ABOUT
About Founder
Photoshooting by Chris Fiore
Kaoru Ikeda is the dancer, choreographer, artistic director at MoustacheCat Dance, and founder of MoustacheCat Dance.
Ms. Ikeda graduated from Nihon University College of Arts, BA in Dance in Japan, and New York University Tisch School of the Arts where she attended as a Rotary International Ambassador scholarship student and NYU Tisch scholarship student, and received an MFA in Dance. She has trained, performed, choreographed, and taught dance ranging from classic ballet to Butoh to modern dance in Japan, Australia, the U.S, South Korea, and Mexico where she had an artist residence in 2012 and toured in both 2012 and 2016.
Ms. Ikeda has sat on the American Dance Guild annual performance festival committee since 2012. Her duties have included administrative, organization, production, and selection activities.
Ms. Ikeda’s international experiences have taught her that dance can cross any border and break through cultural barriers to speak to all people, no matter how different we think we are.
She founded MoustacheCat Dance in 2015 to fight against prejudice through dance and founded a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, MoutacheCat Enterprises Inc. in 2017.
About Company
About MoustacheCat Dance (MoustacheCat Enterprises Inc.)
MoustacheCat Dance (MCD) was founded by Kaoru Ikeda, an immigrant from Japan, in 2015 to fight against prejudice through dance.
Ms. Ikeda has danced internationally since 2000 and she witnessed that dance can cross cultural and language barriers. She founded MCD to expand her voice to wider audiences. Her work invites them to think about the kind of world we are living in, and how together, we can make this world a better place through arts. MCD is a 501 (C)(3) non-profit organization through MoustacheCat Enterprises Inc. in 2017. As a professional dance company, MCD has presented its works at community colleges, dance festivals, social justice events in the U.S, and Mexico.
MCD’s recent dance project, "Freedom isn’t Free", is inspired by the Japanese American experience during the World War II. It has been granted funding from Asian Women’s Giving Circle which is a donor advised fund of the Ms. Foundation for Women in 2017, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by LMCC in 2019.
In 2019, MCD’s initiatives are to bring dance performances, offer dance classes, and creative movement classes for children and seniors.
MCD wants to help our community and others with the opportunity to share the joy of creation and self- expression through dance, and stimulate and improve health through dance for their healthy lives. We believe in the power of the arts and dance to the betterment of society.