Jennifer Archibald is the founder and Artistic Director of the Arch Dance Company and Program Director of ArchCore40 Dance Intensives. She was appointed as the first female Resident Choreographer in Cincinnati Ballet’s 40-year history. Archibald has choreographed for Atlanta Ballet, Ailey II, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Kansas City Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Ballet West, Sacramento Ballet, Nashville Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet, Richmond Ballet, BalletX, Ballet Austin, Grand Rapids Ballet and worked commercially for Tommy Hilfiger, NIKE, and MAC Cosmetics, as well as chart-listed artists.
Archibald was the acting Movement Director for Michael Kahn’s The Oresteia at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. As a director, she premiered WeAIghT, a film featuring current Ailey Company member James Gilmer that was selected for Best Choreography and Best Male Lead for Mountain View Film Festival. WeAIghT was an official selection for Lincoln Center’s 50th annual Dance on Camera Festival, San Francisco Film Festival, and the Light Moves Festival in Ireland. Archibald’s works have been performed at venues including New York’s City Center, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Aaron Davis Hall, Jacob’s Pillow Inside|Out Stage, and Central Park’s Summerstage Mainstage.
She was awarded a Choreographic Fellowship for Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab under the direction of Robert Battle and is a Joffrey Ballet Choreographic Winnings recipient. Ms. Archibald choreographed Seven, a biographical work about Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee, which was commissioned by St. Louis-based MADCO Dance Company. Arch Dance Company’s Chasing Shadows was remounted for Dallas Black Dance Theater: Encore
She was also the 2018-19 recipient of the CUNY Dance Initiative Residency. Archibald is currently in her seventh year as an Acting Lecturer at the Yale School of Drama and was appointed as Guest Faculty Lecturer to develop the Hip Hop dance curriculum at Columbia/Barnard College. Ms. Archibald was the guest ballet Choreographer for Jacob’s Pillow Ballet Summer Program in 2022 and will be the guest Contemporary Choreographer in 2023. She is also a guest artist at several universities including the YALE Summer Directing Program, Fordham/Ailey, Stanford University, Purchase College, Princeton, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of South Florida, Goucher College, Columbia College Chicago, Miami New World School of the Arts, South Carolina’s Governor’s School of the Arts, Ailey Fordham, Boston Conservatory, and Point Park. The Kennedy Centre has announced that Archibald will be the choreographer for the Pathways to Performance – Exercises in Reframing the Narrative in the summer of 2024.
Watch In The Balance: Ballet for A Lost Year to see Jennifer’s Work
Ballet X
Ballet Des Moines
CHARLOTTE BALLET
Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre
Richmond Ballet PITTSBURGH BALLET
