Lisa Kusanagi, MFA, is an award-winning artist with expertise in choreography, performance art, and experimental filmmaking. She leverages her trans-national upbringings and influences in the creative elements of her conceptual projects. She investigates conceptual virtuosity through physical artistry and has been praised for her "wit, skill, and a mind lustrous and inexhaustible" (CriticalDance.org).
Born in Tokyo, Kusanagi was raised in Japan, Australia and the United States, and began her formal dance training at Tokyo's Matsuyama Ballet School. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts, concentration in Dance, cum laude, from Sonoma State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Hollins University in partnership with the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (Germany), The Forsythe Company (Germany), and the American Dance Festival (North Carolina/NYC).
In 2014, she founded a nonprofit performance art company, Lisa Kusanagi Dance Expressionist, in New York City. She also co-founded an interdisciplinary art company, Kusanagi Sisters, with her sister JuJu Kusanagi, producing intermedia live performances and experimental films worldwide.
Kusanagi's dance and performance art works have been presented in venues such as Movement Research at the Judson Church (New York City), Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church (New York City), Harlem Stage (New York City), Dance Mission Theater (San Francisco), Danza UDLAP (Mexico), Australasian Animal Studies Association Conference closing event: Animal Intersections (Adelaide), and Tictac Art Centre (Brussels).
Her films, including work by Kusanagi Sisters, have been screened across over 30 countries and across the United States at venues including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (New York City), AMC Theatres (Miami), JW Marriott Hotel Los Angeles L.A. Live (Los Angeles), REDCAT (Los Angeles), Eye Filmmuseum (Amsterdam), Cineteca Nacional (Mexico), and BAFTA-qualifying the 10th Aesthetic Short Film Festival (York). Her films "itsy bitsy," "Ripe," and "kopitoto" have received numerous awards and recognition such as the Lawther/Graff No Violence Award at the Academy Award qualifying 60th Ann Arbor Film Festival and 2nd Place in The Best of 2021 in the Theaters by Het Parool Amsterdam-based daily newspaper and garnered particular acclaim, with the Los Angeles Times praising "kopitoto is lighthearted and weird, invoking hidden forest creatures and the life of a wintry Japanese wood itself. It’s the unholy alliance of Willy Wonka and an ‘80s Residents video (without the menace but with 100 times the technical skill)." — written by Michael Ordoña, January 8, 2020.
As an educator, Kusanagi has held a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of Dance at the Universidad de las Americas Puebla (2015-2017) in Puebla, Mexico, and as a full-time faculty of Theater and Dance at J. F. Oberlin University in Tokyo, Japan (2020-2023). She has also served as a guest artist at various institutions and festivals worldwide.
In 2022, alongside her sister JuJu Kusanagi, she co-founded the MUNI Film Festival in Tokyo, an international platform that has premiered globally recognized short films and hosted award-winning guest artists Mahboobeh Kalaee from Iran and Dr Lars Koens from the UK.
Kusanagi was selected as a commissioned artist for the Miami Light Project's Here & Now program with her artistic partner Osmani Tellez and premiered a dance theater "PINKY PROMISES" at the Miami Theater Center in September, 2024.
Her artistry and commitment to advancing the arts have been recognized through various awards, fellowships, and residencies. Notable achievements include a 2018 Winona State University Artist-in-Residence (Michigan), a 2023 Pola Art Foundation Fellowship — Overseas Study by Young Artists (Japan), a 2024 Espai en moviment Artist-in-Residence (Spain), and a 2025 Pola Art Foundation Fellowship — Support of Art-Related International Exchange (Japan).
Born in Tokyo, Kusanagi was raised in Japan, Australia and the United States, and began her formal dance training at Tokyo's Matsuyama Ballet School. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts, concentration in Dance, cum laude, from Sonoma State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Hollins University in partnership with the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (Germany), The Forsythe Company (Germany), and the American Dance Festival (North Carolina/NYC).
In 2014, she founded a nonprofit performance art company, Lisa Kusanagi Dance Expressionist, in New York City. She also co-founded an interdisciplinary art company, Kusanagi Sisters, with her sister JuJu Kusanagi, producing intermedia live performances and experimental films worldwide.
Kusanagi's dance and performance art works have been presented in venues such as Movement Research at the Judson Church (New York City), Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church (New York City), Harlem Stage (New York City), Dance Mission Theater (San Francisco), Danza UDLAP (Mexico), Australasian Animal Studies Association Conference closing event: Animal Intersections (Adelaide), and Tictac Art Centre (Brussels).
Her films, including work by Kusanagi Sisters, have been screened across over 30 countries and across the United States at venues including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (New York City), AMC Theatres (Miami), JW Marriott Hotel Los Angeles L.A. Live (Los Angeles), REDCAT (Los Angeles), Eye Filmmuseum (Amsterdam), Cineteca Nacional (Mexico), and BAFTA-qualifying the 10th Aesthetic Short Film Festival (York). Her films "itsy bitsy," "Ripe," and "kopitoto" have received numerous awards and recognition such as the Lawther/Graff No Violence Award at the Academy Award qualifying 60th Ann Arbor Film Festival and 2nd Place in The Best of 2021 in the Theaters by Het Parool Amsterdam-based daily newspaper and garnered particular acclaim, with the Los Angeles Times praising "kopitoto is lighthearted and weird, invoking hidden forest creatures and the life of a wintry Japanese wood itself. It’s the unholy alliance of Willy Wonka and an ‘80s Residents video (without the menace but with 100 times the technical skill)." — written by Michael Ordoña, January 8, 2020.
As an educator, Kusanagi has held a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of Dance at the Universidad de las Americas Puebla (2015-2017) in Puebla, Mexico, and as a full-time faculty of Theater and Dance at J. F. Oberlin University in Tokyo, Japan (2020-2023). She has also served as a guest artist at various institutions and festivals worldwide.
In 2022, alongside her sister JuJu Kusanagi, she co-founded the MUNI Film Festival in Tokyo, an international platform that has premiered globally recognized short films and hosted award-winning guest artists Mahboobeh Kalaee from Iran and Dr Lars Koens from the UK.
Kusanagi was selected as a commissioned artist for the Miami Light Project's Here & Now program with her artistic partner Osmani Tellez and premiered a dance theater "PINKY PROMISES" at the Miami Theater Center in September, 2024.
Her artistry and commitment to advancing the arts have been recognized through various awards, fellowships, and residencies. Notable achievements include a 2018 Winona State University Artist-in-Residence (Michigan), a 2023 Pola Art Foundation Fellowship — Overseas Study by Young Artists (Japan), a 2024 Espai en moviment Artist-in-Residence (Spain), and a 2025 Pola Art Foundation Fellowship — Support of Art-Related International Exchange (Japan).
