BKirk Dance, a newly formed collective of dancers, started with a choreographic vision – making dance more inviting to new audiences. Bridget Kirk, the Artistic Director of BKirk Dance, has a nearly decade-long career in dance education. The heavy majority of Kirk’s teaching has been in public schools and all-arts after-school programs, rather than private studios. In these spaces, she is often faced with students who have stereotypical thoughts of what dance is, along with some prejudiced notions of why they think they do not want to dance. These experiences as an educator led to the establishment of BKirk Dance as a conduit for exploring two questions that have been driving Kirk’s choreographic process lately: “How does the audience’s choice-making alter their perspective of the work?” and, “How can we relieve the intimidation factor of viewing dance and bring in new audiences?” The intended goal of BKirk Dance’s work is to bring together a variety of local artists (i.e. dancers, composers, filmmakers, visual artists, etc.) to introduce dance in more engaging, personal, and informal dance spaces.
