About Nicole

As Founding Executive/Artistic Director of the hip hop dance theater company Embodiment Project (EP), Nicole Klaymoon has directed and choreographed nine original evening-length productions, including MUSIC OF THE ACTUALIZED CHILD (2018) and Izzy Award-winning CHALK OUTLINES (2015) featuring all original music by Valerie Troutt. EP wrapped up 2016 with the sold-out SEED LANGUAGE, inspired by Black Lives Matter, which featured both words and in-person appearances by BLM co-founder Alicia Garza and former Black Panther leader Ericka Huggins. San Francisco Chronicle said, “this is an intense performance, a bit like taking a defibrillator jolt to the soul.” San Francisco Bay Guardian recognized EP as one of the ten Bay Area “companies and artists who challenged expectations or unveiled surprises in 2012.” EP’s mission is to illuminate narratives silenced by inequities to inspire critical conversation and healing.

As a solo artist, Klaymoon created and toured the dance theater production SIXTH VOWEL, choreographed by Rennie Harris and directed by Kamilah Forbes of the NYC Hip Hop Theatre Festival. Miami New Times wrote: “SIXTH VOWEL was THE BEST small theatrical production I have seen in this city in a decade.” In 2012, Klaymoon collaborated with G.R.A.C.E. Africa an NGO in Nairobi, Kenya, to explore how performance can raise awareness and challenge stigma around HIV/AIDS. She choreographed the dance films, ‘The Wind Telephone’ and ‘Chrysalis’, sponsored by San Francisco Dance Film Festival’s Co-Lab and selected by several film festivals including MARFA Film Festival and Bucharest INTL Dance Film Festival. In 2014, she co-founded SEEDS, the first hip-hop youth company at ODC Dance School in San Francisco.