Cameron McKinney
THEN: Koibito (Excerpts)
NOW: MUTED LOWS
Cameron McKinney, the Artistic Director of Kizuna Dance, is a New York City-based choreographer and educator. With more than 16 years of Japanese language study, he created Kizuna Dance with the mission of using contemporary floorwork to create works that celebrate the Japanese culture. He was recently selected as a 2019-20 U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission Creative Artist Fellow to collaborate with renowned Japanese choreographer Toru Shimazaki and present work in showcases in Japan. He has been a Choreography Fellow at The School at Jacob’s Pillow, an Alvin Ailey Foundation New Directions Choreography Lab Fellow, and an Asian Cultural Council Individual Grantee.
Through Kizuna Dance, Cameron has presented work and taught in fifteen states and in Japan, Mexico, France, and the UK. His commissions include Princeton University, twice from the Joffrey Ballet School, twice from the Let’s Dance International Frontiers Festival, The Dance Gallery Festival, Nazareth College, CREATE:ART, and SUNY Brockport, among numerous others. His teaching credits include Adjunct & Visiting Lecturer positions at Princeton University, Bard College, and Queensborough Community College. He has taught on faculty at Gibney Dance since 2016, and has taught for festivals nationally and internationally.
He is currently building Nagare Technique, a training module that blends street dance styles and contemporary floorwork. Through Kizuna Dance’s new Culture Commissions program, he also directly supports emerging artists through commissions for new works created through research-oriented explorations into the Japanese culture.
About the work
MUTED LOWS reflects on the sudden lack of conversation and physical interactions in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The work uses contemporary floorwork to lament the loss of feeling “socially exhausted” and to attempt to fight against the sensation of isolation that hangs over our everyday lives.
This project is made possible with funds from the NYS DanceForce, a partnership program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, as well as support from the following programs within Alfred University: The Marlin Miller Dance Residency Program, and School of Art and Design + Performing Arts Division.
Special thanks to D. Chase Angier, Colleen Wahl, Zach Hamm, Maureen Weiss and the Alfred University Dance Department.
