"Cherdonna expertly balances comedy and tragedy while making sharp points about gender and sexuality"
—Seattle Times, Becs Richards
"bizarre and occasionally discomfiting spectacle that feels both clownishly exaggerated and perversely vulnerable"
—Brendan Kiley, Seattle Times
"A childlike clownsplosion who simultaneously parodies high femme expression and luxuriates in its trappings."
—Rich Smith, The Stranger
"An uncategorizable spectacle... Cherdonna is a genius. Cherdonna for president."
—Christopher Frizzelle, The Stranger Editor
JODY KUEHNER is a Seattle-based dance artist, director, drag queen Cherdonna Shinatra.
Cherdonna takes what you recognize about dance, what you believe about drag, what intrigues you about improvisation and what delights you about entertainment, Cherdonna effortlessly tosses it in a mason jar, shakes it up, and opens the lid.
Cherdonna exists between dimensions and quantum shifts in time through everyday objects and emotions. While she provides a brightly decorated avenue to explore and question what is "normal," she remains a child, innocent of rancor.
Cherdonna is aggressively sweet. The subtext is the made-up surface belying what exists beneath and the commentary of truth beyond what's advertised.
She is always seeking (even while struggling), what is beautiful and shiny.
She lives for the light.
Jody Kuehner is a Seattle-based dance artist, director, and performance artist Cherdonna Shinatra. She is a queer, professionally trained dancer who uses clowning, drag, theater, comedy, performance art, camp, pop culture, gay culture, dance traditions, feminist traditions, absurdity and subversive commentary to make art.
Cherdonna is a persona created by Jody to explore and question themselves and the world. Jody is a 2017 Artist Trust Fellowship recipient, 2017 Henry Art Gallery Artist in Residence, 2017 CityArts Artist of the year, 2015 Stranger Genius Award winner. She was funded by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project in 2016. Her choreography has been presented by every major contemporary dance venue in Seattle. She has been presented nationally at the University of South Florida in Tampa FL, the Meanings and Makings of Queer Dance conference Ann Arbor, MI, The Yard at Martha’s Vineyard, American Dance Festival, Durham, NC, and FringeArts in Philadelphia, PA. Kuehner recently premiered DITCH at the Frye Art Museum, a three-month gallery exhibition with daily live performance. DITCH's eighty performances drew an audience of over 3500 people.
Jody was Dayna Hanson’s Production Coordinator and Assistant Director 2010–2015 for various projects. She danced with Pat Graney company from 2007–2016 and also assisted Graney’s KTF Prison Project. She teaches Contemporary Dance at Velocity Dance Center and is a member of the touring Cabaret and Burlesque company Kitten & Lou Presents.
