Air Borne Dance Theater

Who We Are

Cornelia Kip Lee, Founding Artistic Director/Choreographer

Cornelia Kip Lee’s dancing has been described as “riveting,” “powerful” and “extremely moving.” A dancer, choreographer, writer and visual artist, Lee creates authentic, edgy works that touch, transform and challenge audiences.

As dance critic Byron Woods noted, “At times (Cornelia’s) choreography and performance blurs or breaks down the series of assumed cultural boundaries that so often are used to divide the able-bodied from the disabled (and, too frequently, the ‘disabled’ from the ‘artists’).” Of her performance at Opening Acts, Woods wrote, “Cornelia Kip Lee continued to knock down difference in her fully embodied work, Parting.”

Primarily because of her disability, Cornelia’s passion for dance lay submerged for many years, and so she came to her heart’s calling relatively late in life. Responding to that call, Cornelia feels her life has followed a magical path, on which she gets to share her joy in dance with people of diverse backgrounds and abilities: first as a member of a dance company, then as a solo dance artist, and now as artistic director of her own company.

Since January 2004 Cornelia has received nine artist grants, including two Emerging Artist grants from the Durham Arts Council, and three grants from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation with supplemental grants from the Kenan Foundation. In 2003, in Opening Acts, she became the first dance artist in the history of the ADF to perform with a wheelchair. She also performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, in the international VSA Arts Festival. In 2001-2002 Lee danced with The Dancing Wheels in Cleveland, Ohio, and she was a guest artist with WING IT! Performance Ensemble in Berkeley. Recently, she was invited to Edinburgh to dance with the Scottish Dance Theatre in the development of a new work by choreographer Adam Benjamin that SDT will tour throughout Britain.

Cornelia says “I formed Air Borne Dance Theater out of a love of creative collaboration, a desire to take on the challenge and rewards of creating more complex works, and a desire to further expand the boundaries and take apart the stereotypes of modern dance through developing inclusive dance theater works.” She is thrilled and energized by the creative contributions of Kelly and Caedra for their current project, and feels lucky to have them in her company.

In addition to performances, Cornelia offers choreographic and teaching residencies and workshops. She is a certified teacher of DanceAbility and of InterPlay improvisational performance art technique.

Kelly Colbert

Kelly Ann Colbert is a singer/songwriter, dancer, teacher and choreographer. After graduating from Stanford University, where she danced in nationally televised primetime specials, Kelly toured both coasts performing over 500 shows as lead singer with the basics. She has co-written, performed and co-produced seven CD projects, a short film score that debuted at the First Look Festival in Hollywood, and original music for television networks including ABC and ESPN. Once called “the Wallace Stegner of contemporary folk music,” her songs have inspired painters, writers and filmmakers. In 2006 she performed solo during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Kelly brings a passion for the healing arts to her performing and teaching, since she was once told she would never dance again due to a rare foot fracture; and for six months she needed crutches for walking. Her street/funk and theatre jazz classes at the Durham Arts Council encourage discovery, empowerment and freedom through movement. She was a choreographer in residence at Cary Academy 04-05, and has choreographed for competition-level dance teams. During the summer 2006 she taught at the American Dance Festival and was invited back on faculty for ‘07. She is certified in Thai Yoga Therapy/Thai Herbal Medicine, Pilates and Julio Horvath’s Gyrotonic Expansion System. She believes most people live with a disability; some less obvious to the naked eye than others.  Kelly enjoys teaching in the rehab setting at Bodyworks Treatment and Prevention Center where her clients consistently challenge her to explore truths about healing and how it transcends the physical. She is thankful to Cornelia and Air Borne Dance Theater for this opportunity, and for all the weekends hanging out upside down in a harness–since she has always wanted to fly.

Caedra Scott-Flaherty

Caedra Scott-Flaherty grew up in Rochester, NY where she trained in ballet and competitive gymnastics until she attended the School of the Arts to study modern dance and creative writing. She was one of 30 high school students selected to attend the New York State School of the Arts where she worked with such dance masters as Carolyn Adams, Julie Strandberg, Ruth Andrien, Daniel Nagrin, Robert Battle and the Parsons Company. She went on to attend Brown University where she continued her dance studies in both performance and choreography with Dance Extension, along with playwriting and fiction writing. Her piece “Show” was the only student-choreographed piece selected to be performed in the American Dance Legacy Institute’s annual performance. She was awarded a scholarship to attend the American Dance Festival where she studied with Gerri Houlihan, Doug Nielson and Ming Yang. Also a published poet and playwright, she fills the rest of her time with writing, and working as the Literacy Programs Specialist at the Duke Community Service Center. She is honored to be dancing with Air Borne Dance Theater, and believes strongly in its mission.