Artistic Vision
Kaley Pruitt Dance investigates the nuances of human experience and explores the intrinsic communication between bodies in space. The work spans many genres, from dance theater to abstract concert aesthetic, film and site-specific work. We’re interested in fostering human connection and bringing dance into the public sphere through interactive or community-based work. We aim to create an environment where the audience shares new perspectives and experiences kinesthetic empathy through physical and verbal storytelling.
Practice-based research grounds Pruitt’s work as an artist, scholar, and educator. Embodied inquiry guides both her creative and intellectual processes, allowing movement to grapple with questions about how we shape our identities through relationships and shifting environments. Through this practice, performance becomes a place for shared reflection, an invitation to consider how we move through the world together and how those shared trajectories might open new possibilities for connection and change.
Dance’s communicative strength lies in the universality and intrinsic relatability of the moving body. Movement connects us to a shared reality. Through this, dance has the potential to initiate deeper empathy and what we call “collaborative activism” inside performance spaces. Ultimately, KPD’s artistic practice is an ongoing inquiry into how movement can shift perception and spark connection. We hope to expand the ways dance can serve as both as grounding element and catalyst in how we understand ourselves, our communities, and the worlds we inhabit and shape.
History
Pruitt founded the company in 2014 in New York City and has created over 35 works for the stage and screen. She has been commissioned by Repertory Dance Theatre, Wasatch Contemporary Dance Company, Fem Dance Company, Idaho Dance Theatre, Steffi Nossen Dance Company, Vision of Sound/Society for New Music, Simantikos Dance Chicago, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, and Illinois State University. Additionally, the company has been presented by: NYS DanceForce, Terpsichore Collective, St. Lois Contemporary Dance Festival /Resilience Dance Company, Green Space, Modern American Dance Company (MADCO) Dare to Dance, Rochester Fringe Festival, Austin Dance Festival, ACDA National Conference, Mark DeGarmo Dance, Milwaukee Fringe Festival, WIM Dance Festival, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Dixon Place Theater, Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, Triskelion Arts, Chez Bushwick and The Center for Performance Research, Built on Stilts Martha’s Vineyard, The Secret Theater, Ketchum Arts Commission, and Movement Research. Pruitt is a 2026 New York State Choreographer’s Initiative grant awardee, under the mentorship of Monica Bill Barnes. Kaley won Repertory Dance Theatre’s national choreography competition, Regalia in 2021, and her work was featured at the American College Dance Association’s National Conference in Long Beach, CA in 2023.