"Whether her topic is hard-hitting or abstract, Chianese, 30, draws you along a story arc with a sense of theatrical composition that's rare among choreographers more than twice her age."

Dance Magazine / "25 To Watch" / Jan 2019

"Your efforts to educate your community on the complexities of gender-based harassment while supporting the creative arts is truly inspirational."

Letter of Endorsement / Jan 2019

"Her [Chianese] work is distinctly, handsomely, “retinal,” and this is exactly one of her strengths...Chianese is a structural and spatial wizard. Both in Cookie Cutter and now Readymade, Chianese arranges and re-arranges objects and humans in positively feng shui-esque configurations."

BAYWATCH / Review / Oct 2016

“When she debuted with 2015’s Cookie Cutter, Chianese, the 29-year-old director of Oakland’s ka·nei·see | collective, already possessed complex abstraction, refreshing humor, and insightful theatricality. Who else could use toilet-paper rolls as props, as in 2016’s Readymade, then about-face to this April’s Nevertheless, a scathing referendum on sexual harassment? Many try, but few succeed like Chianese.”

San Francisco magazine / "100 Artists Putting The East Bay On The Map" / Jun 2018

“Well-crafted choreography..."

Dance Teacher Magazine / Highlight / March 2019

"Nevertheless was a bold production...it was moving, morose and well demonstrated...ka·nei·see collective is to be congratulated for their handling of the subject and making it public in this artistic format."

Explore Dance / Review / Apr 2018

"I gauge the wild success of Nevertheless... by the fact that every person I talk to about it has something to say. These are not one-line conversations."

Life As A Modern Dance / Review / Apr 2018

"...busting into the Bay Area dance scene, garnering immediate critical acclaim, and selling out every seat…" 

East Bay Express / Preview / May 2015

“[Tanya Chianese's work] is accessible and provocative, as well as unafraid to meld innovation with time-honored dance conventions.”

SF Chronicle / Cover Story / Jan 2015

"If you’re in the area, go see it and if you’re not, make a special trip. Tanya Chianese and ka·nei·see | collective are important players in the emerging contemporary dance scene."

Critical Dance / Review / Jan 2015

"If Chianese’s intentions were to braid together her passions for contemporary dance and abstract art into an eruption of connected patterns within themes of imagination, fear, play, control, oblivion, and seeing the world through a positive lens, then she, and the dancers, certainly succeeded."

Xpress Magazine / Cover Story / Nov 2016

"The actual dancing in this work would blow anyone away. The ka.nei.see | collective’s movement encapsulates the distinct blend of thrust and sinuosity that seems to be dominating the contemporary dance appetite. This can be chalked-up not only to Chianese’s own training and performance experience, but also the dancers’ preeminent facility. Requiring both the classical training to execute triple pirouettes and soaring extensions, and the modern training to devour floor space and fulfill gesture, these dancers are downright superstars."

BAYWATCH / Review / Oct 2016

"Chianese’s formidable choreography, innovative yet technically grounded at the same time... it is impossible not to mention the company’s noteworthy and impressive spatial awareness."

Critical Dance / Review / Oct 2016

"What is also very clear and uncompromising is the choreography and its execution by the dancers of ka·nei·see | collective. The movement quality was robust both in temperament and reach. The dancers never gave up, committing fully to each change of mood and intensity."

SF Dance Matters / Review / Oct 2016

“Unapologetic dance.”

East Bay Monthly / Critic's Choice / Jan 2015

"[Tanya] has been making a name for herself with audacious new works and innovative ideas.""

The Aspen Times / Preview / Jun 2018

"The choreographic points of view impressed and in every instance, the dance artists handily communicated the breadth, range and distinctness of the material...Musical arpeggios and articulated limbs were married. No part of the work dominated the other – the achieved cohesiveness was stunning and rare."

Critical Dance / Review / Feb 2016

"Performers are serving up sweet steps...beautiful art can sprout from the seeds of self-doubt."

Pasadena Star News / Feature / Jan 2016

“Tanya is a young and talented emerging artist with the will to create in a conscious and compassionate way that will contribute significantly to the cultural landscape of the Bay Area to the benefit of its audiences”

Executive Director, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center / Nov 2014

"[Readymade is] very well thought out and highly executed and the performers are beautiful dancers."

Aspen Daily News / Preview / Jun 2018

"Artistic Director Tanya Chianese of ka·nei·see | collective has a knack for creating ensemble works that have both strong technical choreography and deep narrative themes. And she has a keen ability to translate these goals to a large-scale format for a large cast – Masses is proof of this."

Critical Dance / Review / Jul 2016

“Berkeley’s Shawl-Anderson Dance Center has been incubating modern dancers and choreographers since 1958. Lately it’s been especially fertile ground, nurturing resident artists like Tanya Chianese and Stranger Lover Dreamer, whose recent performances garnered critical and audience raves.”

Speaking of Dance / Interview / March 2015

"The two exciting young companies [ka·nei·see | collective and Peter & Co.], both launched in 2014, already have produced some impressive work."

Mercury News / Recommended Show / Jul 2016

"[ka·nei·see | collective] delves into weighty and vital subject matter...While indeed a heavy work, Chianese also cleverly injected moments of humor, like the Dance Theater-inspired smiling sequences. And moments of hope. The most significant observation for me...was the eye towards sisterhood and shared understanding. And not to detract from the serious narrative theme, but the technical acuity of the company must be mentioned."

Critical Dance / Review / Apr 2017