Bio


Alex Ketley is an independent choreographer, filmmaker, and the director of The Foundry. Formally a classical dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, he left the company to create The Foundry as a platform to explore his interests in alternative methods of devising performance. The company has allowed Ketley the freedom to pursue projects that would be difficult to realize within his commissioning career. A few examples of these are; Syntax, an hour long duet systemically using the mechanics of language as an organizing mechanism, Lost Line researched how the application of environment effects the generation of movement and studied in direct response to California’s diverse physical landscapes, Please Love Me jettisoned the structure of performing in a theater context and was developed with a curiosity about how people genuinely connect and experience artwork, and the No Hero Trilogy which was a multi-year project that explored what dance and performance means to the lives of people living throughout rural America.

For his independent work as a choreographer he has been commissioned extensively throughout the United States and has received acknowledgement from the Hubbard Street National Choreographic Competition, the International Choreographic Competition of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Saveaur, the Choo-San Goh Award, the Princess Grace Award for Choreography, four Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography Residencies, the Gerbode-Hewlett Choreographer Award, the Eben Demarest Award, the National Choreographic Initiative Residency, a Kenneth Rainin Foundation New and Experimental Works Grant, three CHIME Fellowships, the Artistry Award from the Superfest International Disability Film Festival, and his work was featured on national television through an invitation from the show So You Think You Can Dance. His pieces and collaborations have also been awarded Isadora Duncan Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the categories of; Ensemble, Choreography, as well as Full Company, and nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design.

As an educator he has taught throughout the world and is currently a Lecturer at Stanford University’s Theater and Performance Studies Department and was the founding Resident Choreographer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance for 14 years until its closure in 2018.

In 2020 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, one of the most prestigious honors in the United States recognizing individuals "who have demonstrated exceptional creative ability in the arts.”

Academic Appointments


  • Advanced Lecturer, Theater and Performing Studies

Honors & Awards


  • Fellow, The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2020)
  • Artistry Award, Superfest International Disability Film Festival (2015)
  • Choreographic Fellow, Maggie Alessee National Center for Choreography (2015)
  • Award, Princess Grace Foundation Choreography Co-Commission Award (2013)
  • Outstanding Achievement In Performance, Isadora Duncan Awards (2013)
  • Outstanding Achievement in Choreography and Outstanding Achievement by a Company, Isadora Duncan Award (2012)
  • National Award, The National Eben Demarest Trust Fund Award (2011)
  • Choreographic Award, The Hewlett - Gerbode Foundation (2009)
  • Inaugural Award for Choreography, Princess Grace Foundation (2005)
  • National Award, The Choo San Goh Fondation (2005)

Professional Education


  • Advanced Special Men, School of American Ballet, Ballet (1994)