Dans improvisatie op muziek van Oene van Geel – Awakening –
KENZO KUSUDA [ choreographer / dancer ]
kenzosanz@hotmail.com
Holland-based Japanese choreographer / dancer Kenzo Kusuda reveals the poetry of the dancing body.
Kusuda takes the audience to a world filled with imagination.
His work is possessed of a mystic beauty that lies beyond the perception of our physical senses.
Simply with the body’s movement on an almost empty stage, he is able to reveal that which is the invisible.
In the days when he was studying economics / business administration and worked part-time at the world biggest fish market in Tokyo, Kusuda became so fascinated by the dance performances he attended, that he decided to further explore this art form.
Through his auto-didact learning process he developed a very personal and intense movement language that gained almost immediate recognition.
Since he was brought to Netherlands by Elshout / Handeler in 1999, Kusuda has appeared in works by various choreographers/theatermakers such as;
Emio Greco / PC, Boukje Schweigman, Shusaku Takeuchi, Joaquim Sabate, Dylan Newcomb, Paul Selwyn Norton, Cora Bos-Kroes ( C-Scope ), Katie Duck, Michael Schumacher, MAGPIE Music & Dance Company, Martin Butler,
Nita Liem ( Don’t Hit Mama ), Karine Guizzo, DOGTROEP, Kirstie Simson, Adam Benjamin and Karina Holla, to name a few, who were all fascinated by seemingly endless creativity and imagination with which Kusuda makes movement into dance.
Kusuda began making choreographies in Japan, largely solo pieces for himself. His first choreography in the Netherlands was the trio [ Moisture Rocket ] which he made with Dansateliers Rotterdam.
This piece, in a shortened duet version with Korzo Producties Den Haag, was cited by the commission of the Nederlandse Dansdagen as one of the high points of the season 2001~2002.
Kusuda has since become one of the insiders’ tips of the Dutch dance scene.
The CaDance Festival 2002 featured his duet [ Muse on Screw ], and in 2003 he made the male-trio [ Hypnos Loco Loco Locomotion ] with DansWerkplaatsAmsterdam & Korzo Producties Den Haag, that was successfully presented
at festivals like: Dance Link NRW/NL( Den Haag ), Julidans Festival( Amsterdam ), Tenps-Dance Festival( Bourges, France ), Cape Town University of Art & Jomba Festival, Durban ( South Africa ).
In 2005, he created his first full-evening dance production, a quintet piece [ invisitors’ vista ] with Korzo Producties Den Haag, which has toured all over Holland and also presented in Germany and France.
Kusuda has been invited as a guest choreographer for the Theaterscool Amsterdam / Modern Theater Dance Education Department, where he has created a group piece for 7 dancers [ Fever in my Shadow (2006) ], later followed by a group piece
for 16 young dancers of Theaterschool Amsterdam [ Abyss in Wonderland (2008-2009 ) ].
The CaDance Festival 2006 commissioned Kusuda to create a duet [ Tangent ], a collaboration duet project with ex-NDT dancer Amos Ben-Tal, which was enthusiastically received by the public under the festival’s theme ” Double Intuition “.
In autumn 2007, the duet [ Moisture Rocket ] toured all over Holland again in the tour program Dans Click 3: the choice of the 30 Schouwburg (city-theater) directors / programmers.
Recently Moisture Rocket was also presented twice in Barcelona both in 2007 & 2008, and was also presented in M.I.J.N Festival ( Made-In-Japan-Nederland Festival ) in KORZO5HOOG, as the opening program of the new location of Korzo Theater in May 2008.
Kusuda’s second full evening creation for Korzo Production, the quartet [ Honey Crypto ] was premiered on 25th October 2008, as one of the opening programmes of CaDance Festival 2008.
Honey Crypto has toured all over Holland and Barcelona in April & May 2009.
Kusuda’s latest piece [ Flora ], a solo choreography on a Senegalese dancer Alioune Diagne, was premiered on February 2011, as the opening program of CaDance Festival 2011.
Kusuda has also made a number of interactive collaboration projects with prominent Dutch visual artists;
With a visual artist / costume designer Thera Hillenaar ( 2007, multi-disciplinary collaboration project [ Truth, truth, nothing but the truth ], commissioned by Paradiso-Melkweg Productiehuis )
With a visual-performance artist Michiel Pijpe + a dramaturg Igor Dobricic ( 2007~, multi-disciplinary collaboration project [ Light Forms Dark ], produced by Zeebelt Theater, The Hague ).
With a designer / artist Maria Blaisse ( 2006~, assisting and collaborating in her masterclass ” Formative Forces “, organized by European Ceramic Work Center / Platform 21 ).
Kusuda and Maria Blaisse collaborated in the film projects ” Moving Meshes” ( 2008 ) & ” Bamboo Beach Ball ” ( 2009 ) together with a film maker Jellie Dekker. The film was presented for Cinedans Festival 2009.
Together with choreographers Dylan Newcomb, Bruno Listopad, Giulia Mureddu and Karine Guizzo and artistic co-ordinator Jette Schneider, Kenzo Kusuda is one of the founding members of “Danslab”, a dance research laboratory in The Hague.
As the first generation Danslab choreographer, Kusuda conducted his own research projects entitled ” A Study About A Body In Front Of The Other Body ” (2008 ) & ” Infiltrating Presence ” (2009 ). www.danslab.nl
Kusuda has been currently in close collaboration with Dutch theatermaker Boukje Schweigman, and together created the performance ” TUSSEN “( 2010 ), in which he is featured as a principal performer.
The sold-out tour of TUSSEN was received with enthusiastic standing-ovation in every theater.
Kusuda is also featured as a main figure in Schweigman’s dance film ” VAL ” which was premiered in Cinedans Festival 2010 and later broadcasted on NTR ( Ned-2 ) television channel.
Together with Michael Schumacher, David Zambrano, Anouk van Dijk and Simone Gomis, Kusuda’s distinctive performance style was featured in the multi-media production VOID by Sabine Linz, which was presented in Melkweg Theater, Amsterdam in May 2010.