KEELY GARFIELD BIOGRAPHY

Keely Garfield was born in London, England and has lived in New York since 1986.

A hallmark of her career has been the diversity of projects, artists and audiences that she has worked with. Her eclectic activities include touring throughout England on a double-decker bus with The Flowers, an improvisational movement group, and appearing with the Percussion Research Ensemble as part of the International Music Festival, utilizing unusual objects such as squeaky toys as instruments. She has created work for ballet dancers (Dance Theater of Harlem), antique puppets (the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre's Golem), musical theater (Sundance Theater's Gypsy, Utah, 'Twas for NextStage Entertainment, Las Vegas, and Carnival for the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival) children (Lincoln Center's Reel-to-Real and Meet-The-Artist series etc), students (University of Maryland, St. Ann’s School, Brooklyn), and MTV working with artists such has Adam Ant and Herbie Hancock.

Keely has been an artist-in-residence with New Dance Ensemble and Zenon Dance Company, both in Minneapolis, as well as at the University of Maryland Dance Department, Goddard College, Vermont, Dancenow/NYC/Silo Project, Celebrate Brooklyn, and The Joyce Theater Residency at The Joyce Soho. She has collaborated/performed in the work of many artists including visual artist Power Boothe and choreographers Lawrence Goldhuber, Sally Silvers,Yoshiko Chuma, Steve Gross, Roseanne Spradlin, and Amy Sue Rosen.

Since 1997, Keely has drawn upon her experience as both an artist and a parent to curate (with Peggy Peloquin) Dance Theater Workshop’s popular Family Matters series for young audiences, and has received commissions to create children’s shows for Lincoln Center (Reel to Real), the Huntington Arts Council (Long Island), the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council at the World Trade Center Plaza Stage, and The Museum of Jewish Heritage among others. As a teacher, Keely has again worked with a variety of populations including dancers, actors, children, and extensively with seniors and people with special needs. She has taught composition and improvisation at the University of London, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, and Zenon Dance Company school, Minneapolis. She has taught workshops for actors at The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, and also led workshops for The Field including Writing About Work, and Group Management for Artists.

Keely serves as the chair of DTW’s Artist Board, is a member of Pentacle’s Help Desk program, and has participated on numerous panels including DTW’s Fresh Tracks, Jacob’s Pillow Choreograhers’ Forum, The New York State DanceForce, the New York Foundation for the Arts BUILD program, and the PennPAT (Pennsylvania on Tour Roster). Keely was a nominee for the Cal/Arts Alpert Award, and is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. She holds a B.A. Honors in Dance and Performance Arts from Middlesex University in England, attended the London Contemporary Dance School, the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation in New York, and has practiced T'ai Chi for over a decade. Keely is the artistic director/choreographer for her company, Keely Garfield Dance with whom she also regularly performs.