As a dancer, choreographer and teaching artist, Akemi Kinukawa has dedicated her life to sharing and preserving the spirit of Lindy Hop, a dance pioneered by Harlem's Black-American community in the early 1900s. Her artistic work, from original dance pieces to dance theater, champions Lindy Hop’s spirit by educating on its history and furthering the legacy of inclusivity.

Lindy Hop changed her life. It welcomed her, an immigrant with no dance experience, minimum language skills, and no defined community in the United States. With the dance, she discovered an expressive powerful self. She feels compelled to share her experience and honor this dance and its history.

The highlights of her career includes teaching and performing at the opening night of Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing in 2017 as well as performing with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis in 2016. She is also a senior teaching artist of Dancing Classrooms sharing her passion for social dancing with children in NYC public schools.

In 2017, she founded Project Connect (www.danceprojectconnect.com), a charitable dance theater company that brings an interactive swing dance show, to share the joyful spirit, fundamental values and history of Lindy Hop with underserved communities. She offers a training course at YSBD for anyone who would like to participate in the project.