Meet Annie Kahane | Dance Theater Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Annie Kahane and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Annie, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
Geographically, I come from a few places. My family lived in upstate New York when I was little, but then we moved to a small town in Northern California, where we lived on a dirt road that was not on the map. There were lots of horses and orchards and chickens around. Even though I’ve lived in cities my whole adult life, I think spending some childhood in a rural place really affects my tastes and my sense of poetry. I prefer objects, spaces, foods that are rustic, rugged – dilapidated abandoned barns (for example) really stir me. I have kind of an aversion to synthetic or artificial-feeling things, which probably originates with the sensibilities of West Sonoma County, which is a very agricultural place.

I also think growing up in proximity to the Bay Area, and then living there for a long time as an adult impacts my sense of cultural background. The Bay Area (and Oakland especially) has a particular flavor. It’s like a mash up of regular working people culture, social justice culture, hip-hop culture, wellness/self-healing culture, hippie culture – at least pre tech boom that is how I would have described it. Oakland has a special social energy I’ve never experienced anywhere else, whose loss I mourn as gentrification spreads. I think growing up as a Bay Area-adjacent kid made me aware of cross-cultural difference, cross-cultural synergy, cross-cultural collaboration. It definitely exposed me to radical, alternative ways of living and being, some of which I resist and some of which I embrace. I’m habituated to a baseline progressivism as a result of spending so much time in the Bay Area. I also went to school in Chicago, and I learned a lot there about how differently people were brought up in other parts of the country.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I make live performances that stretch across disciplines. I’m a writer, dance and theater maker, dancer, sometimes playwright. Lately I’ve been making short, low budget dance films. I’m very excited to share some work at the Hollywood Fringe Festival this June! I have performances June 14,15, 21, 22 & 23 at The Actors Company in West Hollywood. The piece, which is called Meeting #7, is a long solo in which I play an orientation leader welcoming the audience as if they are aliens who are immigrating to planet earth. It’s a tragedy and comedy at the same time, with big, brightly colored projections on two walls. I hope the community will come check it out and have a laugh at the expense of all the messed up things about being a human in the 2020s on earth.

Next up is a project titled The Four Seasons of Hamadaan, which I am making in collaboration with Iranian-American composer Kian Ravaei. The piece will be a duet for violinist and dancer which blends (and abstracts) folkloric music and dance from our respective cultures. It premieres in LA February 2025!

For the past couple of years I’ve also been teaching at UCLA in the Department of World Arts & Cultures/Dance and hope to continue growing my career as an educator.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I like to take out-of-towners around Venice Beach, where I live – the walking streets and canals especially. My friend hosts a songwriters’ showcase at Desert 5 on Tuesdays in Hollywood which is always a really fun vibe – the music is great, and it’s a rooftop with comfy couches and a sequined cowboy boot that hangs from the ceiling. I love seeing live music at the smaller venues in LA. Funk night at Golddiggers for dancing. Hiking in Malibu or the Palisades. Dance class! LA has so many offerings for amazing, fun dance classes of all kinds for all levels. The Hammer Museum always – it’s free and just a pleasant place to spend an afternoon.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Rainee Blake @raineeblake

Atasiea Ferguson @atasiea

Gracie Whyte & Laura Berg @groundgrooves

What World LA @whatworld.la

Website: https://www.aliveandwellproductions.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alive_and_well_productions/

Upcoming Events: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10304

Image Credits
Photo credit: Joshua Sandler