Sam Kim
Since 2002, Sam Kim has created several, long works presented as seasons in NYC: Darling (Performance Space 122, 2009), dumb dumb bunny (The Kitchen, 2007), Cult (Dance Theater Workshop, 2007), AVATAR (Mulberry St Theater, 2006), Nobody Understands Me (Dance Theater Workshop, 2004), Placid Baby (Performance Space 122, 2003) and Valentine (Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, 2002). Kim has also created several shorter works since 1997.
Kim has received commissions for original work from The Kitchen, New York Live Arts, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, Dixon Place, Mulberry St Theater and Performance Space 122. Kim’s work has also been presented nationally by other progressive venues such as Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles), Studio 303 (Montréal), the Unknown Theater (Los Angeles), Bryant Lake Bowl Theater (Minneapolis), the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Galapagos Art and Performance Space and Movement Research, among many others.
Kim's work has been supported by grants from organizations such as the Lucky Star Foundation (2009), the MAP Fund (2006) and the Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation (2004). Kim was a Spring 2010 Dance Theater Workshop Outer/Space Creative Resident at Brazil, a 2007-09 Brooklyn Arts Exchange Dance Artist-in-Residence and a 2004-05 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence. She has also received space grants from the Brooklyn Arts Exchange (2002) and the 92nd St Y Harkness Dance Center (2001).
Kim has been awarded residencies at New York Live Arts Studio Series (2013-14), Movement Research (2013-14), Baryshnikov Arts Center (Fall, 2013) Djerassi Resident Artists Program (2013) Baryshnikov Arts Center (Spring, 2013) and The MacDowell Colony (2012) to develop her latest evening-length work, Sister to a Fiend.
Kim has been deeply engaged with and responsive to the NYC downtown dance community through various leadership roles. She served on the Artist Committee of the Board at Dance Theater Workshop (2006-2010). She was also a member of the Artist Advisory Committee at Performance Space 122 (1999-2003). Kim was a panelist for Dance Theater Workshop’s “Fresh Tracks” series numerous times, the Movement Research at the Judson Church series, and the Brooklyn Arts Exchange dance and theater residencies, amongst other programs.
In addition, Kim is a certified hatha yoga instructor and founder/moderator of Real Feedback, a workshop devoted to looking at choreography through a contemporary, critical lens. She has taught classes and workshops in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and NYC. She has also served as an artistic advisor to residency programs and individual choreographers. In 2005, Kim attended the third annual Balkan Dance Platform in Skopje, Macedonia as an invited guest of Dance Theater Workshop with funding provided by The Suitcase Fund.
From 1995-2005, Kim performed with numerous companies and choreographers, including downtown experimentalists Jennifer Monson, Susan Rethorst and DD Dorvillier (she was a principal performer in Dorvillier’s 2002 Bessie-awarded “Dressed for Floating”). Kim was also a member of Sarah Skaggs Dance (1999-2001) and Li Chiao-Ping Dance (1999-2000), and was invited to apprentice with Elizabeth Streb and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company.
Shortly after Kim’s birth in Seoul, Korea, her parents immigrated to the States, eventually settling in Minnesota. When she was 17, via a chance encounter with movement and strong guidance from a ballet teacher, she began to pursue dance. In 1991 she moved to NYC to attend Barnard College, Columbia University where she earned a B.A. in English summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1995. Kim began making dances at 19. She has been committed to the dance form ever since and now lives and works in Brooklyn as a choreographer and performer.
