Kaori Kenmotsu

Kaori Kenmotsu is a Senior Lecturer of Dance and Theatre in Hamline University’s College of Liberal Arts. She is also the Artistic Director for the Hamline Dance Ensemble. From 2007 – 2013 she was a company member of Carl Flink’s Black Label Movement and a member of TimeTrack Productions. Other Theater/Dance credits include New York-based Equus Dance, Mu Performing Arts, Pangea World Theater, Off-Leash Area Productions, 10,000 Dances, and Gomez Dance. From 2002-2007 she was co-artistic director of Young Dance, a modern dance company for youth ages 7 – 18 years old. Professor Kenmotsu has choreographed and directed numerous dances and plays for the Anne Simley Theater, E.M. Pearson Theater, Barbara Barker Center for Dance, Red Eye Collaborative, Patrick’s Cabaret, and Intermedia Arts. Her work with the Hamline Dance Ensemble has been highlighted at the American College Dance Festival’s North Central region and under her artistic leadership, the Ensemble was selected to perform at the Kennedy Center for the Arts. Professor Kenmotsu has received numerous grant awards for her work with Young Dance and her own choreography from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, 3M Arts Innovation award, MN State Arts Board, Minneapolis Arts Commission, and COMPAS. She received her MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She is  currently pursuing her Juris Doctorate at Mitchell Hamline Law School focusing on alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in order to expand her area of research to encompass dance, community engagement and the law with a focus on embodied practices of conflict resolution.