Karen Kaeja

Karen Kaeja (she/her) is a Tkaronto born Ashkenazi. An award-winning choreographer and performer for stage and film, project instigator, mentor and educator, she “paints portraits with moving bodies” Toronto Star and is “the mastermind behind Porch View Dances” Toronto Star. Karen develops platforms for collaborative relationships between dancers, everyday people and the body. The heart of her research, choreography and critical writing for the past 30 years, concentrates on Touch, where the celebration of body memory as a living archive are in a continuous state of rebalancing. 

Karen is in The Canadian Who’s Who, with awards including the George Luscombe Mentorship Award, Dance Ontario’s Lifetime Achievement Award, CDA “I Love Dance” Community Award and Paul D. Fleck Fellowship. She was a Finalist for the TAF Celebration of Cultural Life Award, TAF Muriel Sherrin Award for International Achievement, TD Arts Diversity Award, NOW’s Best Local Choreographer and twice for NOW’s top 10 dance artists,and Best Dance Company. Among Karen’s nomination are the 2023 Eldred Family Dance Award, CDA “I Love Dance” Innovation Award, and 7 Dora Mavor Moore nominations, winning one. Screened in over 400 festivals worldwide, her dance films and feature roles have appeared in TV spots such as the Gemini nominated Old Country and Bravo! Freedom documentation series.

She has created over 50 dances with her recent TouchX stage work as PART OF TORQUE International Contemporary Dance Series. Karen was Stratford Festival’s first movement dramaturg for Wendy and Peter Pan and was the first resident dance artist for both MUN/Dance NL and the Guelph Dance Festival. Co-Artistic Director of Kaeja d’Dance with Allen Kaeja, she is commissioned and presented by performance series around the world, and performs for and collaborates with many of Canada’s brilliant choreographers. www.kaeja.org