“Tanya Chianese and ka·nei·see | collective are important players in the emerging contemporary dance scene.”
- Heather Desaulniers, Critical Dance
"...busting into the Bay Area dance scene, garnering immediate critical acclaim, and selling out every seat…"
- Sarah Burke, East Bay Express
ka·nei·see | collective debuted its first home season Cookie Cutter to sold-out audiences and a front page cover story of the SF Chronicle's 96 Hours that described the work as "accessible and provocative, as well as unafraid to meld innovation with time-honored dance conventions." (Nirmala Nataraj, Jan 2015).
Launched in 2014, ka·nei·see | collective is a Bay Area performing arts ensemble directed by Tanya Chianese. The company creates vitalizing and accessible contemporary dance that promotes finding humor, appreciation, compassion, awareness, and celebration in our increasingly technological existence.
ka·nei·see | collective has presented at various venues including ODC Theater, Broadway Performance Hall, Z Space, Dance Mission Theater, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, Joe Goode Annex, Fort Mason Center, and Yerba Buena Gardens, among others. The company has toured to Los Angeles, CA (January 2016), Seattle, WA (June 2017), and Aspen and Denver, CO (June 2018). ka·nei·see | collective has held residencies at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center (twice, including recipient of the inaugural Frank Shawl Residency), SAFEhouse for the Performing Arts, and Ellen Webb Dance Foundation. ka·nei·see | collective has performed by invitation at twelve festivals including the San Francisco International Arts Festival, Seattle International Dance Festival, RAWdance's Concept Series, Seattle International Dance Festival, West Wave Dance Festival, PUSHfest and the Summer Performance Festival, among others.
ka·nei·see | collective's performances have been an SF Arts' Top Ten dance picks five times, an East Bay Monthly Critic's Choice (Rita Felciano), featured in the SF Chronicle, East Bay Express, Mercury News, Xpress Magazine, and the Pasadena Star News, and recipient of multiple rave reviews. The company has won two audience choice awards (ODC Take 5, Luna Dance CHOREOFUND).
The company performs for youth program fundraisers, free outdoor festivals, and public schools, as well as sets repertoire on pre-professional students. ka·nei·see | collective holds open rehearsals often and offers affordable ticket prices. We aim to make the work accessible to all audiences while also supporting the artists involved adequately.
ka·nei·see | collective is supported in part by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Lighting Artists in Dance Grant (a program of Dancers' Group), Zellerbach Family Foundation, and generous individual donors.