maurya kerr (she/her/hers)

“The Word in Motion” with Maurya Kerr and Christian Burns: July 27-31 Examine the relationship between movement, text, and meaning with seasoned Bay Area artists @tinypistol and @burnswork , whose combined practices span choreography, writing, improvisation, and decades of interdisciplinary inquiry. Christian and Maurya are interested in investigating a grammar of both embodied and lingual language in an effort to help workshop participants gain clearer and more objective improvisatory and creation tools. That said, to reference the poet Denise Levertov, accuracy is the gateway to mystery; so while we seek clarity, it is in the service of both increasing our access to the depth and poetry of our creative expressions and becoming better and more empathic listeners (of ourselves and each other). Each day will consist of a warm up + physical practice; skill + technique building; and assimilation, making + sharing. Photos by alan kimara dixon and Keith Weng. Videos of Maurya rehearsing with @paufvedance and Christian’s artist residency at @donkeymillartcenter . This workshop is part of THE HATCHERY by ttgsf, a summer incubator series in San Francisco for dance artists ready to explore, experiment, and expand their creative practice. Learn more and register today at thetrainingroundsf.com (link in bio!)

join me in seattle march 12-14 where I’ll be teaching the first three days of Whim W’Him’s first ever Spring Intensive! LET’S DIVE DEEP. deadline to apply is feb 22nd: /spring-intensive/?utm_campaign=feed&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=later-linkinbio 📷 @sentimentaljournal

the get down returns this Sunday, 12-1:30pm at @bandaloopstudios ! WE MUST DANCE & SING TO SAVE OURSELVES & THE WORLD. (Janey Stephenson continued…) ✨But the fight-back need not be joyless. Holding on to and centering joy is a vital tactic for personal and group resilience, as well as political resistance to an agenda that seeks to enforce hierarchy and division through mass fear. Authoritarianism is directly incompatible with collective joy; it demands fear, obedience, hierarchy, and an obsession with security and preparation for war. The unexpected, spontaneous, and pleasantly disruptive nature of collective joy takes people off guard and is one of the great equalizers of social and political struggle.✨ graphics by @cleoledet free Palestine & fuck ICE.

✨Where fascism aims to instill fear, joy is the perfect resistance… when collective joy erupts in pursuit of defiantly reinforcing your very existence—especially in the face of those who seek to erase you—it has the power to subvert authority and release suppressed rage while connecting us to each other and reinforcing a sense of group safety.✨Janey Stephenson ballet returns, starting this friday—at a new time, 11:15am-12:45pm PST (instead of 11:30am-1pm)—still at LINES & on zoom, still with Lucy at the piano, still fun as fuck. still pretty much every other week, but not quite: jan 16 + jan 30 / feb 13 + feb 27 / march 20 / apr 3 +apr 17 / may 1 + may 15. & still sliding scale, although the low end is now $15 (instead of $10, to help ensure that I can cover costs). that said, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. all levels, including beginners, welcome! DM me for the zoom link (same link as 2025). hope to dance with you soon. (graphics still by @cleoledet ) (& the get down returns sun jan 25th)

“I’m incredibly interested in this idea of shapeshifting. I feel like that’s sort of the ultimate goal as a performer and as a mover is to be able to transform your body from one minute to the next and become different. And that sense of make-believe is also important for survival.” – Maurya Kerr @tinypistol in our Artist Interview Thank you to everyone who joined us for In Tandem: A Trio of Duets Artist Interviews series led by @__jessicajoyce__ Interview by @laurasullivancassidy Video & Edit by @vlada_kremenovic

Tonight’s your LAST CHANCE to catch In Tandem: A Trio of Duets December 20 | 8pm Show, 7pm Doors In our increasingly polarized world, decades-long collaborations between artists feels both fragile and necessary. Don’t miss three stunning duets by Maurya Kerr @tinypistol @linkolah and @lseiters @danselab & Darrell Jones in collaboration with @bebemillerco 📸 @allinadayswork_photo

Opening night is SOLD OUT, and tickets are going fast for Friday and Saturday. It is not often that artists of this caliber share a program, so don’t miss this chance to experience their work in a way that is both intimate and expansive. In Tandem: A Trio of Duets | December 18-20 Maurya Kerr @tinypistol @linkolah and @lseiters @danselab & Darrell Jones in collaboration with @bebemillerco 📸 @allinadayswork_photo

“When you watch people in wonderment, you also enter into that space.” Maurya Kerr @tinypistol in our Artist Interview Thursday’s sold out! Grab your tickets now so you don’t miss Maurya’s “comet, whom I love”, performed by @alexandracarrington and @chelsea__reichert In Tandem: A Trio of Duets | December 18-20 also featuring works by @linkolah and @lseiters @danselab & Darrell Jones in collaboration with @bebemillerco Artist Interviews series led by @__jessicajoyce__ Interview by @laurasullivancassidy Video, Sound & Edit by @vlada_kremenovic | @sasha_sobbing

“Orion” by Maurya Kerr @tinypistol First prize winner of the 2022 Tom Howard Poetry Contest, and part of the “tommy noun” chapbook Don’t miss Maurya’s choreographic work on our stage next week! In Tandem: A Trio of Duets | December 18-20 also featuring works by @linkolah & @lseiters @danselab & Darrell Jones in collaboration with @bebemillerco

Don’t miss “comet, whom I love” by Maurya Kerr @tinypistol Performed by @alexandracarrington and @chelsea__reichert Embodiment takes on a quiet but vast radiance in this duet, where simplicity, listening, and patience become the tools for rigor. In Tandem: A Trio of Duets | December 18-20 also featuring works by @linkolah & @lseiters @danselab & Darrell Jones in collaboration with @bebemillerco 🎵 @joelstjulien 🎥courtesy of @92nydance

having Hanif Abdurraquib (omg!!!) select one of my poems for @poetlore 's Pop Culture and Response folio was an absolute highlight of my writing year🙏🏽 despite its difficult material the poem itself was a blast to write & shape—woohoo enjambments! [blessed be the protective oven mitts of form for charged material... (Maxine Kumin)]

In Tandem | comet, whom I love by Maurya Kerr @tinypistol with @alexandracarrington and @chelsea__reichert “comet, whom I love” is a duet full of rapture, orbit, intimacy, fury, and presence by Maurya Kerr, a Bay Area–based choreographer, poet, filmmaker and the artistic director of @tinypistol . You might remember her from “ To Gather” (2023) by @blackcollectivity The work pushes against performativity in its virtuosic embrace of simplicity, listening, and patience. “On me your voice falls as they say love should, like an enormous yes.” — Philip Levine Join us for an evening of duets that carries its past inside it while opening up new possibilities in real time, also featuring works by @bebemillerco with @danselab & Darrell Jones, and @linkolah & @lseiters 📸 Credits 1–2 @sentimentaljournal 3–4 Quinn Wharton 5 @stexphoto 6–7 @robbiesweeny