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Karen Peterson and Dancers (KPD) is dedicated to developing physically integrated dance through creation and education, including inclusive workshops and professional contemporary dance performances. KPD is one of a handful of organizations south of Georgia that works in this field. In 2019, the Weekly New Times named KPD the “Best Dance Company” in Miami.
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Founding Artistic Director Karen Peterson has won multiple fellowship awards for her choreographic vision. The company and she have received and won Knight Foundation Awards, Miami Foundation Awards, and four NEA grants over the past few years to produce the Forward Motion Dance Festival and Conference of Physically Integrated Dance”. Inaugurated in 2018, this one-of-a-kind festival has attracted individuals from around the States and abroad and brings together leading companies of excellence for performances and educational opportunities. The companies that have participated since 2018 include Candoco (UK), Axis (Cal), Heidi Latsky (NYC), Kinetic Light (Seattle), REVolutions (Tampa),
KPD (Miami), and Dancing Wheels (Cleveland. KPD will represent the USA at the KAIDA (Korean International Accessible Dance Festival) in Seoul, South Korea, on August 9-18, 2024, as Karen presents videos of her work, instructs International students, and presents THE AXIS with longtime KPD dance artists Jesus Vidal, Sun Young Park and Penelope Huerta.
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Since 1990, the company has presented an annual season of new ensemble work performed by hundreds of dancers and created by multiple choreographers at many South Florida and national/international venues. Committed to touring, the company has performed in New York City at the Judson, Ohio, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and throughout Florida. Internationally, KPD has had performance residencies and cultural exchanges developing new work in Sao Paulo, Brazil; at the Edinburgh “Fringe”, Scotland; at the American Choreographers Showcase; in Barcelona and Madrid, Spain; and Ireland, Portugal and Bosnia.
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As the company approaches its 35th year in 2025, KPD continues to activate and sustain its ongoing educational/training workshops and performances, reaching over 5,000 teens with special needs in Miami-Dade County Schools. A film, "Footloose,” created by Dinorah de Jesus Rodriquez, about KPD’s Miami-Dade County School's 12-week dance residency program for teens with special needs, premiered at Screen Dance Miami in 2022.
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Please help us keep this resilient energy alive by supporting Karen's work in the South Florida community.
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You may make a donation via PayPal by clicking on the button or by mailing a check to:
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Karen Peterson and Dancers, 8700B SW 129th Terrace, Miami, FL 33176-5904
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Karen Peterson's 35th-year foresight into the dance community and her inclusive vision for dancers with and without disabilities will be applauded.
Sincerely,
Board Members of Karen Peterson and Dancers Inc.
Karen Peterson and Dancers is funded in part by: “the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's Knight Arts Challenge, helping bring South Florida together through the arts” by The Children's Trust. The Trust a dedicated source of revenue established by voter referendum to improve the lives of children and families in Miami-Dade County, by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor, the Miami Dade County Board of County Commissioners, by the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts." Supported in by: Coldwell Bankers, The Mildred Pallas Levenson Dance Foundation, Miami Salon Group. Citizens Interested in the Arts, the Whitten Foundation, CEP APAP Travel Award and Funding Arts Network.
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