Kesha McKey - Board President
Shannon Flaherty
Kesha McKey is an African American female performing artist, choreographer and educator born and raised in New Orleans. After graduating from NOCCA she received her BS in Biology pre-med from Xavier University of LA and an MFA in Dance Performance from UW-Milwaukee. She is the founding Artistic Director of KM Dance Project, an essential artistic platform for emerging Black choreographers in NOLA. Kesha’s most recent choreographic work, Raw Fruit, has received 2021-22 NPN Creation and Development Fund Awards and a 2019 NEFA National Dance Project Production Grant – being the first dance company in Louisiana to receive this award. Her other awards include a 2022 Dance/USA DFA Fellowship, 2022 Urban Bush Women (UBW) CCI 2.0/CCI 2019 Alum, 2020 CAC N.O. SweetArts Award, 2018/19 CAC Southern Crossings Residency, and a 2016 Dancing While Black Fellowship.
Her performance credits include: KM Dance Project’s Raw Fruit 2022-23 tour, Urban Bush Women’s Hair and Other Stories 2018-19 tour, Junebug Productions Gomela:to return 2018-19 tour, Junebug Productions Homecoming Project 2018-2020 and the Lula Elzy N.O. Dance Theatre. Her choreographic credits include: 2023 BadAss Women's Festival, 2019 NPN Conference, 2018 UBW SLI, 2018 Women in Dance Conference, Junebug Production’s Power of the Black Feminine, 2016 Alternate Roots Week, Peridance 2016 APAP Showcase. Kesha currently serves as the Director of Arts at NOCCA and as a Dancing Grounds Teaching Artist and Dance for Social Change collaborator. She has served as a dance educator for over 25 years and is committed to sustaining the artistic voice of Black dancers and choreographers in New Orleans.