Kunji Ikeda is one of the Collaborators in the production of "Defined by Bone" presented at the JCCC in 2021.
Kunji Ikeda aims to redefine narratives of the body and show how physical communication can lead to physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. His fearless political work explores our communities most pressing political ideas and has earned multiple Betty Mitchell award nominations for performance and choreography. Ikeda has trained intensively with One Yellow Rabbit and has brought his dramaturgical lens to dance, theatre, choir, and musical ensembles. Through the Paris based L’AiR Arts, Ikeda became a member of an ongoing international cohort of interdisciplinary artists with the intention of empowering artists as vectors of cross-cultural dialogue to fuel the evolution of culture, politics, and society. In February 2020 Ikeda was invited into the rehearsal process of Akram Khan’s new work Creature with the English National Ballet. He was awarded the Enbridge Emerging Artist Award by the Calgary Arts Development Authority in 2015, as well as named an Artist in Residence at the Banff Centre 2019, and is currently creating a dance theatre adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. His award-winning solo performance Sansei: The Storyteller continues to be presented internationally. Through Ikeda’s delightfully inquisitive outlook he explores a wide variety of artistic topics through interview and hosting nationally broadcast arts events. In 2021 he was named the Programming Director of the National Association of Japanese Canadians first national arts summit for the fall of 2022. He enjoys climbing trees and drinking tea.
