"I work, research, make art, and live at the intersections of honest embodiment, humble presence, impish curiosity, and intentional community. I make artwork that gestates slowly. That cannot be made without the interdependent relationships between collaborators that take time to develop. That evolves through laughing over good food, talking about things that matter, through being fully present and vulnerable with people I care about, can learn from and alongside, and share resources in a way that enriches our lives and work."

 

Kai Hazelwood (she/her) is a trans-disciplinary artist and activist  raising the profile of bi+/queer and BIPOC community issues through art projects, community events, and public speaking. Her training includes 6 years at the San Francisco Ballet School, summer programs at Dance Theater of Harlem and Alvin Ailey, and training at the Kirov Ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. After a contract with the Oakland Ballet Company, Kai relocated to Los Angeles to complete her BFA at UCLA.

 

She left her 4 year post as faculty and then Dance Outreach Coordinator at AMDA College & Conservatory in January 2016 to refocus on her artistic career, beginning with a guest choreographer post with Martz Contemporary Dance Company in Barcelona Spain. Kai then went on to tour with Axis Dance Company before returning to Los Angeles to continue her own choreographic and performing work including choreographing the 2016 bi+ contingent of the LA Pride Parade featuring the cast of Crazy Ex Girlfriend.

 

Back in LA she signed with Go 2 Talent Agency as a dance artist. She has choreographed and done movement direction for a number of music videos and became the Resident Choreographer for Theatre Dybbuk. In 2017 Kai was selected as an Arts Omi International Arts Center Choreographic Resident, and showed work in the Black Choreographer’s Festival in San Francisco.

 

In 2018 Kai’s creative collaborative formalized as Good Trouble Makers, and by 2020 GTM has been covered by 21 media outlets. Kai was a 2018 Los Angeles Artist in Residence, and was invited to Jacob’s Pillow as part of the National Presenter’s Forum. She was the founding Artistic Director of Downtown Dance & Movement, a state of the art dance facility offering classes, rehearsal, and performance space in Downtown Los Angeles before it closed due to COVID-19. In 2019 Kai was selected as part of the 2019 Dance USA Institute for Leadership cohort and received the Duke Access Award from the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP). 

 

In 2020 Kai and GTM received an Artistic Impact Award from Invertigo Dance Theatre and received funding from the city of West Hollywood to turn parts of their dance theater piece inVISIBLE into dance films. Kai also co-created Practice Progress with Sarah Ashkin of GROUND SERIES. Practice Progress facilitates anti-racist learning to address and undo white supremacy. As body-based artists and activists with multiple decades of experience, both Kai and Sarah approach Practice Progress’ anti-racist work from their persepctives as embodied researchers and changemakers. Practice Progress leads clients and participants toward sustained cultural shift in their institutions, communities, and themselves. 

 

Kai and Good Trouble Makers were the first virtual Artists in Residence for Pieter Performance Space, and in early 2021 led workshops and later premiered an interactive virtual performance called Touch | Screen at The Musco Center in Orange County. Kai is also part of Chapman University’s faculty teaching modern dance technique through an anti-racist lens. Kai is a 2022 Lincoln City Fellow supported by the Speranza Foundation, and currently the Executive Director of Pieter Performance Space. She travels between Los Angeles and Amsterdam NL to continue her work unraveling embodied white supremacy in Dance as an arts research fellow at DAS Graduate School. 

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