Jack Kirven

"Jack Kirven" (born 1976), an American dancer, choreographer, multimedia performance artist and journalist, was born in Atlanta, and grew up mostly in Georgia and South Carolina in the Southeastern region of the United States. His work as a choreographer focuses primarily on social issues in the South, particularly concerns pertaining to racism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination.

Kirven completed the Master of Fine Arts in UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures, then moved to New York City to perform in 2002. He was a high school teacher from 2002-2004 in a severely at-risk school district in South Carolina where he produced provocative dances concerning teens and AIDS, racism, and religious violence. He is also known as a rigorous college professor who intermingles humor with demanding academic expectations, requiring students to be familiar with a broad range of topics that are not necessarily conventionally related to dance (an attitude he learned from William Forsythe, formerly of the Ballett Frankfurt).

Currently, Kirven is the Artistic Director of [http://www.jackkirven.com/viscera Viscera Dance Theatre] . The company is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

As of February 2007, Kirven has also worked as a columnist and writer for Q-Notes, the LGBT newspaper of North and South Carolina. Kirven writes the column Health & Wellness, as well as stories focusing on history, culture, and the arts.

elected Theater Works

*"Quelques images de Baudelaire: Les fleurs du mal, suite no. 1" (1998)
*"ICON" (2002)
*"Choices" (2002)
*"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, nos. 1-3" (2002-2005)
*"21 Clichés" (2006)
*Eternal Return, Part 1: "Path: A Postmodern Little Red Riding Hood" (2007)
*Eternal Return, Part 2: "Oven: A Postmodern Hansel and Gretel" (2008, in progress)
*"Suites for the sweet: Valentine's Day Dances" (2008)