the purpose, meaning, or effect of dance for your audiences, students, dancers, the Festival, you or others?
KC & JG: Our choreographic process is centralized in the humanity and virtuosity of dance and the physical embodiment of what fundamentally connects people: love, compassion, growth, and play. It is an honor and responsibility to create art as a means of inviting people to feel, ask questions, and dig deeper. Therefore, jk-co has rooted their process in thematic research that gives life to movement and understands the body as an individual in relation and rebellion to these universal human truths.
PD: Please list any upcoming events, programs, classes or shows that you would like Presenting Denver and our audiences to know about. Thank you!!
KC & JG: We currently don’t have any upcoming events but we’ll keep you updated as events arise.
The 2020 Presenting Denver Dance Festival is made possible by:
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