Benjamin Kamino
Artistic Statement
I am a dancer. I define dance as the possibility of a languageless togethering of bodies. In practicing dancing I hope to open, construct, and undo spaces and times that access the un-languaged sensibility of the bodies-at-hand (performers/spectators/others) [at times thought of as affective attunements] through practices developed in and through a spirit of research-creation; a spirit which values the efforts of thought in all any forms and emancipates knowledge from the dominating regimes of formality. I do not search for the direct effects caused by my efforts as a dancer. Instead I choose to grow faith in a process of creative-germination; a hope that one day the proto-ethics embodied in the work-at-hand will grow and take form for a future I will potentially not be part of. In this sense I like to think of my work as a neo-pre [a new before] a self-imposed futurelessness. I am grateful to have a body that thinks and does and I will forever hold to the belief that every body is capable of thinking before language.
Biography
Benjamin Kamino is a dance artist whose work has been presented nationally and abroad. He often collaborates with other artists, most recently with Daina Ashbee, Lars Jan, Clara Furey, Sook-Yin Lee, and Virgil Baruchel. As a dancer, he has been fortunate to work under the direction of Michael Trent, Ame Henderson, Marie Chouinard, Sasha Kleinplatz, Aszure Barton, Jennifer Mascall, Peggy Baker, Paula De Vasconcelos, and Robin Poitras. Kamino was curator at Dancemakers Centre for Creation in Toronto alongside colleague Emi Forster.
Kamino is the recipient of the 2016 Toronto Arts Council Emerging Artist Award, the 2013 Audience Choice Award at the Dance:MIC festival, and the 2009 DanceWeb Scholarship. Kamino holds a BFA in Dance from the Tisch School of the Arts and an MA in Choreography from DAS Choreography.
