Knockout

Knockout is a fierce contemporary dance duet that explores queer possibilities through a dynamic choreographic collage of intimacy, attraction, strength and survival.

Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “two of Chicago’s most captivating performers,” Kilmurray + Brody propel audiences through a cinematic thrill ride of femme fight sequences, lush sonic landscapes, toothy camp, and partnerships that sidestep tidy categorization.

Intoxicating, heart-stopping, and surreal, Knockout exists inside of the disorienting moment after the point of contact but just before hitting the floor.

TKO, baby.

“Intuitive, thrillingly chaotic, deeply vulnerable” + “Chock full of layers and complexity, smart composition and plain old good dancing --- frustratingly good in its attention to detail”

---Chicago Tribune

“Brody and Kilmurray take a raucous approach to form”

---The Dance Enthusiast

“It’s nothing short of an adrenaline rush”.

---See Chicago Dance

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COLLABORATIVE TEAM

Corey Smith (they/them) - Sound Design

Erin Kilmurray (she/they) - Concept, Direction, Choreography, Performance

Kara Brody (she/her) - Choreography, Performance

Katrina Dion (she/her) - Direction, Dramaturgy

Liz Gomez (she/her) - Lighting Design

Mary Williamson (she/they) - Costume Design

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ABOUT Erin Kilmurray

Erin Kilmurray is a dance artist creating genre-straddling, femme-forward, pop-fringe contemporary performance work that demands aliveness and collectivity. They facilitate a practice that relentlessly explores the celebrations and liberations of women, queer folks, the underground and the underdog. Her work embraces mess, play, pleasure, and lessons in how arbitrary the line between artist and audience can be.

She is the founder + chief visionary of legendary, all-body-loving, variety performance project, The Fly Honey Show (est. 2010), called a "Chicago institution" (Chicago Reader). She is recognized nationally with a US Artist Fellowship Award in Dance (2024) and regionally with an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Choreography (2023), Links Hall Co-Mission Fellowship (2023), a Chicago Dancemakers Lab Artist Award (2020), and was just recently titled “Chicago of the Year in Dance 2025” by Chicago Tribune.

Her work has been presented in nationally recognized performance spaces, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Links Hall, iconic music venues like Thalia Hall and Metro, as well as nightclubs, experimental art houses, festivals including Lollapalooza and Philadelphia Fringe, and toured her work internationally to art-Theatre Dancebox NPO in Kobe, Japan. Erin teaches at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.

ABOUT Kara Brody

Kara Brody (she/her) is a Bessie nominated, Korean-American movement artist based in Chicago. Her work is an embodied social connection using dance as a site of queer belonging and collaborative inquiry. Approaching movement with a deep sense of tenderness and humility, she imbues a range of nuance with an explosive form of power. An “extraordinary dancer and emotionally committed performer who commands the room” (NewCity), her practice spans genres exploring contemporary, commercial, and experimental dance forms. Select credits include contributions to the works of Faye Driscoll, Lucky Plush Productions, Kimberly Bartosik, Carlo Antonio Villanueva, Melinda Jean Myers, Alex Grelle, and has performed with The Fly Honey Show, The Paramount Theater, [producingbody], and The Cambrians. She teaches frequently throughout the Midwest and is a Lecturer at University of Chicago. Brody interacts with Chicago’s diverse arts ecosystem as a freelance performing artist, educator, space-maker, and devoted collaborator. www.karabrody.dance

Photo by Chloe Hamilton