Benjamin Aiko Kimitch
Space Grant (2012/2013)

Benjamin Akio Kimitch is a dance artist and producer based in Brooklyn, NY. His artistic work is deeply influenced by his mixed-race Japanese American heritage and childhood training in Chinese dance. In August 2022, Kimitch’s newest commissioned work, entitled “Tiger Hands,” premiered at The Shed in NYC.

His choreography has also been presented by The Noguchi Museum, The Kitchen’s Dance and Process program, and Danspace Project. Kimitch’s 2017 work “Ko-bu” was nominated for a 2017 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for Outstanding Performance by Kimitch’s longtime dancer/collaborator Julie McMillan. Kimitch was a 2021 visiting artist at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University and a 2019 – 21 Movement Research artist-in-residence. Kimitch’s early works-in-process were supported in NYC by Brooklyn Arts Exchange, AUNTS, Kaatsbaan Center and the NYS DanceForce, 92 Street Y, Movement Research at the Judson Church, and Danspace Project’s DraftWork Series. Kimitch’s choreography has received funding support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant and Brooklyn Arts Council.

From 1995 – 2003 Kimitch studied Chinese folk and classical dance at Chinese American Dance Theater in Minneapolis under the artistic direction of Charlotte King, and in 2007, studied at Shanghai Theater Academy School of Chinese Opera. He holds a BFA in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Kimitch’s writing has been published in Movement Research Performance Journal, Dance Magazine, and Gibney Journal.

Alongside his artistic practice, Kimitch is also a full-time arts worker. He was recently appointed as producer for the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center (scheduled to open in 2023). Previously, Kimitch worked full-time on the artistic programming teams at Danspace Project as program director/associate curator (2020-2022), Performance Space New York as the senior producer (2015-2020), the Park Avenue Armory as the production coordinator (2014-15), and New York Live Arts / Dance Theater Workshop as a producer and the assistant to the artistic director (2008-2014).

Website: https://benjaminakio.com/