Kim Epifano is an international performer, choreographer, director, curator, producer, educator and community arts organizer who has been a member of the Bay Area’s dance community since 1981. Epifano’s contribution to the field and to San Francisco’s artistic sphere has been widely recognized.
In 2004 Epifano partnered with MUNI to launch the celebrated San Francisco Trolley Dances annual outdoor free event featuring site-specific dances by local choreographers along a MUNI line. Its Educational Program Kids on Track has grown annually for grade school to College aged students. Now one of the city’s largest cultural events, SFTD is credited with diversifying Bay Area dance audiences and supporting the development of Bay Area choreographers.
In 1981 Epifano moved to San Francisco, creating and performing with Corpo Santo, where she won first place in the Women’s International Capoeira Competition in Brazil in 1983. She was a main collaborator and performer with Dance Brigade, and with Contraband when it received 2 Izzie’s for Best Company Performances. Epifano co-founded Mudd Butt International in 1993, a cross-cultural immersion and artistic exchange program for teenagers across the world for which she was master teacher and co-director in villages in Morocco, Galapagos, Bali, Turkey, Indonesia, Slovakia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, India, Vietnam and Ethiopia.
In 1998 she was commissioned by the US/Mexico Fund for Culture, Universidad de Baja California, Mexicali, Mexico. Calida Fornax (received an Izzie for sound score and 1st place in the Mexican Bi-National Competition), Deseos Desnudos (Izzie nominated for choreography and sound score) both toured to San Diego and ODC Theater.
Epifano created a mentorship arts program in SF with Refugee Transitions’ program for teens from Liberia, Burma, Bhutan, Nepal, which showcased at ODC. For 11 years she’s been an Artist in Residence in the SoMa at Bessie Carmichael School grade school.
In 1997 Epifano founded Epiphany Dance Theater. Her work has been commissioned/presented by YBCA, ODC Theater, Theater Artaud, Switzerland’s TanzOlten Festival, Mad’Art Carthage in Tunis, Tunisia, Ireland’s Croi Glan Integrated Dance Company, Mexicali, Mexico, Köln & Hamburg, Germany. She has received an ODC Sandbox Residency, Paul Dresher ARC Residency, Djerassi Residency, MJDC’s CHIME mentorship (with Antione Hunter), Bogliasco Fellowship, Studio 124 Theater Artaud. Epifano received a Gerbode Choreographer Commissioning Award for Last Blue Couch in the Sky, which was nominated for an Izzie in Choreography. She was awarded a Wattis foundation and CCI Investing in Artist grants for Rock & Mortar, she collaborated with multimedia/installation designer Shaghayegh Cyrous, performed by an intergenerational women’s ensemble in 2019 co-presented by Z Space. In 2022 Epifano was Dramaturg/Producer of Native Hands, Native Hands with Lead Artist Antione Hunter.
