Meet Keilan Stafford | Movement Artist

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

Hi Keilan, why did you pursue a creative career?
My background with dance has been…interesting. I first started taking ballet classes when I was about 4 years old. I don’t remember much from these few weeks other than being scared of the other kids and crying about it during every barre. Years later, I went on to join a recreational hip-hop team that I danced with off and on for 3 years. This is the first time I remember ENJOYING my time on the dance floor (shout out to my teacher Bibi Williams, you changed me). I then took a 2 year break in middle school to play sports (boo!). When I was entering high school, a few of my friends were auditioning for the school dance company (shout out to Soul Purpose Dance Company, I love you all) and I decided to join them. I still to this day don’t know what in me told me I should go, but from that day on, I started to fall in love with movement. This new journey began when I was 14 years old, and fast forward to now, I’m 3 weeks away from graduating with my BFA in Dance. As I look back and reflect on my dance career, I realize that though my “training” experience hasn’t been the most consistent throughout my life, dance has always been comfortable for me: My mom likes to tell a story about me at 3 years old on a cruise to Mexico running up to a Mariachi band in a little sombrero giving a full performance to the lido deck. I remember being in the 4th grade teaching myself how to do the “reject’ from watching tutorials on youtube. In the 5th grade, my cousin, my sister and I learned the choreography to Bad romance and taught it to my family on Christmas Day. I’ve always had fun jamming out to my favorite tunes when I’m alone in my room. Movement has always been in me, in and out of the studio.

Long story short, I don’t know what brought me to dance. What I do know is that I have an unexplainable, innate call to move my body; have fallen in love with the art of movement and I can’t picture myself pursuing anything else.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
​Recently, I’ve found that a personal interest that I have as a performer and creator is an exploration of genuine human experience through movement. As a young adult, I am currently in a period of extreme introspection in my life; a period where I am seeing how my intersectionality as a black, gay man has influenced the choices that I make in my life and how I am affected by others interactions with me or perceptions of me. It has been nearly impossible for me to separate my personal feelings and emotions (particularly in terms of love and identity) from myself as a dance artist, so I allow these experiences and emotions to guide my art.Through this, I’ve realized that something I value in work is a sense of authenticity and “rawness”. Rather than treating my art as an escape from reality, I’d like to consider it an extension of reality. ​
Though it’s derived from real life experiences, my art lives in abstraction. I invite interpretations of my art.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am currently based out of Long Beach and am a HUGE foodie. Answering this, I have to stick to my roots and talk about some of my favorite restaurants in the area. My FAVORITE restaurant in Long Beach and a place that I take will take anyone that comes to visit is called Seabirds Kitchen on 4th street. This fully plant-based eatery has food to dieeeeee for ranging from beet burgers, to jackfruit nachos, to cauliflower ceviche, to apple crumble, and several other mouthwatering treats. My favorite dish I’ve tasted from there is their tofu benedict weekend-brunch special; my stomach is literally growling just thinking about it. Another stop I love in Long Beach is Plant Power fast food on PCH and Clark Ave. This fairy new, all plant-based fast food joint has all of the delicious junk food you could need: several burger selections, fries, nuggets (which are *chef’s kiss*), various flavors of milkshakes, AND soft serve ice cream. Yes, vegan soft serve. I also just recently discovered their breakfast menu which somehow might even be tastier than the regular menu? I’ve only tried a few things but so far, absolutely ZERO complaints. Definitely would call Plant Power a go to spot to anyone cruising through the LBC. To finish off, I have to give an honorable mention to Octopus Sushi restaurant downtown that closed last year. Sushi is my number one, favorite food (Always has been, always will be) and I can confidently say that Octopus has served me some of the best sushi that I have every eaten in my life. Octopus was a spot that I LOVED to take friends and family when they came to visit and my heart hurt when I found out about the closing. I will always have a special place in my heart for you Octopus.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am so #blessed to have so much love and support in my life from family and friends that it would be virtually impossible for me to pinpoint one person has been important to my success. I would be nothing without the support of my immediate family. To Mommy and Daddy and my siblings, Caela, BJ, and Chanel: I love you all, thank you for keeping me grounded and always reminding me that I can become whoever I want to be. To my chosen family from Sacramento; Melissa, Mychaela, Nina, and Morgan: You guys have shaped me and I love y’all like blood. GROWL POWER! And to my chosen family from Long Beach, Kaelie, Maya, Elizabeth, Sabrina, Landin, Maggie, Kailen, Chloe, Madi, the list goes on and on: I am so inspired by each and every one of you thank you for pushing me to become the person I’ve always wanted to be. Y’all crazy!

Each and everyone of these people has played a part in making me who I am and I cannot be more grateful.

Website: http://www.keilanstafford.art

Instagram: @keilanstaff

Image Credits
Photos taken by Maya Gorman, Isabelle Hesse, and Gregory R.R. Crosby.