Akiko Tokuoka
b'This week we are Kush Chatting with Akiko Tokuoka who is a dancer, choreographer and actress currently based in New York. Her unique concept is to create an explosion of contrasting elements including global cultures, historical eras and styles. She has over 20 years experience as an performance artist, specializing in freestyle dancing. At a young age she was drawn to many dance styles such as Hip-Hop, Jazz as well as 80\'s Funk. She started off taking gigs at various nightclubs while also working as a backup dancer for a well-known J-Pop artist. In 2004, she relocated from Kyoto, Japan to NYC to expand on her career with modern dancing, ballet, contemporary dance, kabuki dance, martial arts and baton twirling as well as taking advanced acting training at HB Studio in the Meatpacking District. This led her to be featured in roles at various venues such as the Lincoln Center, Blue Note, The Metropolitan Museum of the Art and other locations in the metro area including the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She fell in love with the voguing culture in New York and worked her way up to becoming an official member of the \\u201cLegendary House of Ninja\\u201d by 2009. Legendary House of Ninja is a voguing collective who have worked with artists such as Madonna for the 2012 Super Bowl Performance. Her crew name is "KiT Ninja," and in 2010 she coordinated their tour through major cities in Japan including her native hometown Kyoto. She was also hand selected by Madonna for an exclusive dance show on the icon\\u2019s birthday in 2011, acted in Off-Broadway Musicals such as "Heather Smiley for President\\u201d in 2015, in a traditional Japanese play \\u201cJyou En\\u201d in 2015 and choreographed and performed \\u201dWARLOVERS\\u201d by James Doyle at Theater Row in 2017. She has also been featured in commercials and ads for New Era, Nike and NYC Play Sure. \\n\\nShe performed for Ciara in \\u201cLevel UP\\u201d at the MNF Genesis Halftime Show in Seattle and choreographed and performed in Lovari\'s music video for his single, "Paparazzi", which was featured on MTV in October 2018. \\n\\nMost Recently, She performed in the ongoing improv comedy show \\u201cBATSU NYC\\u201d until March of 2020. She enjoys performing her art in a way that feels beautiful and powerful, and integrating her culture into a new style through her body and face to express her connection with the audience, so that they can create the performance together.'