Kira Kanani Seamon discovered the joy of dance while coming of age. As a classically trained ballet dancer, she thrived in traveling throughout the United States and Europe, and participated in a trainee summer intensive program at the famous Joffrey Ballet School. She later relocated to New York to continue her intensive training. After suffering what doctors called a career-ending leg injury at 21, Ms. Seamon resolved to study body mechanics and kinesiology, in order to heal herself and return to pursuing her passion.
Ms. Seamon became a certified exercise physiologist through the American College of Sports Medicine. She also received certification as a personal trainer and group exercise leader through the American Council on Exercise. A year after returning to dance, Ms. Seamon earned renown as a national and regional dance champion, earning 18 awards throughout a 10-year competitive career.
Ms. Seamon’s four decade journey in dance and choreography gained her national recognition in some of the most prestigious dance publications including Dance Teacher and Dance Spirit magazine. Throughout her career, she has choreographed and premiered more than 100 original works and produced, directed, choreographed and danced in productions in prestigious venues throughout Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, with casts of up to 21 artists, singers, musicians and dancers. Most notably, she choreographed and performed the ballet section of Boston Fashion Week, and performed at a charity event benefitting the May Institute and the Ronald McDonald House in Providence, Rhode Island. In addition to her work as a performer, Ms. Seamon also enjoyed working with children, previously serving as a dance teacher at a Massachusetts public school and teaching a workshop at the First Annual Massachusetts Dance Festival.
Today, Ms. Seamon channels her creative abilities into the visual arts. Her art, which has been recognized in more than 50 newspaper cover stories and over 40 additional newspaper articles in local and regional publications, has likewise been displayed in more than 40 solo exhibits since 2017. As a respected artist, Ms. Seamon has received 13 Cultural Council grants from Boston-area town. She also received a personal letter from MA Senate President Karen Spilka and a certificate from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Legislature in recognition of her Framingham Cultural Council grant. In 2019, she became the artist-in-residence of the Town of Natick, Massachusetts, at the Natick Center Cultural District.
As the inaugural artist-in-residence for the Town of Natick, Ms. Seamon proved a popular ambassador for the arts in that community-minded town. She attended various community-wide events such as Natick Nights. After a devastating fire destroyed a number of businesses in the heart of the town, on one such Natick Nights, Ms. Seamon created a “Helping Hands = Healing Hands” art project where local residents traced their handprints onto commemorative plaques. Ms. Seamon then presented these plaques to the firehouse in recognition of their heroic effort to battle the terrible blaze. In her capacity as inaugural artist-in-residence, Ms. Seamon also was the marketing director for her end of year project, a town-wide Art in Bloom event. She attended the Natick Day’s Festival, where upwards of 4,000 local residents took part in many activities, including her kid-friendly paper flower demonstrations. The Natick Art in Bloom event was a smashing success, with a sold-out audience, as Ms. Seamon not only displayed her own art at the event, but she invited prestigious Walnut Hill School for the Arts to play classical music selections as part of the event. She received significant recognition in the local papers as the artist-in-residence.
Throughout her career, Ms. Seamon’s work has been accepted, sold and won awards in jury’s shows throughout New England. Some of these include winning the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s 2018 Photography Competition in the People category and twice placing third in the Norwood Art Association’s Art in the Park. Accepted twice into the Blanche Ames National Juried Art Exhibition, she’s also had her art produced for airing by Wellesley, Medfield, Attleboro, Cambridge, Easton and Westwood Public TV. The Dedham Public TV Station produced and aired a 1.5 hour documentary of her work. She was an award-winning Honor student at the prestigious Punahou School, receiving two Awards for Excellence in German and landing on the Punahou Honor Roll for a number of semesters, along with being in the National Honor Society in her first years there.
For individuals looking to pursue a career in the arts, Ms. Seamon believes that one should always strive to achieve success and never give up, even if certain obstacles present a challenge. Looking toward the future, she aspires to expand the reach of her art to more museums and galleries. Ms. Seamon would also like to continue teaching through her Art in Bloom Workshop across the state and region.