DEVIATED THEATRE

The Artist

DEVIATED THEATRE a dance theatre company focused on telling stories through “operas of movement”. It lives where modern dance, theater, and the commercial world intersect: intentionally bold, adventurous, forward-moving, recreating the landscape of art and the landscape of marketing.

Kimmie Dobbs Chan is Choreographer and Co-Founder, along with Theater Director Enoch Chan, of DEVIATED THEATRE. Dubbed the “Cure” for “Sugar Plum Fairy Fatigue” by the Washington Post (2011), Kimmie’s choreography is known for its “rich movement palette” (2012) and an aesthetic that is both “strangely spare and incredibly effective” (2012). She is also a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Center Commissioning Project (2011), the Maryland State Arts Council Award for Choreography (2011), and the Mark Ryder Original Choreography Grant (2012). Kimmie was recently selected as audience favorite for The Breaking Glass Project in New York City (2013) and returned to NYC in 2014 to present a new evening length work. Hear Kimmie Dobbs in her own creative voice, in an exclusive National Endowment of the Arts “Artworks” interview.

Born in Hong Kong, Enoch Chan has spent his artistic life with the goal of unifying Eastern and Western ideals of storytelling and aesthetic. Enoch is a graduate of Boston University where he received a BFA in theatre and a BA in art history. Over the past ten years, Enoch has served as Lighting Designer for various performance companies in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore areas, including Baltimore Dance Project, ClancyWorks, Project MULTIpolarity, and BosmaDance. Enoch is also an accomplished Photographer. His photography has been published in The Washington Post, Dance Teacher, Pointe and Dance Magazine. Enoch is also the Co-Artistic Director, with his wife Kimmie Dobbs, of DEVIATED THEATRE.

Kimmie Dobbs Chan

The Artistry

DEVIATED THEATRE presents fully finished productions allowing people to step away from the humdrum state of their ordinary lives. We enliven them — entertain them — delivering thought-provoking, aesthetically compelling imagery that delights and enlightens them.

DEVIATED THEATRE characters purposefully live on the stage and off. This allows us to explore ways to bring new visions to corporate or public environments. It was not by chance that DEVIATED THEATRE “otherworldly” creatures roamed the galleries at the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art at its gala Fall, 2016 grand re-opening. We were expressly chosen for that artistic work as a memorable compliment to the Gallery’s own image and brand.

DEVIATED THEATRE tell stories because stories are food for the soul. They are our doorway to dance, to revitalizing the stage, to inspire people, to point the audience towards excellence.

Humans crave transcendental experiences. We crave stories. We consume stories and imagery almost constantly throughout the day.  We can’t seem to get enough of them; be it through music, blogs, radio interviews, YouTube videos, books, TV shows, movies, etc.

So, DEVIATED THEATRE builds its productions to provide socially conscious content packaged in a finished, consumer friendly way.  All of these productions make space for collaborations with other artists (fashion designers, musicians, animators, etc.) where we promote their involvement in our works.

NPAFE asked us why we might be chosen by NASA as the world’s first dancer-astronauts, selected to go up to international space station for three months.

DEVIATED THEATRE would be selected because of our craft of improvising, innovating. persevering, despite inevitable risks and learning curves, despite the unexpected. Those obstacles become our best opportunity to innovate and get creative.

So we would embrace them, own them, use the power of the human spirit to transcend circumstance – exactly what NASA wants its astronauts to do and what companies that are proud of their brands want their stakeholders and customers to think about them.

Best of all, if we met up with aliens, we would use our multitude of non-verbal ways —the essence of our craft and creativity — to speak to them, and to entice them into performing with us in the very first inter galactic dance production ever.  Wouldn’t THAT make everyone look great!

Sponsor Opportunities

Deviated Theatre has acted as a signal boost for sponsors by co-existing and co-creating together in a multitude of physical and online spaces, including social media, TV commercials, acting as in-person models for products, and providing entertainment for corporate events. So many more possibilities are there to make new corporate sponsors look just as great.

Contact NPAFE to find out how you can be recognized locally, regionally, and even nationally for your role in making these great performing arts events possible.

Mar 24 + 25 a “preview of a work in progress” of the new production “Beyond”, itself an opportunity for sponsors to be branded as lead partners in creating the full evening length work version of “Beyond” premiering in the Fall 2017-Spring 2018 season

Primary sponsor for multi-city East Coast tour of “Beyond” for example PA, NY, VA

Branded lead sponsor for a series of short dance films and feature length dance films, offering sponsor branding and usage

An original DEVIATED THEATRE Christmas holiday production as an alternative to all of the classics, building on how the Washington Post dubbed Kimmie Dobbs the “Cure for Sugar Plum Fairy Fatigue”…

What Others Say

Symptom? Sugar Plum Fairy fatigue? Cure! Those who have had their fill of “Nutcrackers” — even the “nutshell” productions — can mix it up with Deviated Theatre’s “Storyteller’s Gala,” hypnotic multidisciplinary dance pieces that incorporate aerial dance, singing and theatrical performance. Shows meld excerpts from a handful of Deviated’s popular pieces, including 2008’s “Aspiro.” The best part: There are no toy soldiers in sight! Washington Post, December 1, 2011

Why does Lady Gaga don couture when she could strap herself into the gothic-rock fashions of an Australian named Andy Christ? Gaga might well have envied the performers of Deviated Theatre’s “creature” this weekend at Dance Place, since they got to writhe around in costumes by Christ, whose witty steampunk chic was the star of the show. Artistic directors Kimmie Dobbs Chan and Enoch Chan infused this production with exactly the kind of robust energy you’d expect from dancer-acrobats; there was stomping, somersaulting, upended bodies with legs flailing, and a few thrilling bits of aerial swooping. Washington Post, Sept 28, 2014 on Deviated Theatre’s “creature”

Apocalyptic and beautiful, “creature” might have a few rough edges here and there, but its beast of a spectacle will most definitely swallow you whole. Kimmie Dobbs Chan’s choreography is spellbindingly compelling, transporting us to a world where real human interactions are rare and the force of progress steams on. Robert Michael Oliver, DC Metro Theater Arts, September 28, 2014

Director Enoch Chan and choreographer Kimmie Dobb Chan created an otherworld inhabited by air borne glittery quadrupeds, robotic bipeds, and a mysterious little boy. Danger loomed: quadrupeds scattered frantically upon the arrival of black and silver biped robot creatures. A sound track, “This is the story of what when wrong…testing, 1,2,3,” enveloped the depiction of science gone wrong. Melia Kraus-har, BWW Danceworld.com, Nov. 3, 2014  

Deviated Theater returned to Dance Place with a steampunk quest story envisioned by Choreographer Kimmie Dobbs Chan and Director Enoch Chan. The costumes, headpieces, wings, netting and accoutrements draped and shaped by Andy Christ are astonishing and the dancing among the best technically of the locally based dance troupes. Lisa Traiger, DC Metro Theater Arts, January 7, 2015