The Foundry was created in 1998 by choreographers Alex Ketley and Christian Burns. Since the company’s inception it has created an array of performance and video pieces that have received wide spread recognition. The work is informed by  Detailed Bio> The Foundry was created in 1998 by choreographers Alex Ketley and Christian Burns. Since the company’s inception it has created an array of performance and video pieces that have received wide spread recognition. The work is informed by an extensive background in classical and contemporary ballet combined with a deep interest in the fine arts, improvisation, and collaborative process. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the company’s experimental work is considered at the forefront of movement-based performance and video installation.

Alex Ketley
Artistic Director - Choreographer


Alex trained as a dancer at the Washington Ballet, the School of American Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. In 1994 he moved to California to join the San Francisco Ballet where he performed a wide range of classical and contemporary repertory.

In 1998 he co-created The Foundry with Chris Burns in order to explore his deepening interests in choreography, improvisation, mixed media work, and collaborative process.

With The Foundry he has been an Artist-In-Residence at many of the country's leading art institutions and the company has received extensive support and recognition for its various projects.

As an independent artist, he has created new work for companies and universities throughout the United States and has received acknowledgement for this work through the National Choo-San Goh Award, the inaugural Princess Grace Award for Choreography, the BNC National Choreographic Competition, two CHIME Fellowships, two Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography Residencies, as well as awards from the Hubbard Street 2 National Choreographic Competition and the International Choreographic Competition of the Festival des Arts de Saint-Saveaur.

In 2003 he helped create the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, an organization in which he still serves as an advisor, teacher and the resident choreographer.

In 2008, his work "To Color Me Different" won an Isadora Duncan Award for Best Ensemble Performance and was considered one of the Top Ten Performance of the Year by both Voice of Dance and the San Francisco Chronicle.

In addition to a number of new commissions, in 2009 he was awarded a prestigious Gerbode-Hewlett Choreographer Commissioning Award to create the new piece "Please Love Me", which premiered with The Foundry in may of 2010 and will be performed throughout the year in California .  <Make Smaller