With more than 19 years of Japanese language study, Cameron McKinney is a NYC-based choreographer, director, educator and Artistic Director of Kizuna Dance. He was selected as a 2019-20 U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission Creative Artist Fellow to collaborate with renowned Japanese choreographer Toru Shimazaki and present work in showcases in Japan. He has also been a Choreography Fellow at The School at Jacob’s Pillow, a Hearst Choreographer-in-Residence at Princeton University, an Alvin Ailey Foundation New Directions Choreography Lab Fellow, and an Asian Cultural Council Individual Grantee. His work has been supported through grants from the MidAtlantic Arts Foundation, the New York City Artists Corps, Brooklyn Arts Council, and the Rader Young Artists Foundation. Through Kizuna Dance, Cameron has also presented work and taught in twenty states and in Germany, Belgium, Mexico, France, the UK, and in Japan inside the U.S. Ambassador's Residence. His commissions include The Ailey School, Marymount Manhattan College, Princeton University, Montclair University, twice from the Joffrey Ballet School, three times from the Let’s Dance International Frontiers Festival (UK), Slippery Rock University, The Dance Gallery Festival, Brigham Young University, and San Jose State University, among numerous others. His teaching credits include Adjunct & Visiting Lecturer positions at Princeton University, NYU Tisch, Montclair University, Bard College, and Queensborough Community College. He has taught on faculty at Gibney Dance since 2016, and has taught for festivals nationally and internationally. Each year, he organizes Kizuna Dance’s Open Intensive, a week of day-long intensives made entirely free for all participants.