Meet Kelly Archer | Artistic Director & Choreographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kelly Archer and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Kelly, how does your business help the community?
Chadash Contemporary Dance Movement is a company of visual storytellers, passionate about its mission. The Hebrew verb Chadash comes from a primitive root word that means to be new; to rebuild, renew, repair and restore. Chadash launched in 2016 and is a professional company based in the Denver area led by Artistic Director Kelly Archer and Associate Director Stephanie McGill. We tell stories through well-crafted dance and other media, to cultivate renewal, reparation, and restoration in a broken world. We want to honestly acknowledge the world as it is, and as hope-bearers, through the aesthetic of dance, engage in the conversation of what it can be. Our mission statement is “to stand in the ashes of the barn burned down, one foot in suffering, one foot in hope.” We do this through human, transcendent choreography and art that cuts to the heart, that is thought-provoking and soul-stirring.
Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Chadash is unique because of our mission and vision. We are a family of dancers who love movement but have a deep desire for that movement to be meaningful not only for us as creators, but also for our audiences. We want to be honest about the struggles that so many of us deal with in life, but ultimately to be architects of hope. We are passionate about storytelling, and believe as Muriel Rukeyser said, “The universe is not made of atoms; it’s made of stories.” The stories we tell have a deep impact on and leave us changed, and we hope the same for our audiences. As artistic director of Chadash, I trained as a dancer from the time I was 3, first in the commercial world of dance in Los Angeles and then fell in love with concert dance in college. I graduated with a degree in theatre with an emphasis in directing, which has helped me to create a process where we learn how to tell stories through movement.
I spent eight years as co-director of a pre-professional dance company at a prestigious training conservatory in Northern California, where I became devoted to dance education, and learned what the best kind of comprehensive dance training looks like. In addition I was trained to counsel young pre-professional dancers to forge the best path to realizing their dreams.
In 2019, I created Colorado Dance Initiative, a supplemental pre-professional dance program. Twice a month, students from different dance studios across the Denver area come together to train with and be mentored by our Chadash dancers and collaborate to put a concert together. One of the main goals of the program is to help guide these young dancers towards realizing their professional dance dreams and goals.
We have definitely faced challenges with both groups of dancers- Chadash and CDI. For Chadash, like so many other artistic organizations, funding is one of those challenges. Our goal is to become a full-time company and I am dedicated to making that dream a reality.
CDI faces challenges in finding dancers who have a desire for training on a concert path. The Denver dance scene (as far as pre-professional dance is concerned) is a very competition focused community. Because of this, it can be difficult to find dancers who are not as focused on competing, but instead are looking to train comprehensively in a way that will help them to gain entrance into conservatory and university dance programs that will lead towards a career in dance. However, it has been gratifying to guide dancers who are hungry for this towards their goals, and to watch them fall in love with storytelling through dance in the process.
Ultimately, we would love the world to know that while we are a company of professional and pre-professional dancers, we are also a community of humans who want to share our gifts and talents to make an impact and difference in our world.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Denver is such a great city! I feel so fortunate, after being born here, to be back home. There is so much to see. . . for our annual August show, we fly half of our cast in from around different parts of the country and I am always proud to show what I love about my city. Obviously, the mountains are full of beauty and amazing places to hike, as well as fun little mountain towns such as Idaho Springs, Georgetown and Dillon. But downtown Denver is also so much fun! We love to take our out of town dancers to Larimer Square, Peaks Lounge for drinks, and to the many incredible restaurants throughout the city. The Performing Arts Complex is also a can’t miss, and an easy way to patronize the wonderful arts in our community. And of course, Red Rocks Ampitheatre is a must see!
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Judi Daniels was my high school drama teacher. I was a shy 15 year old who had just moved from LA to Sacramento, and she warmly welcomed me into her classroom and helped me find my way. After I graduated high school she continued to mentor me, as she did for so many of her students. Shortly after moving to Denver 8 years ago, I knew I had a deep desire to start a professional dance company, but also knew I needed guidance. I had a dream one night about Judi mentoring me through this process and suddenly knew I was supposed to ask her to help me in this way, but was nervous because Judi had recently been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and I thought there was no way she would say yes in this phase of her life. I emailed her and got an instant response of “yes!!!!!” Judi took her role as mentor in this situation very seriously, having me read a stack of books with her (long distance, as she still lived in Sacramento) and coming up with questions to help me seriously think through the philosophy and vision of this dance company that still only resided in my heart. She loved our mission statement, “to stand in the ashes of the barn burned down and point to the moon, one foot in suffering, one foot in hope,” because she said it was how she wanted to live her life. The company was officially birthed in 2016 with our first concert. “A Life’s Song.” Judi wrote poetry and spoken word for our shows, and together we created the storyline for each show. She was so passionate about Chadash- our family of dancers, our vision to change the world through art, and the impact it had on the world we were living in. She loved that through the stories we told we were a beacon of hope in an often dark world.
Judi and I worked alongside each other for five concerts until she passed away in September, 2021. The impact she left on our company will always be felt. We continue to dance out her legacy of choosing joy, courage and hope in the face of circumstances that are far from ideal.
Website: chadashdance.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chadashdance/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChadashDance
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kellyarcherchadashcdi4408/featured
Image Credits
VFY Photography Eric Fairlee Regan Archer