Kemar Jewel is a Black Queer Director and Choreographer whose mission is to recontextualize beloved stories through the intersections of Blackness, Queerness, and other marginalized communities.
Kemar Jewel is a Black Queer director and choreographer from Philadelphia, currently based in New York City. Recently, he obtained his MFA in Directing from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University. Kemar’s art has been seen in theatre, dance, opera, music videos, musical theatre, and European tours. As a Ballroom Legend from the House of Lanvin, Kemar draws his inspiration from Black queer culture and combines it with his technical training from The Drama League, New York City Center, and Yale. Kemar’s adept at nourishing the musicality within the text while simultaneously working from an ethos of joy and creating theatrical experiences that audiences won’t soon forget. Kemar’s mission is to revive classic stories by having them reflect the people in today’s society. He believes great stories teach the best lessons, and those stories should have everyone reflected in them.
Select directing credits include Ain’t No Mo’ by Jordan E. Cooper (Yale University), Sundown Kiki in London (Young Vic), a Ballroom and drag-inspired A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare (Yale University), The Brother Size (Associate: The Shed) and a first-of-its-kind Black queer revival of Sondheim’s Marry Me A Little (The Drama League). Select choreography credits include Treasure: by Machine Dazzle (Guggenheim Museum), the world premiere of House of Legendary (American Opera Project) Notes on Killing Seven….(Yale Rep), and choreographing Bob Sinclair’s European tour Paris by Night.
In addition to creating art, Kemar is also a very passionate educator and community leader. He has taught workshops and masterclasses on dance, theatre, and Black Queer history at various community centers, as well as Temple University, NYU, The Franklin Institute, and many other prestigious institutions and universities around the world. Kemar is the founder and artistic director of Xcel Dance Crew, a performance group that fuses voguing with other forms of dance and storytelling. At Yale, Kemar served as the co-president of FOLKS, the Black affinity group for the school of drama (founded by Anglea Basset in 1981) that focuses on creating networks, new art, and safe spaces for Black artists.
Kemar’s career reached new heights when he became an internet sensation in 2014 for his viral YouTube video Voguing Train. Over the years, his projects have garnered millions of views across various media platforms and have been featured by TIME, VOGUE, Huffington Post, NPR and in film festivals around the globe. Additionally, Kemar choreographed and performed in the music video Feel the Vibe for international recording artist Bob Sinclar and toured Europe with Sinclar’s Paris By Night tour. In 2022, Kemar’s project SOFT headlined the Global Black Pride event where his work was presented after the keynote speaker, President Joe Biden. Other credits include Signature Theatre, The Young Vic, The Guggenheim Museum, Portland Opera, the LANVIN fashion brand, and various other theaters across the country.