Kimerer L. LaMothe is a dancer, author, playwright, and philosopher of religion who lives on a farm in upstate New York with her life partner, Geoffrey Gee, one steer, five cows, three cats, six hens, and two of their five children.

A pioneer in the field of religion and dance, Kimerer is the author of numerous articles, book chapters, and six books, including Why We Dance: A Philosophy of Bodily Becoming (Columbia University Press), as well as Nietzsche’s Dancers: Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and the Revaluation of Christian Values (Palgrave), Between Dancing and Writing: The Practice of Religious Studies (Fordham University Press), and her latest, A History of Theory and Method in the Study of Religion and Dance (Brill Research Perspectives, 2018). Kimerer regularly lectures, teaches, and consults on the subject of religion and dance, and writes a monthly blog called “What a Body Knows” for Psychology Today.

Since 2016, Kimerer has written the book, lyrics, and melodies for two full-length musicals, both arranged and orchestrated by Geoffrey Gee. The first, Happy If Happy When, loosely based on her life, is about two artists and their five children who pursue a dream of rural life, only to find out that the farm they buy has a mind of its own. Kimerer’s second musical, Nietzsche: The Musical, tells the story of the enigmatic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, revealing the tangled, passionate, personal relationships that shaped his life and work.

As a dancer and choreographer, Kimerer has created and performed three solo dance concerts: Genesis (2001, 2009), On Fire (2004), and The Ever-Unfolding Present (2016); and choreographed several musicals, including Happy If Happy When. The Ever-Unfolding Present features a series of nine song-poems that Kimerer wrote corresponding to the chapters of her book Why We Dance. With her family, she has written, directed, and performed in six variety-style concerts.

Kimerer is currently at work on a Young Adult trilogy that brings her eco-dance philosophy to life in a near-future dystopia.

Kimerer earned a PhD in Religion from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University; taught at Brown and Harvard Universities for six years; and has received fellowships for her work in dance and religion from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Center for the Study of World Religions, both of Harvard University, and the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council (LARAC), twice.

For her publications, please visit: Books.

For more about her musicals please visit: Musicals.

For her blog, please visit: Blog.

For more about the farm with a mind of its own, please visit: The Farm.