About
Kelli Edwards (she/hers) is a director, choreographer, dance and movement teacher, and performer who has been working in the greater Boston area for over two decades. She has directed and choreographed for the Huntington Theatre Company, American Repertory Theatre, New Repertory Theatre, The Christmas Revels, Stoneham Theatre, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Brandeis Theatre Company, Institute of Contemporary Art, Oberon, Green Street Studios, The Dance Complex and the West End Theatre (NYC).
Kelli has been the director of the dance program at Milton Academy since 2001, where she served as Chair of Performing Arts. She has regularly directed and taught young artists at Middlesex School Summer Arts. Her work with young people emphasizes inclusivity, creative collaboration, and the encouragement of each individual to take risks and move to their full potential. As the director of the Winter Dance Concert at Milton Academy, Kelli has mentored countless choreographers and dancers, overseeing almost 100 students every year, including many first-time dancers. Under her leadership, the annual Dance Concert has become a flagship artistic event of the year.
Kelli co-directs and performs with Dances by Isadora - Boston, a dance company dedicated to exploring, preserving, and sharing the repertoire and technique of pioneer Isadora Duncan. She has taught master classes in Duncan technique at Tufts University, UMASS Amherst, and other area colleges and has choreographed new work for the company, reinterpreting the principles of early modern dance for the twenty-first century.
Kelli received her B.F.A in Dance from the University of Missouri - Kansas City - Conservatory of Music and her M.F.A. in Choreography from Smith College.
Photo by David Costa
Photo by David Costa
Directing and Choreography
(Selections)
1776 - New Repertory Theatre
Co-director with Austin Pendleton
Into the Woods - Brandeis Theatre Company
Co-director with Maurice Emmanuel Parent
Les Miserable - Middlesex School Summer Arts
Hairspray - Milton Academy
Urinetown - Middlesex School Summer Arts
Footloose - Middlesex School Summer Arts
City of Angels - Milton Academy
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - Milton Academy
Co-director with Robert St. Laurence
Choreography
(Selections)
Fiddler on the Roof - New Repertory Theatre
Austin Pendleton, director
Christmas Revels - Sanders Theatre
Patrick Swanson, director
2017 and 2019
RENT - New Repertory Theatre
Benjamin Evett, director
The Wild Party - New Repertory Theatre
Rick Lombardo, director
Elliot Norton Nomination Best Choreography
A Confederacy of Dunces - Huntington Theatre Company
David Esbjornson, director
In the Jungle of Cities - American Repertory Theatre
Robert Woodruff, director
Cabaret - New Repertory Theatre
Rick Lombardo, director
The Secret Garden - Stoneham Theatre
Caitlin Lowans/Weylin Symes, directors
The Hot Mikado - New Repertory Theatre
Kate Warner, director
IRNE Award Best Choreography
Cabaret - Brandeis Theatre Company
Steven Bogart, director
Ragtime - New Repertory Theatre
Rick Lombardo, director
A Marvelous Party - American Repertory Theatre
Scott Edmiston, director
Web-Series
Dance Choreography
and Performance (Selections)
Dances by Isadora - Co-Director. Performances in New York City, Jacob’s Pillow, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Connecticut, Vermont.
Serenade for String Bikini - Dance Now/Boston, Oberon - Choreographer; commissioned by David Parker and The Bang Group.
This is What We’re Doing Now - Soaking Wet/West End Theatre, NYC Choreographer and performer; The Bang Group, producers.
Mon Coeur - Ten’s the Limit/ICA Boston -Choreographer and performer.
NUT/CRACKED - Boston Center for the Arts - performer with David Parker and The Bang Group.
Dancing-on-View - ICA Boston - performed with choreographer Sara Rudner.
Film
Baby Dance - Marblehead Film Festival - director, choreographer and performer.
Education
Smith College - M.F.A. in Choreography
University of Missouri-Kansas City/Conservatory of Music - B.F.A. in Dance
Significant study with Marcus Schulkind, Zvi Gotheiner, Paul Taylor School, Tatiana Dokoudovska, Leni Wylliams.