Kelsey Paschich

Kelsey Paschich is a multi-faceted dance artist whose work reflects both a reverence for tradition and a drive for innovation. As a performer, she has a diverse 20-year international career with renowned companies and choreographers including: The Moscow State Classical Ballet, DCDC2, Thodos Dance Chicago, River North Chicago Dance Company, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Interdansa Dance Festival, Keshet Dance Company, ARCOS Dance, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the Hannibal Project in Solden, Austria, Lar Lubavitch, Johan Renvall, Tamir Ginz, Ann Reinking, Lucas Crandall and more.

As a choreographer, Kelsey leverages technology not just for novelty, but to probe deeper questions of what it means to be human in a digitally mediated world. Her boundary-pushing interdisciplinary collaborations integrate dance with film, animation, and interactive media, creating immersive experiences that have been presented globally. Her multimedia work includes live dance, screendance, dance for film, and choreographic installations. Her digital work has been screened in 11 festivals in Germany, Portugal, Turkey, and across the United States.

Kelsey's depth as an artist is matched by her dedication as an educator. As Assistant Professor of Innovation in Dance at Western Michigan University, she strives to cultivate the next generation of artists. Her classroom becomes a creative laboratory where students can discover their own voices. Her work has been recognized through numerous awards and residencies. She was recently awarded the WMU Presidential Innovation Professorship Award 2023 at WMU. Kelsey was selected as an artist for the Choreographic Coding Lab in Cologne, Germany (2023) and as one of four international Distant Digital Dance Makers to create for Tanz mit dem Tiger in Ulm, Germany (2021, 2022). She received the Creative Living for Dancers Award in Brussels, Belgium (2021) and was chosen for the Dancing Lab: Art Speaks 2.0 artistic residency at the National Center for Choreography in Akron, Ohio (2021). Her speaking engagements include invitations to present at the 5th International Conference on Arts and Design Education in Bandung, Indonesia (2022) and the Society of Korean Dance Studies International Symposium in Seoul, Korea (2021). She was also the recipient of the National Dizzy Feet Foundation Gene Kelly Legacy Scholarship (2016). 

Holding an MFA from the University of New Mexico, a BFA from Point Park University, and as a Countertechnique® certified teacher, Kelsey’s breadth of experience across performance, choreography, and scholarship informs her pedagogy. Her curiosity and bold vision reveal dance as a perpetually evolving art form which she continues to shape through her versatile, multi-faceted career and drive for innovation.

Photo Credit: Pippa Samaya