Director, Keith A. Thompson shares rare insights into the complex world of danceTactics, talking us through his pursuit for the ‘not yet realized’, as well as revealing exciting plans for the year ahead.

danceTactics performance group is a contemporary dance and physical theatre company that we should all be familiar with. Based in both Arizona and New York and led by Keith A. Thompson, they have an impressive touring history throughout America, as well as Scotland, Germany and Japan. Their work values continuous research into how theatre and contemporary dance can be fused in new and exciting ways, whilst embracing principles of diversity, belonging and humanity.

Though the final result is the live spectacle, danceTactics is a multifaceted operation, as Thompson’s unique methods of directing allows inspiration and development to occur through a multitude of avenues – through residencies, collaborations, short films, animated lectures and more. For danceTactics it seems that the process of writing, performing, teaching and learning are almost inseparable. As Thompson explains,

“The discoveries that are gained by speaking about the work, living in the work and letting the work speak to others is co-dependent on each other. In the creative process, you just can’t fully have one thing without the other, something without nothing. The arrangement of how a workshop or animated lecture is put together is a blueprint to understanding how I view crafting or building vocabulary for all of my work. It lives and breathes with every little step I take.”

Instead of being treated as voyeurs, the audience and public are at the core of the practice, informing the work whilst simultaneously learning from it, and the same is true of Thompson himself. There is something very pure and beautiful in the cyclicality of this process, in growing from the environment that you also help to nurture.

This process also takes root through collaborations, through working alongside his fellow dancers, as well as with the wider artistic community to help bring his visions and performances to life.

The next upcoming danceTactics performance is Love Alone Anthology Project, which will have its world premiere at the 20th La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival in New York City on April 10^th.

“Inspired by the writings of poet & AIDS activist Paul Monette, I have been developing this project for some time with my dancers in showcases, residencies, studio showings, and showing excerpts at festivals. I am very excited to be working with the designers and other collaborating artists on Love Alone Anthology Project at La MaMa.”

For Love Alone Anthology Project danceTactics interprets and embodies Paul Monette’s stream-of-conscious monologues in his 1988 volume “Love Alone: 18 Elegies for Rog”, a powerful collection of poems written about the death of Monette’s lover during the height of the American AIDS epidemic.

“Photographer and visual artist, Robert Flynt, created over 1,000 original images alongside my dancers back in 2022, and now we are going to have the opportunity to integrate them into the live performance through a series of projections developed with David Fishel.

I´m also very happy to be using original music by Albert Mathias, Dalal Bruchmann & Maesa Pullman for this piece, as well as very fortunate to be working with lighting designer Joe Levasseur. All of these artists are going to really enhance the choreography and the performances by Clarence Brooks, Shawn Brush, Aidan Feldman, and Brendan McCall.”

in Love Alone Anthology Project, as with all danceTactics performances, Thompson invites the audience to recall their own memories and emotions evoked purely through the communication of movement, text and dance.

“With a passionate focus on movement investigation, I aim to create novel connections between narrative and the abstract that can be readily perceived by audiences, even if their meanings are complex or ineffable. This might involve the incorporation of recognizable movements, motifs, words or vocabularies that trigger a relationship to some physical experience people have had in their lives.”

There is a constant dialogue between artist and audience – during the performance itself, as an internal narrative occurs in response to the performance themes and movements, and also outside the performance, as external conversations within animated lectures and workshops. It is no wonder that danceTactics is making such a mark in the performing arts world, as their approach to creativity is one that is humble, yet innovative – as Thompson leads with firm direction, whilst also welcoming challenges and self-growth along the way.

Visit www.dancetactics.org for more information about upcoming events, learning opprtunities and more. which can also be found on their
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Bluesky.

For residencies and engagement enquiries or to meet with Keith A. Thompson contact KMP Artists:
Management: Kristopher@kmpartists.com

Tickets for April 2025 Love Alone Anthology Project premiere, as part of the LaMama Moves Festival: www.lamama.org/la-mama-moves-2025