This week, JustArts sat down with Emily Zoller '14, the executive director of hip-hop dance performance group Kaos Kids.

JustArts: Would you tell us about your involvement with Kaos Kids-how long have you been involved, and what is your role in the group?

Emily Zoller: I joined Kaos my freshman year, and I'm a senior now. So I've been with the group almost four years. I'm now the executive director; I was the executive director last year too, in the fall, and in the spring I was abroad. Before that, I was the events coordinator, so I've always been involved with Kaos from the beginning of my Brandeis time.

JA: How would you describe Kaos Kids to someone who is unfamiliar with it?

EZ: Kaos is crazy. Kaos is chaos-we know that about ourselves and we love that. First and foremost we are a family, and that's something that we really promote and we really push. We're really good about supporting one another, in the dance room and when we perform, but also in our lives in general. We are a very diverse group. We do hip-hop, but we have some breakers and some people who like to do flips and stuff like that, and we like to incorporate a lot of different styles. Sometimes we'll bring in contemporary, and we pull on people's strengths within the group.

JA: I'm excited for Kaos Kids' performance at the University's celebration for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on MLK Day next Monday. How has the group prepared?

EZ: It's something that the artistic directors are working on-Stephanie Ramos '14 and Mark Borreliz '14-so they are putting together the choreography and song choice. It's not going to be all of us because it's a shorter time period to practice, but we'll put it together, and you'll see!

JA: I'm curious about the personal stake that you guys have in this performance, as Kaos Kids has performed at MLK Day last year, is it a yearly thing for you?

EZ: I didn't perform in it last year, I was abroad, but it is an important thing to us. It's important that we're doing it again, and we'd like it to become something that's regular for us. We're a very diverse group and support everything that MLK stands for. It's a different space for us to perform, and it's something that's meaningful.

JA: Is social justice or activism with regard to diversity a common interest among the group's members?

EZ: It's not something that we explicitly talk about-I think, as Brandeis students, we all sort of have social justice tendencies, but it's not necessarily the mission of the group. We do like to give back to the Brandeis community and the community at large, and have worked with some of the on-campus groups that do after-school programs, and teaching kids, and we went to the YMCA last year to do a performance for some of the kids.

JA: What has been your biggest challenge as you've worked with Kaos Kids over the years?

EZ: That's a good question. I think that the biggest challenge is that we want to do a lot, and we always have ideas and there's always a lot of ambition and a lot of momentum to move forward and do big things. And it's just a lot of energy to try to do the work and try to organize and make sure that we get done what we need to get done and make sure that we are perfecting the pieces we are performing, and not just running through them, not just trying to get to bigger venues or different places or try really crazy ideas. It's just to follow through and make sure that we have a finished product as much as we are trying to grow and do new things.

JA: What sort of direction do you see the group going in for the rest of this year? Are you guys planning out long term?

EZ: We are just about to have our pre-semester meeting, so we will be talking more about that. We've been talking for years about trying to compete in things around Boston. We have performed at different universities and we really do love that, being part of a Greater Boston-area hip-hop community or dance community in general, so that's something we're thinking about. We're planning our semester show, which we did for the first time last year. We're trying to get more people to choreograph, really get involved with the group.

-Rachel Hughes