CCI ALUM SUPPORTED ARTIST/PROJECT

Kesha McKey is an African American female performing artist, choreographer and educator born and raised in New Orleans. After graduating from NOCCA she received her BS in Biology
pre-med from Xavier University of LA and an MFA in Dance Performance from UW-Milwaukee. She is the founding Artistic Director of KM Dance Project, an essential artistic platform for emerging Black choreographers in NOLA. McKey’s most recent choreographic work, Raw Fruit, has received a 2021 NPN Creation Fund Award and a 2019 NEFA National Dance Project Production Grant – being the first dance company in Louisiana to receive this award. Her other recent awards include a 2020 CAC N.O. SweetArts Award, 2019-20 UBW Choreographic Center Initiative Fellowship, 2018/19 CAC Southern Crossings Residency, and a 2016 Dancing While Black Fellowship. Her most recent performance credits include: Urban Bush Women’s Hair and Other Stories 2018-19 tour, Junebug Productions Gomela:to return 2018-19 tour, Junebug Productions Homecoming Project 2018-2020 and the Lula Elzy N.O. Dance Theatre. Her recent choreographic credits include: 2019 NPN Conference, 2018 UBW SLI, 2018 Women in Dance Conference, Junebug Production’s Power of the Black Feminine, 2016 Alternate Roots Week, Peridance 2016 APAP Showcase. McKey has previously served as a Program Coordinator for the Ashe CAC Kuumba Institute, and currently serves as a collaborator for Dancing Grounds Dance for Social Change and as the Director of Arts at NOCCA. She has served as a dance educator for over 25 years and is committed to sustaining the artistic voice of Black dancers and choreographers in New Orleans.