Erik Kaiel is a Lebanese-American choreographer. Born in Austria, raised in Oregon, he studied in Canada and Massachusetts before eventually earning his masters degree in dance at New York University. He spent nearly a decade living, learning, and dancing in New York City before coming to Holland. His intensely physical performance work has been performed worldwide, not only on stage, but in subway stations, warehouses, sculpture gardens, city streets, and empty swimming pools. He has been awarded artistic residencies at Djerassi, the Yard, the Silo, Dansateliers, and Catidans in Istanbul. He now choreographs, performs, and teaches throughout Europe and North America and is currently on the faculty at the ArteZ dance academy in Arnhem. 

Erik Kaiel started the pick-up dance company ‘Archeopteryx 8’ based in New York City in 1999. In 2003 ‘Archeopteryx 8’shifted its base of operations to the Netherlands.
Archeopteryx 8 is what the body of necessity leaves in its wake. Form is enfolded by function. There is an unrepentant intensity of being. In the work, the dancers are autonomous beings, busy with raw, pure movement. Rather than the beauty of masterful displays of technique, it champions the beauty of effort. Each body engages in a sequence of strenuous tasks.  Its relentless drive counterpoints the increasing exhaustion of the physical body. Through the twin motors of intensity and intention, an infectious solidarity arises between the performers and the audience. It is not something you watch, but something you feel a gravitation that pulls viewers into intimate complicity with the dancers.

press quote about erik kaiel/archeopteryx 8: ‘Archeopteryx 8 ’: ‘bold, muscular choreography, punctuated by moments of exquisite stillness. ’ (Globe & Mail, Toronto).