kamrDANCE

ABOUT US:

Since 2015, kamrDANCE has been intricately fusing tap and contemporary dance to tell very serious and very silly stories about identity, music, family legacy, and more. kamrDANCE’s choreographic works often utilize the power of tap dance as music, along with original poetry, text, music, and physical theater. Under the direction of Artistic Director and Choreographer Alexis Robbins, kamrDANCE has performed at venues, events, and online performances throughout the northeast, created five dance films, and self-produced several, sold out evening length and split bill shows.
We believe that tap dance is music and that music exists to be danced to. We believe in collaboration and prioritize interdisciplinary performance works. We believe that dance can happen in any space, nothing is too big, too small, or too weird.

what are we working on now? - the mercy velvet project

The 1999 album, Live in Vain by Mercy Velvet, exists on zero streaming platforms, and few people have heard it. But its legacy is as relevant as ever. The Mercy Velvet Project is a rock opera, a re-creation of the album. The work explores what makes us human, our collective need for community to survive—with musicians and dancers moving as one. Through nine songs, a queer and femme cast explore different barriers to experiencing love. Learning that by giving and receiving the gift of mercy, we are able to find the bridge to survival, wholeness, and hope. Over twenty years after the albums’ release, kamrDANCE and their collaborators expand upon its legacy through their personal identities and today’s political realities. The show tells the story of the album through tap dance as percussion, contemporary dance, original text, and instrumentation via bass, guitar, vocals, and electronics—highlighting our vulnerabilities, learning together how to find the antidote that is mercy, and in turn lead meaningful lives.
Live in Vain by Mercy Velvet is the music that Choreographer Alexis Robbins grew up with, the percussive rhythms and lyrics that inspired living room dances. Her father, Mark Robbins, was the drummer and co-composer for Mercy Velvet, alongside lyricist Deb Lili, and guitarist Lou Lili. Her fathers’ love and direction has deeply influenced the music Alexis listens to and the music she creates as a tap dancer. Now, Alexis, Musical Director Christie Echols, and their collaborators bring Live in Vain to audiences for the first time.

A 20-minute version of the work in progress has been performed at the Church of St. Paul and St. James in New Haven, CT and Alvin Ailey Studios in NYC, both for sold out audiences alongside our collaborative partner SYREN Modern Dance in Creative Circle community events. The full work will be an hour and 15 minutes long and will premiere in 2025.
Next up: you can catch The Mercy Velvet Project on Friday, November 15th at 6:30 and 8:30 PM, and Saturday, November 16th at 6:30 PM at Arts on Site in NYC.
After that, we’ll be hosting a fundraising gala at Katalina’s Bakery in New Haven, CT on Saturday, December 7th at 6 PM.
Please email kamrdanceco@gmail.com for any booking or other inquiries for December 2024 through December 2028.

Above is an excerpt from the songs “Addiction” and “Good Morning Babylon” from our May works-in-progress performance at Ailey Studios.

All photos by Steven Pisano.