Kevin Iega Jeff

Kevin Iega Jeff is the Artistic Director of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater in Chicago. Jeff trained in New York City at the Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center, the High School of the Performing Arts, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, and The Juilliard School. At twenty-one, Jeff founded his first company, JUBILATION! Dance Company. JUBILATION! was created out of a need to provide a forum for African-American artists to be nurtured holistically through the arts. For ten years the company toured nationally and internationally, helping to bring the stories, histories, and art of the African-American people as well as Jeff’s unique approach to contemporary dance to a global audience. In 1994, Jeff left New York to take up an appointment as Artistic Director of the Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theater. In 1995, he co-founded Deeply Rooted Productions in Chicago where he continues to serve today as Artistic Director. His company aims to diversify the aesthetics of contemporary dance by bringing together modern, classical, and African-American traditions in dance. Jeff has received numerous awards, including those from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Council for Culture and Arts, and the BTAA Best Choreography Award for Church of Nations. In 2005, he was named as one of The Juilliard School’s 100 Outstanding Alumni for the school’s centenary anniversary.