Photo by Liezl Zwarts

Toronto-born Jennifer Archibald is the founder and artistic director of the Arch Dance Company and program director of ArchCore40 dance intensives. Archibald has choreographed for the Ailey II, Atlanta Ballet, Ballet West, Grand Rapids Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, and BalletX, among others. She has worked commercially for NIKE, MAC Cosmetics, and Tommy Hilfiger, as well as chart-listed artists. She will return to the Crypto Arena to choreograph the opening for KCON’s annual conference.

She was appointed as the first female resident choreographer in Cincinnati Ballet’s40-year history. Archibald has been commissioned by BalletMet, Grand Rapids Ballet, BalletX, Smuin Contemporary Ballet, and the Kennedy Center’s Pathways to Performance program to deliver new works in 2025. Archibald was the acting movement director for Michael Kahn’s The Oresteia at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Her directorial debut WeAIght was named the Official Selection of the 2022 Dance on Camera Festival. She creates a “documentary ballet” format, in which she creates works rooted in history and bringing communities together. Her documentary ballets are theatrical engagements that evolve beyond the stage and rely on historical education as an integral part of the creative process. Her projects in this space include Breakin’Bricks, which honors the community of Black Wall Street, produced by Tulsa Ballet; Sounds of the Sun—which honors the life of dancer Florence Waren, exploring her experience during the Holocaust—produced by the Pittsburgh Ballet; and Seven, a biographical work about Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee commissioned by MADCO Dance Company.

Archibald’s works have been performed at venues including Aaron Davis Hall, Central Park’s Summerstage Mainstage, Jacob’s Pillow Inside|Out Stage, Lincoln Center, New York’s City Center, and the Kennedy Center. She was awarded a Choreographic Fellow for Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab under the direction of Robert Battle and is a Joffrey Ballet Winning Works Choreographic Competition recipient. Her commissioned work DIRT was presented at TED Talk by St. Louis-based MADCO Dance Company. Arch Dance Company’s Chasing Shadows was remounted for Dallas Black Dance Theater’s 2018-19 season. Archibald was also the 2018-19 recipient of the City of New York Dance Initiative.

She is currently an acting lecturer at the Yale School of Drama and was appointed as a guest faculty lecturer to develop the Hip Hop dance curriculum at Columbia/Barnard College. Archibald is also a guest artist at several universities including Boston Conservatory, Columbia College Chicago, Fordham/Ailey, Goucher College, Miami New World School of the Arts, Purchase College, Point Park, Princeton, South Carolina’s Governor’s School of the Arts, University of South Florida, Oklahoma University, and Virginia Commonwealth University. She is a returning guest choreographer for the School at Jacob’s Pillow.