ODC Dance Commons: Khala Brannigan – Maura

Maura (Work In Progress) is a deeply personal psychological thriller and horror work that draws from lived experience and ancestral Native American storytelling connected to choreographer Khala Brannigan’s lineage. Growing up with the knowledge that she has a deceased sister, Brannigan carried an uncanny sense of her presence—questioning whether she heard her speaking or whether Brannigan herself was alive. Maura explores the spaces between identity and absence, grief and embodiment, memory and myth. Experimenting with material in the book she is writing, Brannigan will interact with dancers as thresholds between realms—grief and resilience, horror and tenderness, the seen and unseen.

Khala Brannigan is a Los Angeles–based choreographer, filmmaker, educator, and somatic trauma practitioner. Her practice centers embodiment, emotional resilience, and interdisciplinary collaboration. She has created 15 dance-based works for the stage, film, and multimedia productions.

Originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, Brannigan studied on scholarship at Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet Training Program in San Francisco from 2011–2013. She was a resident choreographer with SAFEhouse Arts from 2013–2019 and received awards from the Zellerbach Family Foundation and Dancers’ Group CA$H Grant. Her work has been presented at ODC Theater, Joe Goode Annex, Z Space, and festivals including SF Dance Film Festival. From 2017–2019, she was also a company member with Robert Moses’ Kin.

After relocating to New York City in 2019, Brannigan participated in a choreographic fellowship with Sidra Bell Dance New York and presented work at Peridance, Arts On Site, Three’s Brewing, The Woods, and Dual Rivet’s Made By Women Festival. She choreographed for the short films Amor Fati (dir. Katherine Huggard) and An Unwanted Guest (dir. Nicole Rinaldi), and was commissioned in 2024 to create a new work for Robert Moses’ Kin. She presented work at Hartford’s Dance Festival and released her short film Blood & Innocence in 2025.

Since moving to Los Angeles in 2024, Brannigan has been a guest artist in the CalArts Residency at The Reef, premiered MEND to a sold-out audience at Arts On Site in New York City, and choreographed and performed in multiple music videos. She also received an award from The Rauschenberg Foundation in June 2025. She holds a Somatic Trauma Therapy Certificate from Embody Lab and works as a yoga instructor and somatic therapy practitioner. Brannigan is currently developing ‘Maura,’ an evening-length dance work and short film to be presented in 2026.