Kevin Suzuki
Kevin Suzuki currently serves as Artistic Director for JFDINY, and is primary instructor for dance and a featured solo/ensemble performer. Annual appearances include New Years Lion Dance performances, as well as Japanese cultural events such as the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens Sakura Matsuri. Recent choreography work for JFDINY includes Ronald Richardson’s play “Kamioroshi” (2019, artist-in-residence at Boston University) and dance film “Dancing Joy” (2020, Director Lan Tsubata).
Kevin is an expert in the folk traditions of the Tohoku Region. These dances are rarely performed outside of local villages and represent some of the oldest folk traditions in Japan. He is an expert in the Tsugaru Five Dances (Aomori Prefecture), a technically demanding set of dances requiring the mastery of multiple fans, umbrellas, and cloth. Additionally, he is the only dancer outside of Japan permitted to perform Nameshida Onikenbai (Demon Mask Dance from Iwate Prefecture), a National Intangible Cultural Property.
Kevin Suzuki began his education in Japanese folk dance at the age of five, learning traditional dance from his mother/founder of the Japanese Folk Dance Institute of NY (JFDINY), Momo Suzuki. Kevin began performing professionally as a child, appearing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, The Asia Society, as well as The Japanese American Association of NY
Tamara Bejar
Raised in Orlando, FL, Tamara Bejar Hernandez is a descendant in a long family history composed of dancers and entertainers. With over 30+ years of experience, she has been dancing & performing since the age of 6. Working as a Tahitian Dance Instructor at Lotus Music and Dance Studios NYC from 2007-2011, she has choreographed and staged dance routines for the student recitals.
Tamara performs for audiences all along the east coast. As a solo entertainer, she performs with the Hawaiian Express, Lei Pasifika and Kainoa,Inc. She continues to study dance and perfect her art.
Janaki Patrik
Janaki Patrik is a pioneering American cross-cultural choreographer and performer. She was trained in classical North Indian Kathak dance, American modern dance, and western flute by three internationally renowned artists: Pandit Birju Maharaj at Kathak Kendra, new Delhi starting in 1967; Merce Cunningham and his company members at the Merce Cunningham Studio, modern dance and repertoire 1971-1978; and Donald Peck, first chair flute of the Chicago Symphony, private coaching in 1960-1962 after eleven years of flute training and performances starting in early childhood.
Janaki's eclectic mix of music and dance training, plus her knowledge of Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu, and Russian languages and literatures, have inspired her choreography and its musical accompaniment. She has choreographed and directed over 40 evening-length productions since founding her company, The Kathak Ensemble & Friends/CARAVAN, Inc. in 1978. Included are many classical Kathak productions, as well as the very popular KA-TAP, created from the shared improvisatory underpinnings of Kathak and Tap dance. Other productions have illuminated topics and texts as diverse as MANDALA X, based on the Rig Veda's X.129 NASADIYA SUKTA/Hymn of Creation; BOLLYWOOD GOES CLASSICAL, Kathak dance responses to music and lyrics of popular Bollywood songs, PREMIKA/Women in Love, reframing the classical ashta nayika archetype, by following a contemporary Indian woman through the stages of infatuation, marriage, breakup, and reunion, as expressed in poetry and music from the Lucknow Kathak repertoire; and WE SINFUL WOMEN, dramatizing a selection of Contemporary Urdu Poetry by Pakistani Feminist poets including Fahmida Riaz and Kishwar Naheed.
Amanjeet Kaur
Amanjeet Kaur is a native of New York and has been performing since the age of 10. She has been training in the Indian classical dance form Kathak, at Srijan Dance Center. Amanjeet continues to conduct dance/lecture demonstrations for Board of Education programs with NYC schools and assist in facilitating workshops in NYC Public Libraries to educate children and adults about Indian culture and dance. She has worked within different styles such as Bhangra, Contemporary, Bollywood, Folk and Bharatnatyam, of which she trained under the guidance of Komala Kumari Devi in 2013. She began 2023 by performing in the 'Song of Joy', an autobiographical Off-Broadway play by Carol Mazhuvencheril. She has recently completed her Rang Manch Pravesh (Kathak Dance Graduation) under the guidance of her guru, Abha Bhatnager Roy.
Tommy Wasiuta
Tommy Wasiuta is a tap dance performer, educator, and choreographer based in New York City. He has described as a "breath of dance freedom" by the New York Times. Tommy has been on stage at the Joyce Theater, at Chelsea Factory and the American Dance Festival, with Jazz at Lincoln Center (2022) and at the Caribbean Music Festival in the U.S. Virgin Islands (2023).
He has taught at Steps on Broadway, Beyond the Stars Dance Conventions as well as other dance schools. He has also choreographed works for St. Louis Rhythm Collaborative, Morton Gould's Tap Dance Concerto and Reflections Dance Company.
Tommy's goal is to continue expanding his knowledge of tap dance and spread it throughout his performances, teachings, and choreographic work. By doing this, he hopes to represent tap in a dignified manner, and exemplify the magic that exists within the dance.
