We were lucky to catch up with Karley Wasaff recently and have shared our conversation below.

Karley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

More often than not, I lead my life with asking myself what am I scared of, and why. I then act upon that fear, I lean into it and go for it. I strongly believe in re-framing fear as a tool for growth.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Karley Wasaff is a non-binary freelance movement-artist and educator based in NYC. Karley began a nonprofit-dance-organization, Kinetics with Karley, to utilize their privilege to stand up and shape change through movement. Their non-profit provides free training and resources for professional performers. Karls is the creative director and producer of an immersive theatre cabaret, BoneDaddy’s Dungeon. Their current movement research sparks pushing-boundaries by incorporating compositional-improvisation-scores to evoke the spontaneity of genuine unadulterated human interaction. Karley is the 2022 Social Justice Fellowship recipient from TheField.org, and a BAX Emerge NYC 2023 Artist. They have been in residency with USM, BAX, Alpha Omega Dance, and The Floor. Karley premiered, ‘XwhY,’ at Christie’s New York as their first performing art soloist. Karls has toured with RAD Fest, ASE Dance Theatre Collective, Queerness in 2024 Exhibition, Saleh Dance, SMUSH Gallery, ESTIA Creative Home, Drye|Marinaro Dance, Kun-Yang Lin, Greenspace, and more. They hold a MFA in dance from Hollins University. Karley is the proud small business owner of Boujiesaurus Boutique and a Master Fitness Professional & Instructor.

BOUJIESAURUS BOUTIQUE BIO:
Boujiesaurus Boutique is a funky, chic, hand-made accessory shop with a vibrant love for dinosaurs and the nostalgia they embody. Shop owner, Karley, is inspired by dinosaurs’ and their ability to spark the imagination!

Karley identifies as non-binary and their creative personality and love for all things Dinosaurs is constantly reaching new limits each time scientists find striking similarities between dinosaurs’ gender traits.

MASTER FITNESS PROFESSIONAL BIO:
As a Master Fitness Professional, Karls is a multi-disciplinary yoga teacher, fitness coach, group fitness instructor, and professional dancer/choreographer, Karley specializes in a pain-free lifestyle based on foundational and corrective exercises. They are an E-RYT 200hr Yoga Teacher and a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider and specializes in re-framing toxic mindsets through meditation and pranayama. Karley considers themself as a movement coach and specializes in therapeutic yoga, somatics,recovery, mobility, joint rehabilitation, Pilates, and functional strength and conditioning. Karley cultivates programs with the aim to enrich a client’s life, beyond physical appearance, to gain knowledge and body awareness to promote longevity and quality over quantity.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I shape change through movement and frame my art as a tool for social change. I utilize a self-awareness equation of destruction and growth to change the ability to notice. I create compositional-improvisation-scores to evoke the spontaneity of genuine un-adulterated human interaction to cultivate expanding awareness and challenge perceptions. I utilize chance as a tool I use to reimagine the ordinary and mundane as a moral act of attention to alter the quality of attention I project onto the world, and myself. I utilize ‘problems’ as materials for my explorations, like bringing radical awareness to my queer identity through compositional-improvisation: gender binary is a structure, like choreography, and the action of gender-non-conforming represents chance in that it deviates from the original. I utilize my life as an artist as a practice of transformative assembly and healing.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

First, to support the arts and go to shows with an open mind. Secondly, to re-invest in the community by giving artists the jobs to rebuild systems within the corporate world. Artists jobs are to exist outside of the ordinary and mundane, and when artists are community leaders, or bosses, they shift systems towards growth. Thirdly, re-frame how artists learn to be artists in higher-education. I have experienced creative higher-education teaching students how to perfect their technical craft that inevitably pushes an ideal of the creative lifestyle that you will just magically have funding. Learning about the struggles of funding creative work and research is crucial to supporting yourself financially as an artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.karleywasaff.com
• Instagram: @kineticswithkarley @boujiesaurusboutique @bonedaddysdungeon
• Other: donation link: https://app.thefield.org/profile/Karley-Wasaff/633184

Image Credits
green pant suit, headstand yoga shot, & black hat shot: @alan.rosss black and red XwhY dance shots: @johnchristouphotography other images: n/a (ghost photographer)