Jeremy McQueen

(Artistic Director & Choreographer) 

is an award-winning choreographer, dedicated to story-telling rooted in experience and social engagement. His work aims to create spaces of comfort, solace, and connection through reflection—a sharing of observations of what is going on around him. 

Born and raised in San Diego, California, McQueen is a graduate of The Ailey School/Fordham University, B.F.A. in dance program. At the age of eight McQueen saw a production of The Phantom of the Opera and was immediately drawn to the arts. That same year he began studying music and theater. At the age of 11 he started his training in dance at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts. McQueen has also trained as a scholarship recipient in the schools of American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet. 

McQueen is a 2020 Soros Justice Fellow, 2019 recipient of the Bronx Council on the Arts’ BRIO (Bronx Recognizes It’s Own) Award for Excellence in Choreography, a 2013 recipient of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago’s Choreographers of Color Award [Winning Works], and a two-time finalist of the Capezio Award for Choreographic Excellence. The film adaptation of McQueen’s ballet A Mother’s Rite received a 2020 Emmy® Award nomination from The New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. A Mother’s Rite has been nominated for Outstanding Arts: Program/Special, for excellence in a program or special that focuses on the arts – fine arts, literature, philosophy, and the performing arts. McQueen’s choreographic works have appeared at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, SummerStage in Central Park, Jacob’s Pillow Dance’s Inside/Out series, Dancers Responding to AIDS’ Fire Island Dance Festival, and has been commissioned to create works for organizations including American Ballet Theatre’s Jacquline Kennedy Onassis School, the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, and The Ailey School, amongst others.

In 2014, McQueen choreographed Skylight Music Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of the Grammy Award-winning musical HAIR, and in 2019 he choreographed the world premiere of Harrison David Rivers’ Relentless Award-winning play The Bandaged Place. As a performer, McQueen made his professional debut at the age of 15 performing in regional theater productions in his hometown, and has also appeared in the Broadway national tours of Wicked and The Color Purple in addition to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. McQueen has also danced as a guest artist with the California Ballet Company and Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre, in addition to The Metropolitan Opera’s productions of Die Fledermaus, Aida, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and Don Giovanni. 

McQueen cites two influential instructors as a source for his work and creative energy, Donald Robinson and Kazuko Hirabayashi. From Mr. Robinson, McQueen learned his guiding principle of discipline, doing what you know you’re supposed to do even when no one is there to make sure you do it. At a time when McQueen was in a struggle trying to make his way as a dancer, Ms. Hirabayashi told him to choreograph about it. It is in the craft of story- telling and making a way for yourself through discipline and focus that McQueen was led to start The Black Iris Project, a creation of space for other like-minded artists to reflect their experiences.