Kelsey Paschich

Kelsey Paschich is a multi-disciplinary dance artist and Associate Professor of Innovation in Dance at Western Michigan University, whose work integrates traditional dance with emerging technologies, amplifying—rather than replacing—human presence across realms. Holding an MFA from the University of New Mexico and a BFA (Cum Laude) from Point Park University, Paschich is also a certified Countertechnique® teacher. She has taught for companies such as Ballet Preljocaj (France), South Chicago Dance Theatre, Eisenhower Dance Detroit, ARCOS Dance (Austin), and Adaptations Dance (Maui), and has led workshops across South Korea, The Netherlands, Costa Rica, and the United States. Her pedagogy encourages students to find their artistic voices through rigorous practice, experimentation, and risk-taking, integrating traditional dance foundations with technological innovation to cultivate the next generation of dance artists.

 

With over 25 years of professional performance experience, Paschich has performed internationally with Moscow State Classical Ballet, DCDC2, Thodos Dance Chicago, River North Chicago Dance Company, ARCOS Dance, Lawine Torrèn (Austria), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Keshet Dance Company, as well as in projects such as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Interdansa Dance Festival, and the Hannibal Project in Sölden, Austria. She has performed works by choreographers including Robert Battle, José Limón, Ann Reinking, Lar Lubovitch, Tamir Ginz, Margo Sappington, Kevin O’Day, Robert Moses, Johan Renvall, Lucas Crandall, Seyong Kim, Donna Jewell, Erika Pujic, Vladimir Conde Reche, Lawine Torrèn, and many others. As a choreographer, her collaborative new media works have been presented globally across Asia, Canada, Europe, and the United States, including her multimedia solo Trio of Duality, which premiered at the Seoul International Dance Festival in Tank.

 

Her innovative contributions have earned her the WMU Presidential Innovation Professorship Award, invitations to the Choreographic Coding Lab in Cologne and to participate in Tanz mit dem Tiger in Ulm, Germany, the Creative Living for Dancers Award in Brussels, the NCCAkron Dancing Lab: Art Speaks 2.0 Residency, and the National Dizzy Feet Foundation Gene Kelly Legacy Scholarship. She has also presented her research at conferences in Bandung, Indonesia; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Seoul, South Korea.