Brenna Kuhn

Nominated best dancer by the 2007 Austin Critics Table for her work in Tapestry Dance Company’s award winning National Endowment for the Arts: Masterpiece Dance production of The Souls of Our Feet, Brenna Kuhn was a principal dancer with Tapestry for 9 years and served as the Executive Director of Tapestry Dance Company. She is a published co-author in Medical Problems of Performing Artists.

 

A performer, educator, and choreographer, diversity describes Ms. Kuhn’s tap background. She started her dance journey in Detroit at the age of 12 as a member of the Lloyd Storey Tap Ensemble. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in dance from the University of New Mexico. While in New Mexico, Brenna was a member of the Bill Evans Dance Company. In 2000, Ms. Kuhn moved to Chicago to perform with Especially Tap Chicago. In addition, she was the rehearsal director and a founding member of Chicago Tap Theatre with Mark Yonally and directed Visual Rhythm, a youth dance company.

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Ms. Kuhn served as the Academy Director for Tapestry Dance Company Academy from 2004 to 2007 where she taught tap and jazz and oversaw a curriculum that included classes in tap, ballet, jazz, modern, and hip hop for youth ages 3 to 18 years and adults. Ms. Kuhn’s teaching credits also include: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago; Giordano Dance Center in Evanston, Illinois; Brant Lake Dance Camp in upstate New York; American College Dance Festival; Tap West; The New Mexico Rhythm Tap Festival; The Maui Tap Experience; The Third Coast Rhythm Project; The NYC Tap Festival; and Austin’s Soul to Sole Tap Festival.

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Ms. Kuhn’s choreography, for which she won numerous awards, is in demand by many students and companies around North America. Companies that perform her work include Tapestry Dance Company, Visual Rhythm, Chicago Tap Theatre, Visions in Rhythm, Fusion Dance Company, and Kingwood Ballet Theatre.

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Ms. Kuhn mentored with Sarah Petronio, Acia Gray, Bill Evans, and Lloyd Storey. She shared the stage with many tap greats including Brenda Bufalino, Dianne Walker, Donald O’Connor, Leonard Reed, Fayard Nicholas, Arthur Duncan, and Lane Alexander. As a soloist, she played with the Albert Gulbay Trio in Paris, France and in 2006 performed with the Kris Kimura Quintet for the Chinese Foreign Minister. In 2007, Brenna was chosen as one of eight dancers to perform with Petronio when she received the honor of Grand Master by the National Center of Dance in Paris, France.

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Ms. Kuhn is a founding member of a number of arts organizations. FootNotes, co-founded with Michael Stevens, sits at the intersection of music and dance, sparking conversation in the universal language of rhythm and music. The Austin Tap Ensemble is one of Art Beat Dance Center's resident performance companies, which does outreach performances to the community. Most recently, Ms. Kuhn incorporated and serves at the Board Chair of the Art Beat Foundation, which manages and advocates for the studio's Adaptive Dance, Cancer Survivorship, Dance for Parkinson's, Leon Collins Preservation, and Lloyd Storey Memorial Scholarship programs.

 

Ms. Kuhn is also a 200 Hour Registered Yoga Teacher with the National Yoga Alliance and is grateful for the support of her loving husband, Kevin.