Dancer/ Choreographer

Yes, that was a Technite you saw performing for Hollywood royalty and a global TV audience at the 94th Academy Awards last spring.

Dancer-choreographer Kaity ‘Kai’ Martinez was chosen by Disney as half of a duo that stylishly accompanied a Lin-Manuel Miranda song from the film Encanto, as it was sung onstage.

Kai was an obvious choice: not only has she performed with the likes of Paul McCartney, Kendrick Lamar “and everyone in between,” but she had been a force powering Encanto’s visual beauty and authenticity.

Disney, striving for cultural sensitivity and realism in creating this tale of a mythical Colombian family, had turned to Kai for a dual role during production: to craft and block the human moves that animators would replicate digitally, and to be a cultural consultant.