Wanjiru Kamuyu
Winner of the prestigious 2024 New York Bessies Award (category: outstanding choreographer/creature designer), Wanjiru Kamuyu, born in Nairobi, Kenya, holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Temple University (Philadelphia, USA). She was an Associate Artist at CCN Nantes (2024 & 2025) and at L’ONDE Théâtre Centre d’Art, Scène Conventionnée Création pour la Danse (Vélizy, 2020/21 to 2023/24). Kamuyu was also an artist with the Live Feed Artist program at New York Live Arts (2023/24 and 2024/25) and in residence at Villa Albertine (2023). Based in Paris since 2007, she began her career in New York with renowned dance companies such as Urban Bush Women and Molissa Fenley and Company. As a performer, she has developed a rich and eclectic career, which has nourished her choreographic development and teaching.
Between New York and Paris, on international stages, she has collaborated with numerous contemporary choreographers, including Jawole Willa Jo Zollar/Urban Bush Women, Irène Tassembedo, Robyn Orlin, Nathalie Pubellier, Anne Collod, Stefanie Batten Bland, Bartabas, Dean Moss, and Emmanuel Eggermont, among others. She has also worked with Jérôme Savary (À la recherche de Joséphine), Bill T. Jones (FELA! on Broadway), director Christian Faure (Fais danser la poussière), and visual artist Jean-Paul Goude. She was part of the original cast of the Paris production of The Lion King directed by Julie Taymor.
Since 2017, she has created four major works (two solos and two trios), as well as adaptations for unconventional spaces, young audiences, and deaf/hard-of-hearing and blind/visually impaired people. These pieces have been acclaimed internationally in the United States, France, Italy, Ireland, Taiwan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, Burundi, South Africa, Rwanda, and Mozambique. They were developed during residencies in France, the United States (via a Villa Albertine residency), and Ireland. In 2020, Kamuyu also made its first dance film, La visite, directed by Tommy Pascal. Commissioned by the Palais de la Porte Dorée in partnership with the Théâtre de la Ville – Paris, this film has been screened in France, the Netherlands, Ivory Coast, Burundi, Mali, and the United States. For the 2024/25 season, Kamuyu has been nominated for the prestigious New York Dance & Performance Awards – The Bessies, in the category “Choreographer/Outstanding Creation,” for her solo An Immigrant’s Story.
Kamuyu has also choreographed for Jérôme Savary and designed projects for refugees with New World Theatre (United States) and Euroculture (a project bringing together 65 young artists and 11 refugees from Sudan, Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan). She has been commissioned by Hassane Kassi Kouyaté (Burkina Faso), Jean-François Auguste (France), several American universities (Mills College, Stephens College, Wayne State University, University of Michigan) and the InkBoat company (United States). She was also artistic advisor for the creation Z.H. by choreographer Bintou Dembélé (France).
Kamuyu regularly gives masterclasses and choreography workshops in Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa.
Her company, WKcollective, is associated with the production office/creative agency camin aktion (Montpellier).
