Kizuna Dance Premieres KOIBITO At Triskelion Arts' Split Bill Series
By: Stephi Wild Jan. 02, 2018
Kizuna Dance is pleased to announce the world premiere of the company's newest work, "KOIBITO". Inspired by the plight of the Japanese salaryman, "KOIBITO" follows the chaotic journeys of three businessmen as they desperately try to reconnect to the world, while simultaneously exploring the malleability of streetdance and contemporary floorwork.
Thursday, January 18 + Sunday, January 21, 2018 at 7:30pm. Tickets available at
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/split-bill-at-triskelion-arts-january-2018-tickets-35984223782
"KOIBITO" is a story-driven work that engages the themes of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion by focusing on three businessmen who struggle to balance an insatiable drive to succeed with a desperate desire to rediscover intimacy, however fleeting. A darker and emotionally-driven work, the dance unfolds through a series of brief chapters as each businessman journeys from infatuation to romance to heartbreak. While the movement is a unique blend of streetdance, capoeira, and contemporary floorwork, the work is also a choreographic study in the malleability of streetdance. Often associated with aggression or machismo, "KOIBITO" proves that streetdance can also portray tenderness, confusion, and loss. Cast for the performance includes Gwendolyn Baum, Rohan Bhargava, Brianna Dixon, Reka Echerer, Chelsea Escher, Ezra Goh, Cassidy Samelian, and Cameron McKinney.
Kizuna Dance works blend elements of breaking, house dance, and capoeira with contemporary sensibilities to create works that resonate with physicality, humanity, and intricacy. In the three short years since its founding by Artistic Director Cameron McKinney, Kizuna Dance has presented work nationally and internationally at prestigious institutions and festivals such as The Japan Society, Performatica, the LDIF Festival, Gibney Dance, Movement Research, Dixon Place, Against the Grain / Men in Dance, Triskelion Arts, the Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, and the Wassaic Project Summer Festival. Committed to outreach and boasting a company roster of professional educators, Kizuna Dance has lead workshops and residencies in eight states and internationally in Japan, Mexico, and the UK.
Described as "mesmerizing" [The Stewardship Report] and "brilliant" [Huffington Post], Cameron McKinney has been studying the Japanese language for over 12 years. Since founding Kizuna Dance in 2014, he has received many awards and honors, including recently being named a participant in the Alvin Ailey Foundation's New Directions Choreography Lab, provided through generous support from the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation. In addition to a commissions for new works at The Thacher School and SUNY Brockport in 2018, he also has received commissions to create original works twice from the Joffrey Ballet School, twice from the Let's Dance International Frontiers Festival, and from Long Island University Brooklyn, The Moving Beauty Series, Williamsburg Movement and Arts Center, SpectorDance Studio, and the Steffi Nossen School of Dance. He was chosen as one of ten emerging choreographers for Doug Varone's DEVICES choreographic mentorship program in 2015.
He has presented choreographic work nationally and internationally at prestigious institutions and festivals such as The Japan Society, Performatica, Serendipity and the LDIF Festival, Gibney Dance , Movement Research, Dixon Place, the Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, Against the Grain / Men in Dance, the Wassaic Summer Project Festival, Triskelion Arts, Nazareth College, The Moving Beauty Series, the 92nd Street Y, the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, and the KUNST-OFF Arts Studio, among many others.
As a professional educator, Cameron has lead workshops, master classes, and residencies at Gibney Dance, Joffrey Dance Center, Spectrum Dance Theater, De Montfort University & Curve Theatre, Performatica, The Dance Complex, Moving Target Portland, Hunter College, Denmark Arts Center, Purdue University, SpectorDance, Studio Muku, among many others. He will also be leading guest classes and residencies in the UK and throughout California in 2018. He is currently building Nagare Technique, a training module for contemporary floorwork that blends streetdance styles and contemporary sensibilities. He is currently on faculty at Gibney Dance Center.
Kizuna Dance will share the Split Bill programs with Falcon Dance (Thursday) and The Achievements (Sunday).
Japanese culture through the lens of a contemporary and streetdance aesthetic. Dance that seamlessly blends culture, humor, and physicality. The mission of Kizuna Dance is to celebrate the Japanese culture through dance works that intellectually-stimulating and physically exhausting.
For more information, please contact:
Cameron McKinney
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