Dance:

Paul Kafka-Gibbons, born in 1960, has been studying and performing dance all his life.  As a child and teen, he studied modern dance with Louis Tupler, Terry Parasol, and Diane Johnson in Washington, D.C.  As an young adult, he studied modern dance with Leslie Koval at Harvard University, and performed with the Harvard-Radcliffe Dance Company and Expressions Dance Company.  After college, in Paris, he studied ballet with Joelle Mazet and was an apprentice member of Compagnie Josianne Rivoire.  He moved to Manhattan, where he studied with May O’Donnell, Amos Pinhasi, and Marjory Mussman.  He took a break from performing to attend the University of Denver, where he received his doctorate in English Literature, and wrote short stories and a novel (see below).  After graduate school, he spent a year in Washington, DC, and New York City, performing with Anne Hammel in Manhattan and with Jan Taylor Dancers in DC.  At the age of thirty-five, Paul moved to Boston, where he has lived since.

In Boston, Paul studied intensively with Marcus Schulkind.  He performed for Beth Soll and Jennifer Lin.  He became a member of Jeanne Traxler’s Peanut Butter & Jelly Dance Company, in which he danced for twenty-five years.  Jeanne is a good friend and a mentor in all things organizational, creative, and educational.  For twenty years, Paul has choreographed and danced with Lynn & Paul Dance, in what is certainly his most sustained and rich collaborative partnership.  He also works closely with Joe Burgio in ÉMU, a text-and-movement duet--Joe Burgio is the main source of Paul's understanding of the myriad treasures of improvisational performance.  Joe and Paul joined forces with musicians Andrew Eisenberg and Josh Jefferson to form SKINNY ÉMU, an improvisational dance-music quartet.  

In 2017, Paul was a chorus member of Vanessa White's Slutcracker under his burlesque name, Paul Rearveer (the Other Minuteman).  Also in 2017, Paul had a principle role in Mitchel Ahern and Vanessa LeFevre's Dhalgren Sunrise at Chelsea Theater Works.  In his fifties and sixties, Paul created duets and trios in collaboration with Jennifer Lin, Melissa Shook, Samantha Wilson, Molly Hess, Katerine Gagnon, Jim Banta and Ellen Pigott, Liza Kitchell, Rachel Roccoberton, Amy Goldfarb, Avivah Goldman, and Shereen Salem.

During the pandemic, Paul performed in large group outdoor pieces by Jeanne Traxler and by Lynn Modell.  In 2021, Paul performed in Jennifer Lin’s “The Gathering Place” in Mount Auburn Cemetery.  In 2022, Paul initiated the founding of a the eleven-member 4:30 Dance Collective.  In May and December of 2023, Paul was the dancer in Greg Kowalski’s Obscurum Per Obscurius, a Machine 5 Production, creation and lighting by Greg Kowalski, sound design by Dave Seidel, sung by Dei Xhrist.

Paul Kafka-Gibbons is founder and director of a twice-yearly day of experimental performance, the THANG series, which began in 2011. THANGs are eight-hour events, free to the public.  Walter Wright--creater of XFEST in Lowell, Massachusetts, founder of 119 Gallery with his wife Mary Ann Kearns--was Paul's guide in his work as event-producer and nurturer-of-creativity in the New England artist community.  Paul also considers Dei Xhrist, current producer of XFEST, as a source of learning and inspiration for the THANG series.

Writing:

Paul Kafka-Gibbons is the author of LOVE <enter>, which won the Los Angeles Times Prize for First Fiction. His second novel, Dupont Circle, was a Washington Post bestseller. He has written book reviews for the New York Times Review of Books, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, the Boston Globe, the Houston Chronicle, and the San Francisco Chronicle.  Paul studied writing with novelist Monroe Engel and playwright William Alfred at Harvard College.  At the University of Denver, he wrote LOVE <enter> while earning his doctorate with his mentor, advisor, and close friend, the novelist and Paris historian, William Wiser.

Paul is currently at work on The Last Murder series, the first four installments of which are available at thelastmurder.com.