Artist Spotlight #19: KAI HAZELWOOD
I’ll be honest. KAI HAZELWOOD happens to be one of my favorite people. Full stop. I’ve known her for a decade, and we’ve collaborated extensively. She has participated in Rhizomatic Studio’s Performance Lab and Collective Creation Lab, and she’s even a poster child for our writing workshops. All that to say that this spotlight is FAR overdue! Kai is a dancer, dance maker, producer, and (increasingly) an organizer and activist. Kai doesn’t mince words when it comes to what she thinks we need more of in the arts. She says: “I'm less interested in how the field is changing and more interested in remaking it entirely by disempowering its traditional structure and building an independent, stable, and lucrative collaborative that can operate outside of the traditional axis of institutional funding and support. I'm working towards this by testing out new structures of funding and leadership, and working hard to make room for queer and BIPOC artists along the way…”
Kai Hazelwood
Like so many of the artists and cultural workers we profile on this blog, you wear a number of hats, and what’s more, you seem to take on a leadership role wherever you go. What are you currently focused on?
I'm the artistic director of Downtown Dance & Movement, a state of the art dance studio, rehearsal rental facility, and performance venue in Downtown LA. I'm also the founder and artistic director of Good Trouble Makers: artist-agitators based in Los Angeles and working internationally. Inspired by the words of John Lewis, GTM are committed to making: making art, making room, making change, making good trouble.
We are a genre expanding, practice-driven collaborative that is perpetually investigating what anti-racist and queer dance making, devising, teaching, and performing looks like. We celebrate the resiliency, creativity, and audacity of our queer and BIPOC communities; it has insured our survival, and will lead the way to liberation for all.
What role does collaboration play in your work as a dance maker?
Collaboration is at the root of my creative process. My work is richer for the people that I have had the honor of collaborating with, and I think of myself more as a director/facilitator who shapes the work that develops collaboratively in the room than as a traditional choreographer.
Kai Hazelwood founded Good Trouble Makers.
Going back to the idea of wearing multiple hats, What would a sustainable career look like for you?
A sustainable career would mean doing fewer things. I am always juggling 6-7 projects in order to make enough income, and I'd like to get to a place where I can build a little more downtime and ease into my life. So, raising operational funding and lining up commercial projects for Good Trouble Makers is a major priority.
You’ve been actively involved for many years now in shaping your professional environment as a dancer, choreographer, consultant, teacher, facilitator, producer, arts administrator, and mentor. From your perspective, how do you see the field changing, and what kinds of change do we need more of now?
Bluntly, I'm less interested in how the field is changing and more interested in remaking it entirely by disempowering its traditional structure and building an independent, stable, and lucrative collaborative that can operate outside of the traditional axis of institutional funding and support. I'm working towards this by testing out new structures of funding and leadership, and working hard to make room for queer and BIPOC artists along the way through our creative projects and Dance in Progress– an intergenerational platform where established and developing artists are equally valued and learn from each other. Dance in Progress provides opportunities for movers, makers, teachers and fans to create locally and connect internationally, offering a host of low cost or free programs in Los Angeles.
What’s next for you?
I'm excited to be starting as a 2019 cohort member of DanceUSA's Institute for Leadership Training and will be attending DanceUSA in Ohio in June. I'll also have a hand in producing this year's Western Arts Alliance conference (WAA) this year in August with a focus on celebrating Los Angeles' black artists.
You can also catch my work on stage this summer as Theatre Dybbuk hits the stage with their newest work, Hell Prepared, the fourth production I've choreographed for them. Additionally, a piece I created with a youth company in Orange County will be going on tour, performing with a full orchestra all across Germany.
I'm also gearing up for Unicorn pARTy on Sept 14th: A night of dance, music and crafts celebrating love for more than one gender. I'm producing it in collaboration with the American Institute of Bisexuality, and #stillbisexual. Plus the dance portion of the evening will include my newest piece of dance theatre, inVISIBLE, a collection of stories from the bisexual community.
