Raja Feather Kelly

Raja Feather Kelly is an American dancer and choreographer based in Brooklyn who is notable for his "radical downtown surrealist" productions which combine "pop and queer culture". He has choreographed numerous theatrical productions, including Fairview and A Strange Loop. He is the artistic director of his dance company called The Feath3r Theory, He attended Connecticut College where he studied English and poetry and dance, graduating in 2009.

Career Reviewer Sara Aridi in The New York Times wrote that "one leaves a performance of Raja's infected by his curiosity, love of craft and just plain outrageousness." Critic Brian Schaefer in The New York Times wrote that Kelly's choreography has a "lighter touch, a flirty wink and a queer sensibility" that "treats pop culture as a kind of religion itself." Kelly has raised money for dance production by hosting telethons out of his apartment.

In 2020, Kelly directed and choreographed an Off-Broadway production of We're Gonna Die by Young Jean Lee. It opened in Second Stage Theater's Tony Kiser Theater on February 4 and was scheduled to run through March 22.

Awards and honors In 2025, Kelly received a Doris Duke Artist Award, "the largest prize in the United States that is dedicated to individual performing artists" from the Doris Duke Foundation.

In addition, he has received the following awards and honors:

National Dance Project Production Grant, 2019 New York Live Arts (2019) Randjelovic-Stryker Award (2019) Harkness Promise Award (2018) Carthorse Fellowship (2018) Solange MacArthur Award (2016) Dancemapolitan Award (2016) NYFA Choreography Fellow (2016) Dixon Place Dance Artist (2015) Dance Web Scholar (2009)