Karen Kaeja (she/her) is a Tkaronto born Ashkenazi. An award-winning choreographer and performer for stage and film, project instigator and mentor, she “paints portraits with moving bodies” TorStar and is “the mastermind behind Porch View Dances” TorStar. Karen is Co-Artistic Director of Kaeja d’Dance with Allen Kaeja, creating and touring live dance and film internationally. The heart of her research, choreography and critical writing for the past 30 years, concentrates on Touch, agency and body memory, in a continuous state of rebalancing. Established in The Canadian Who’s Who, she has created over 50 works. Karen has received awards including the 2022 George Luscombe Mentorship Award, 2020 Dance Ontario Lifetime Achievement Award, CDA “I Love Dance” Community Award, and Paul D. Fleck Fellowship for Innovation. A finalist for the Toronto Arts Foundation Celebration of Cultural Life Award, the TAF Muriel Sherrin Award for International Achievement, TD Arts Diversity Award, NOW’s Best Local Choreographer and Best Dance Company, she is twice named one of NOW’s top 10 dance artists. A 7-time Dora nominee, her work Crave received 4 Dora’s, winning one. Commissioned and presented by individuals and performance series around the world, she collaborates with and dances for many of Canada’s brilliant choreographers. www.kaeja.org
