Watch the Performance
Reflection Questions
- Kenji's piece powerfully weaves together various audio news clips from the 2020 uprisings and beyond. One of the quotes we hear in the background is: “How long can you be peaceful when your people are dying?” For our Black viewers, we honor your radical anger and invite you to honor that as you see fit in this moment. For non-Black viewers, how do you make space for justified Black anger amidst a white supremacist culture?
- Art often gives us a space to drop from the head and into the body. Kenji's tap dancing escalates as news clippings amplify and escalate with shouts of “No justice, no peace!” Did you notice anything in your body during the peaks? How can you honor whatever came up in terms of sensations, emotions, and embodied reactions to this piece? What does it mean to tend to our bodies as they process? How do you tend to yours?
About Kenji
Kenji Igus
Tap Dancer
Kenji can be seen tap dancing in a variety of media including doing work for ESPN, Capezio, Kenji has choreographed two shows for Universal Studios Hollywood, Kenji has consulted on a Coen Brothers movie, “Hail, Ceasar” and starred in Rhythm is my Business, a film showcasing tap dance in the modern world sponsored by Levi's Jeans. Kenji is featured as a writer for a Google Arts and Culture’s editorial to bring more information on Tap Dance to the general public. Currently, Kenji tours internationally with the iconic show, Riverdance.
Interview with Kenji
What are some ways you sustain your practice and love for your craft?
I would say the biggest thing for me is consistency. Practicing when you don’t feel like practicing, moving for movements sake… even if it comes in the form of taking gigs for free. Sometimes gathering the passion and the deep understanding for what you do requires that you love it when it’s hard to love. Remember your why… Why do you dance…? Why do you move? I also found a lot Inspiration through music ventures… Dancing to things I normally wouldn’t. And dancing to things that inspire me. Sometimes just dance and the things that I like.
How did you start tap dancing and how did you know that was the dance style that resonated with you to pursue?
When I was about six years old my mom recognized right away that I was someone I need to be kept busy. It was always a background skill that I had until around 15 when I really started to appreciate every aspect of the art form. I’ve had training in other styles but tap dance is the only one that really resonated, purely because there are so many dimensions that speak to me. The sounds, the steps, the history…
How do you practice radical joy and liberation? Does that sensation show up mostly on stage or does is permeate into other ways you navigate the world?
Above all else, keep a sense of humor about your life and a lot of things will make a lot more sense. I feel like the main issue with people, and I include myself in this, is that we have a never ending pursuit of happiness. If I get it then I’ll be happy, if I don’t then I won’t. An if-then statement… That ultimately will always leave us hungry for the next thing. I believe Joy is a different thing, joy is not a choice, joy is what you do what you are fashioned to do. Without the need of outcome.