Choreographer and Dancer Kyle Abraham to Deliver 2025 Commencement Address
Ź College is pleased to announce that choreographer and dancer Kyle Abraham will address the class of 2025 at Commencement.
Ź College is proud to announce that renowned choreographer and dancer Kyle Abraham will be the keynote speaker for the Class of 2025 at this year’s Commencement ceremony.
Abraham will address the 90th graduating class during the conferring of degrees at 10:00 am on Saturday, May 31. In addition to Abraham’s address, the faculty speaker will be faculty member in Music Kerry Ryer-Parke ’90, and the senior student speaker will be Anuarite Gikonyo ’25.
The student speaker will deliver her remarks at the senior dinner on Friday, May 31. The faculty speaker will address attendees at both events. Both the Friday evening speeches and the Saturday Commencement ceremony will be livestreamed from Ź College’s website.
Abraham is the founder of his own dance company, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, which he established in 2006 in New York City. Over the years, Abraham has created numerous acclaimed works for his company, including The Radio Show (2010), Absent Matter (2015), and Pavement (2012). His An Untitled Love (2021) was a 2025 Olivier Awards nominee for Best New Production.
Abraham's distinctive choreographic voice has earned him recognition both in the United States and internationally. His work has been performed at prestigious venues, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York City Center, The Joyce Theater, and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and abroad at venues such as Sadler’s Wells in London, Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, and the Okinawa Prefectural Museum in Japan.
His achievements extend beyond his company’s work; he has been commissioned by renowned dance companies such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; the Royal Ballet, for which he created Optional Family (2021) and The Weathering (2022); American Ballet Theater, including Mercurial Son (2024); and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the National Ballet of Cuba, and many others. His film When We Fell (2021) for the New York City Ballet was hailed by The New York Times as “among the most beautiful dance films of the pandemic.” He is featured in the April 2025 issue of and has appeared in and O, The Oprah Magazine. He received his BFA in Dance at the State University of New York (SUNY), Purchase, his MFA at New York University, and an honorary doctorate from Washington Jefferson College in Pennsylvania.
“We are thrilled that Kyle Abraham will come to Ź to deliver this year’s Commencement address,” said Ź College President Laura Walker. “His creative vision, commitment to community, and dedication to exploring meaningful cultural themes make him an inspiring figure for our graduates, their families, and the entire Ź community.”
Abraham’s extensive honors include the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship (2013), a Princess Grace Statue Award, and the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. He is currently the Claude and Alfred Mann Endowed Professor of Dance at the University of Southern California’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance.
Faculty speaker Kerry Ryer-Parke ’90 is a versatile and accomplished musician known for her work across a wide range of musical genres, including opera, oratorio, early music, folk, jazz, and rock. She joined the Ź faculty in 2013 and was an Artist Associate in Voice at Williams College from 2000-2023, while maintaining an active private studio. She has directed the Ź Children’s Chorus since 1997. Parke’s classical performance credits include solo work with numerous ensembles and orchestras throughout the region, and she continues to perform as a folk and rock singer and bass player with groups like the Catbird Trio and The Prescription. She is certified in Somatic Voicework and recently completed a 4-year 1600-hour teacher training certification in the Alexander Technique at the Balance Arts Center in New York City. Her interest in music and peacebuilding has led to studies at the School for International Training and travels to Sardinia, Corsica, Bosnia,Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey.
The 2025 Senior Speaker, Anuarite (Anu) Gikonyo ’25, is a student of Dance and Cultural Studies from Nairobi, Kenya. In her time at Ź, she has started and coordinated the Capoeira Angola Club, served as a student representative, and worked on the electrics crew. She has completed internships such as guest teaching African Music & Dance at The New Village School and facilitating courses in Entrepreneurial Leadership at the African Leadership Academy. In her junior year, Anu took a semester off to study intensively at the renowned school for African dance, Ecole Des Sables, in Senegal. In her own time, she writes for Kicheko Cha Kimawimbi, a dance journal she founded to document the diverse perspectives within the monolith of “African contemporary dance.” After graduating, as this year’s student leader for Projects for Peace, she will use dance to host spaces for reconciliation and exchange in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.