CULTURE COMMISSIONS
In 2019, to celebrate the company's fifth anniversary season, Kizuna Dance has began a commissioning initiative designed to offer a unique opportunity to emerging U.S.-based choreographers. Guest artists are awarded this annual commission to work with the company to celebrate the Japanese culture through their unique artistic voices. Every artist commissioned by Kizuna Dance will create a work inspired by an aspect of the Japanese language or culture.
Hannah Garner
HANNAH GARNER was recently named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch" for 2020 for her unique and compelling choreography.
Her company, 2nd Best Dance Company, is a NYC based company founded in 2015. Ms. Garner is interested in how conceptual questions manifest in movement and how movement can effectively move an audience. Pursuing these interests, her work has gone past the traditional dance proscenium to include collaborations in sculpture, animation, theater, film, and site-specific works. 2nd Best Company is committed to creating dance for all audiences, not just dance audiences, and particularly in using humor as an access point. 2nd Best continues to seek multidisciplinary partnerships, explore the limits of the body, and find solace in the humor of being human.
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LajaMartin (Laja Field & Martin Durov)
Originally from Salt Lake City, UT, Laja Field graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in Dance from the University of Utah. Martin Durov was born in a small town in Slovakia and studied dance at the Conservatory J.L. Bella (SVK). In years spent working with with Johannes Wieland in Germany, Laja and Martin worked with colleagues, teachers and guest choreographers such as Hofesh Shechter, Helga Letonia, Stella Zannou and Chris Haring. In 2015 the two were invited to NYC to help found VIM VIGOR dance company. After three years of living in the USA/EU teaching, traveling, choreographing and performing, the two began cultivating their individual styles: Laja is inspired by floor-work, momentous partnering and the transcending power of movement, while Martin uses his Slovakian roots and passion for other dance styles. LAJAMARTIN was founded in 2017. Through LajaMartin, Laja and Martin aspire to create engaging live performance. From floor to air, a variety of dynamic movement defined by musicality and rhythm crafts the vocabulary that embodies the work’s intention. Grounded in relatable themes, originally composed music immerses the viewer into a specific cinematic environment from where the journeys are limitless. Experiencing the impact of live performance that can invoke a freeing feeling of wonder is the main purpose of LAJAMARTIN’s work.