KANAMI KUSAJIMA
Kanami Kusajima, originally from Japan, is a dancer, choreographer, and performing artist based in NYC. She graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Purchase College with a BFA in Dance in 2020. While in college, she had the honor of being given opportunities to perform in renowned theaters such as New York Live Arts and the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater. Trained as a concert dancer, she has performed in works by various choreographers, including Martha Graham, Francesca Harper, Yoshiko Chuma, Ana Maria Lucaciu, Erin Landers, and Michelle Thompson.
Since November 2020, she has been performing at Washington Square Park and is known as “Let Hair Down,” a performer who combines live painting and improvisational dance. Let Hair Down was born while NYC was still going through one of its darkest times following the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. She continues to perform on the street to remind people of the warmth of human connection and the beauty of the emotions we share—things that cannot be replaced by online interactions. In the summer of 2021, she was featured in a bus-stop ad promotional project, No Stopping New York, led by the NYC Mayor's Office, which highlighted the resilience of NYC after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her unique performance style—combining dance and painting—has drawn significant media attention from Voice of America, New York Magazine, SHOWTIME, AM New York, PIX11 News, The Guardian, The Independent, Chelsea News, BLEUCALF, The Villager, among many others. She was also one of six choreographers selected for the MADE BY WOMEN Film & Choreography Festival 2024 and presented her work at Arts on Site (NYC). She has performed many other venues, theaters and art galleries as well, including Judson Memorial Church, ChaShaMa Performance Space at Port Authority Bus Terminal, Meta Betties Gallery at Oculus World Trade Center, Blue Building in Midtown, Brooklyn Art Haus, Lavan 541 in Chelsea, and Triad Theater, to name a few.
As her work gains recognition in the New York art scene, she has been invited to perform at major art events such as the Every Woman Biennial (La MaMa Galleria, NYC) and the Tribeca Art Show (On The Fringe, NYC). She also began collaborating with acclaimed artist Mary Frank—whose career spans seven decades—as her art model in March 2024. Additionally, she was awarded a grant from the Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants Program, Cycle 12, administered by the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) in 2024.
Artist Statement
Whenever I dance, I aim to express raw human emotions that cannot be captured in words. Through movement, I connect with people on a deeper level—and that emotional connection is all we need. When I see people’s tears and smiles, or hear many thank-yous during my street performances,
I truly believe that dance has the power to heal people.
Viewers don’t need to “understand” my dance. My practice is about responding to the environment I’m in and expressing human feelings in an unfiltered, honest way. I only hope people experience it and feel something from it. Just as anyone can enjoy music without formal knowledge, my dance is open to all—no qualifications required to “understand.”
In this accelerating world of technologies and digital content, my mission today is to preserve the beauty of organic human connections through my live performances.