JENNIFER AOKI

Jennifer Aoki

Jennifer Aoki (she/her) is a Japanese-Canadian dancemaker and performer based in Vancouver, BC. She completed her formative dance studies through Simon Fraser University, receiving a BFA in Dance in 2010. She also studied Contact Improvisation on a scholarship at EDAM in 2011, and received training in many styles in New York City and across Europe including Merce Cunningham Studio, ImPulsTanz, Henny Jurriëns Studio, Danscentrum, Cocoon Dance Company, and Sasha Waltz & Guests.

Aoki’s choreographic work has been presented all across Canada as well as Seattle, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Presentation highlights include Dancing on the Edge, Nah Drahn, 12 Minutes Max, Vines Arts Festival and Fringe Festivals across Canada. As a dancer she has worked with independent choreographers and dance companies such as Tomoyo Yamada, Jenn Edwards, Meredith Kalaman, Machinoisey, and Body Narratives Collective. She also performed in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and was lead dancer in Seasons: A Magical Musical.

Jennifer values opportunities to engage with other artists by sharing and learning, and has a strong interest in interdisciplinary collaboration. She has collaborated on various projects with lighting designer Jonothan Kim, filmmaker Gemma Crowe, composers Mary Jane Coomber and Jakob Liljenwall, and musicians Ben Brown and Zane Barratt. She has created three experimental dance films to date: Shifting Spaces, We Can Still Go Viral, and Echoes of Silence.

Jennifer’s current projects focus on Japanese-Canadian internment in the 1940’s, blending historical materials, personal reflection and movement research to create work that physicalizes intergenerational trauma.