The Kinetic Energy Alive Dance Center will celebrate its 15th anniversary this weekend, May 9 and 10, 7 p.m., and May 11 at 2 p.m. with Grit & Grace VIII: A Light In the Dark in the Camden Opera House.  Producer and Founder Kea Tesseyman calls it a grand culmination after 15 years of serving the Midcoast community with dance. 

Through performances and teaching Kea has trained thousands of dancers, many who have gone on to professional heights but still come back to maintain their ties.

In Grit & Grace VIII: A Light In the Dark, 63 dancers, young and old with a predominance of teens, will perform a brand new show under Tesseyman’s solo direction, choreography and teaching. The dancers, in simple fabrics, will perform a wide spectrum of dance forms, from contemporary modern, contemporary jazz, street jazz, popping, locking, hip hop, classical ballet to Broadway jazz. 

Kea began learning dance at 16, two years later she was teaching it in 2002 at the age of 18. In 2010 she established her own studio, The KEA Dance Center, making this year her 23rd year of bringing dance to the Midcoast and beyond.

From challenges in her childhood and young adult life, she found that dance could free you from your fears and challenges, depression, and lack of confidence and belief in one’s self. She says dance pierces the veil to the soul which words cannot penetrate, it is like being in water, where you are not defined by where the world wants you to be, but rather where you find self-validation and identity.

She wants kids to be told that it is okay to not be okay, and that when they come through the door of her studio they know they are safe, and they can show their vulnerability as a strength not a weakness. She translates this support to be an addition to teaching, as a responsibility to be available of service for her students, especially the young people seeking a firm hold on their identity.

Tesseyman has a keen awareness of the role of dance in the mental health of a dancer, particularly among teens. She believes that the art of dance comes from a place of truth and wellness.

The Kea method focuses on the well-being of the dancer from beginning to end. The method is based on five pillars of standards and a six-question integrity test for each student. The aim is to keep dancers in the healthiest place possible from mindset to emotions, from the physical body to the daily habits all geared to the creative process of telling an authentic story through space. 

In creating her studio, The Kinetic Energy Alive Dance Center,  Kea said, “I built the place I was looking for when I was growing up."

Today she wants to take her philosophy and method of Kinetic Energy Alive across the country to as many schools and studios as possible, sharing her experience, strength and hope to spread the message of accessible wellness through dance.

Mimi Edmunds lives in Camden