Who we are

It all started when...

Kelsey Kramer and Lexie Thrash met as undergraduate dancers and immediately connected as both performers and humans. During their overlapping college years, Kels and Lex explored choreography separately, but always found avenues to collaborate as movers/makers. After several years of “we should...” and “what if we…,” the duo proudly premiered work in 2017 at SITUATIONS Gallery in Chinatown.

what we do...

JACKS is a moving, making duo committed to investigative movement experiences, meaningful processes, and telling the truth. Our process is a gateway to authentic experiences for performers and onlookers. Our work is meaty, kooky, and connected.

JACKS produced their first evening-length work Can you come outside? in October 2019 at Next Door, a new community space in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The duo has shown work in The Craft at Threes Brewing (Governor’s Island), Summer Rose at Chashama (Brooklyn), Shared Space at Mark Morris (Brooklyn), Winter Follies at Old First Reformed Church (Brooklyn), Halfsies at Cora Dance (Brooklyn), Fertile Ground New Works Showcase at Greenspace (Long Island City), Movement Research Open Performance (Soho), WAXworks at Triskelion Arts (Williamsburg), and MERDE Backyard Shared Performance (Bed-Stuy). Proudly, they are the April 2019 winners of Dancify That! a comedy dance game show at Caveat (Lower East Side). In November of 2018, JACKS collaborated with artists Eric Gotshall and Adriana Norat on RUPTURE, an interdisciplinary, immersive performance experience at Art During the Occupation Gallery (Bushwick).

Kels and Lex have dreamed up a process for creation in which film and dance go hand in hand. Whether that means the film comes first and work for stage comes second, or a film is inspired by our latest stage work, we will continue this process long into JACKS' collaborative process.

The duo premiered their first collaborative film, ground-swell in November 2018 in Red Hook, Brooklyn with artists Emily Kohl-Mattingley, Allistair Johnson, Mika Mintz, and Amber Schmeising. The film has screened at ADF Movies by Movers Winter Screening at the Nasher Museum (Durham, NC), The Craft at Threes Brewing (Brooklyn), An Evening of Dance on Film (Washington, DC), 30Under30:3 (West Stockbridge, MA), Spoke the Hub Salon (Brooklyn, NY), MERDE the show (Queens, NY), Girona Film Festival (Catalonia, Spain), Regards Hybrides International Forum (Montreal, Canada) and Regards Hybrides En Tournée (Montreal, Canada).

Let's find stuff out together.