Australia Dancing - Kerkhoven, Karen

Kerkhoven, Karen

Maclaurin, Ilsoo Kyung: Portrait of dancer Karen Kerkhoven, Australia, 2009

Karen Kerkhoven was born in Sydney. Her mother Hilary Cassidy, a fine artist and textile designer, was a strong influence on Kerkhoven's artistic path, raising her in a creative arts environment influenced by the philosophies of artist Desiderius Orban. At the age of eight Kerkhoven began contemporary dance classes with Jean Dembitza whose personal syllabus was based on the work of German expressionist choreographer Harold Kreutzberg. She also studied the Cecchetti system of classical ballet with Valrene Tweedie in the 1980s and studied acting with Hayes Gordon at the Ensemble Theatre.

At the age of seventeen Kerkhoven established a small dance school in Newport, Sydney, where her students included Kate Champion and Phillipa Harpur (Pike). She then taught adult classes for Tanya Pearson and in 1973 was commissioned by Pearson's Northside Ballet Company to create Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Her early professional performing engagements were with the Pat Gregory Ice Show, the Liza Minelli Show for Channel 9 and the French dance company Oh! La!La! during an Asian tour. In 1979 she worked as a guest artist with One Extra Dance Company - dancing, teaching company classes, and choreographing Speaking of Children and Fantasy in Wonderland. In 1980 she was commissioned by the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre to create Dreamtime to Colin Bights' original score.

In 1982 Kerkhoven established the Contemporary Dance Company, a company of eight dancers which received Australia Council funding to perform in schools in New South Wales. She choreographed for this company until its final performance in 1985 which took place at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and was documented by the ABC. During the 1980s she also taught extensively, including at the Eora Centre for visual and performing arts and Aboriginal studies in Redfern.

Kerkhoven has also been involved in numerous collaborative projects with the visual arts, including improvisation performances in gallery spaces. Her work at the Art Gallery of NSW has included performances relating to Kandinsky, Henry Moore and the Impressionists. In 2006 she was artist in residence for the Ashfield Council at Thurning Villa. This residency culminated in Outside the Square, an exploration of choreograhed dance and visual art in which she performed with dancers Chimene Steel Prior and Lisa Herrick. She has received a number of awards and scholarships for her choreography. At the Ballet Australia Choreographic competition she was twice awarded second place (for Getting Clean in 1971 and For Gabrielle in 1973 ) and received an honourable mention for At Least I Tried in 1976. In 1993 she received a scholarship to attend the 'Choreographer's Workshop' at Jacob's Pillow with Bessie Schonberg.

Kerkhoven holds a Master of Arts (Dance) from the University of Western Sydney. She is currently working on explorations with dance and visual art both in Australia and abroad and is a member of the Art In Motion group.

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