Keisha Janae

Teaching Artist, Choreographer, Improviser, and Movement Artist

2020 Make a Wave

Dance

Graduate of Columbia College Chicago’s Dance program, Keisha Janae (KJ) has experience in performance, choreography, and teaching artistry. She is excited to be in her first season with Red Clay Dance Company and has also danced with BraveSoul Movement and Project Tool. Versatile in her movement vocabulary, she teaches House dance at Red Clay Dance Academy and Crown Academy.

KJ is humbled to be Artistic Director and Founder of Eternal Resolve, a grassroots initiative and dance company that utilizes movement to process pathways toward self-realization and healing. Honored as a 3Arts Make A Wave Artist in 2020, she is skilled in dance improvisation and has performed with several collaborators and groups including: Instigation festival, a Chicago and New Orleans music, movement, and visual arts festival curated by Marie Casimir and Steve Marquette; “Freedom From Freedom To” hosted at Elastic Arts and curated by Cristal Sabbagh; “Afro-Town” composed and directed by Angel Bat Dawid; and with Black Monument Ensemble, composed and directed by Damon Locks.

This is her year for expanding and building her artistic practice. Currently she is in residence at Links Hall and awarded a scholarship to attend Afropolis 2022 in Marseille, France. Aligned with her most high, she chooses to plant seeds and walk in her purpose.

About Eternal Resolve

"Eternal” represents the observance of inner soul and spirit. “Resolve” considers the experiences of the present. Eternal Resolve was established in the Summer of 2020 by Artistic Director and Founder,Keisha Janae and Co-FounderTrell Whatley. The Eternal Resolve curriculum and performances are based on investigations of self within society. It gathers insights from the “Resolve Think Tank,” a cohort of arts and education practitioners dedicating themselves to remembering, researching, and rebuilding truth within themselves. The movers in their creative process use creative investigations designed by Keisha Janae, Think Tank research, and movement improvisation to re-evaluate the nature of their lived experiences. In performance, the practice their research to restore the connection to their mind and body. This platform permits us to inspire our community to free themselves. Excited about the newfound expansion in dancers and community members, Eternal Resolve is debuting Trust in Life with performers Keisha Janae {KJ}, Kolin Smith {Reflex}, Sasha Vulovic, Kierah {KIKI} King, Dion Randle {iCrisis}, Tuyeni Akanke Smith, and Dasaun Sanford.

Keisha Janae's Website

Featured Artworks

Six figures all dressed in white, lean into and against one another closely with a mixture of pained or tired expressions on their faces

Seat and Chase Suns Photography: Philip Dembinski The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago

Black woman with short cropped hair, arms reaching towards a cluster of black fabric in foreground

I am digging, I am haunting Tori Rice

A group of 7-8 people huddle together in a close circle, arms around each other's shoulders, heads bent down and towards each other

Breath of Life DESIGNSINPHOTOS by: Gloria Joan

Black woman, softly lit onstage, seemingly suspended in the air with arms and legs raised up and away from her body as if gently falling or rising, with a dark celestial sky and silver orb in the background

I call upon my sphinx to protect my riddled soul, I unclench my soul to unveil my. Photography: Idalia Cardona

Black woman kneels on the ground with arms stretched actively behind her and head raised to the sky and a narrow shaft of vertical white light behind her

Freedom From and Freedom To Founder and Curator: Cristal Sabbagh, Photography: Ricardo E Adame

Keisha Photography: Jovan Landry, Edits: Jibri Wright

Black woman with patterned headwrap and dress, mask over her face, steps low and touches the ground with one arm. A softly lit reflection of her image is duplicated to the left, all against a darkly lit background.

Freedom From and Freedom To Founder and Curator: Cristal Sabbagh, Photography: Ricardo Adame

Keisha Janae has crowd-funded a project with 3AP

Trust in Life
by: Keisha Janae
- $3,530 raised of $3,000 goal
- 0 Days 0:00:00 LEFT
- - 3Arts matched
  - 118% funded
With a community of movers and thinkers, we’re creating a Spring performance called Trust in Life that puts trust at center court as a way of envisioning self-realization and collective healing. Guided by play and improvisational training, this piece will …
Read more about Trust in Life