Meet Eri Chikusa | Professional dancer&choreographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eri Chikusa and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eri, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I think risks as chances to grow. Taking risks means to me that I’m stepping outside of my own comfort zone and challenging something new. Every time in my life I take risks, they ended up giving me positive changes. At least I always think those changes are contributing to lead me the positive way. When I take risk, I wouldn’t know taking that action is right or wrong; it’s always uncertain and that’s often scary right? However, I manage to think jumping into that uncertainty is exciting because in the bottom, I am confident in myself that I’ll get through it no matter what. Here is some example that taking risks played such an important role in my career. Recently, I worked with s**t kingz who are world widely well known dance artists in Japan, who are also my mentors. I got a job to be in their music video called “Flying First Penguin” and I decided to do it even though I had other gigs in my hand at that time. It was a risk to take that job over the gigs I had because I could’ve lost the other jobs, however, this music video job led me to much bigger things that I’d never expected to be happened. We ended up performing on the National TV show called Music Station as the first dance artist ever. It was such a big step in the dance community, and I was very honored and humbled to experience that special moment with my mentors. Even after that, there are many chances came to me somehow, and I believe that all that happened because of one single risk I took back when I decided to take the music video job.
There are many moments I had to believe taking risks gives me confident in the end, and I also want others to experience that. I always suggest my students or people around me who feel stuck to take a risk if they want to discover new aspect of life or their career. I hope my story really pushes people to change their perspective of risks!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Art is something that paints my world colorful. Whether that is dance or paintings. I draw inspiration from color, shapes, and space, and incorporate to how I choreograph and direct my piece. I’ve always love making arts or performing since I was a kid. However, the gate way into being a professional dancer was definitely seeing my mentors making impacts in the world. Through You Tube videos, teaching internationally, on film, on stage… When I witnessed those moments, the feeling of me wanting to be a dancer professionally has arose.

I trained hard by showing up to countless of classes in Japan, where I am from, moved to the states to achieve my goals, and after I became a member of Choreo Cookies and started to get recognitions from the world, the door was opened for me.
It wasn’t easy. Everyday, every classes, every rehearsals, I challenged myself to be better. I failed, learned lessons, and moved forward. Along the journey in the states, I found a joy of not only performing but also choreographing and teaching. After I came back to Japan, I really started to hone in to my craft and really understand what I am good at, which is sharing my vision to people/students. Soon, when I come back to the states, I will start to teach at the studio, studio FX in San Diego, as well as, work with students from Japan closely to guide them to be professional dancers here in LA with Worldoru. I am so excited what to come ahead of my journey as a professional dancer.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My home country, Japan. It is one of the bucket list to attend my close friends in LA/San Diego and show them around the city. I would love to show the local food places and take them to shop, or eat delicious Japanese food! Not only Tokyo, but I would love to take them to other prefectures such as Kyoto where they can really experience the traditional Japanese culture. Sometimes, it’s hard to experience that in Tokyo, but because I know my friends really appreciate the culture, I would like to show them around. Also, since most of my friends are dancers, I would love to organize workshops for them to teach so that dancers in Japan can learn from my talented friends. In my opinion, there are huge differences in Japanese and American dance community. I think it’d be such a great experience for both ends and going to have an amazing energy exchange!
I hope that this is actually going to happen very soon!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Because I truly believe every single person shaped me to this day, I have many, to be completely honest. It is so hard to name it one. However, I’d like to give a huge shout out to my parents, every single one of my mentors, and my beloved team/family, Choreo Cookies. First, without my parents, I wouldn’t be able to pursue my dream to become a dancer. The amount of support that I get from them is immaculate and I can’t thank them enough for supporting me till this day. Second, my mentors. To name a few, Shaun Evaristo, Sorah Yang, Keone and Mari Madrid, Joesar Alva, Vinh Ngyuen s**t kingz… I had privilege to learn from them over the past few years. Through out, each one of them made such a big impact to me and guide me to think what kind of artist that I want to become. Learning closely to them, I gain much knowledge of myself to establish and solidify what I believe in art eventually. Not only as a dancer but they helped me to find my identity as a person which I really really appreciated. Lastly, Choreo Cookies. Since day 1, they have unconditionally supported me. Even though I am away from them at the moment, I feel the care from them from afar. They motivate me to be a better person, dancer, and choreographer!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eri_chikusa/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/lolggstyle

Image Credits
Vibrancy Miyu Aikawa