Skip to main content
Vilcek Foundation
  • About
    • About

      The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences.

    • Our Mission
    • Our Founders
    • Board & Staff
    • Press Center
    • Contact
  • Prizes
    • Prizes

      The Vilcek Foundation Prizes are awarded to foreign-born individuals for extraordinary achievement in the arts and sciences.

    • About the Prizes

      Learn more about the Vilcek Foundation Prizes and the prizewinners.

    • Vilcek Prizes

      Awarded to immigrants with a legacy of major accomplishments.

    • Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise

      Awarded to young immigrant professionals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement early in their careers.

    • Vilcek Prize for Excellence

      Awarded to immigrants who have had a significant impact on American society, or to individuals who are dedicated champions of immigrant causes.

    • Prize Recipients
    • Grants for Organizations
  • Art
  • Events
  • News
Sign Up Search
Home > Prizes > Prize Recipients > Michel Kouakou

Michel Kouakou

2012 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Dance

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Title

Founder and Director, Daara Dance; dancer; choreographer

Area(s) of Research

Contemporary dance

Education

Hollins University, VA (MFA in Dance);
Trained by choreographer Bud Blumenthal in Brussels;
l’Ecole de Sables, in Senegal

Country of Birth

Cote d’Ivoire

Follow Michel Kouakou
Twitter Facebook
Tags
choreography cote d'ivoire dance
Share this page
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

A photo of Michel Kouakou, wearing a black dress shirt, in a studio

Contemporary artist Michel Kouakou is fluent in the language of dance on four continents — but his personal identity as a dancer is firmly rooted in Africa, the source of his earliest experiences with movement.

Born in Cote d’Ivoire, Kouakou’s first contact with dance came in the person of Werewere Liking, in the village of Ki Yi M’Bock village, in Abidjan. It was Liking, he says, who introduced him to the “spiritual dimension of a life through the arts” and gave him faith in the “unlimited potential of art.” He also studied acrobatics and marionette theater.

He had already won several prizes for dance in Abidjan when he began to study with his next mentor, Germaine Acogny, in Senegal. She directed him to a path along which he would be influenced and motivated by artists from all over the world, and is, in part, the reason he now considers himself a global artist. When, in 1999, war in Ivory Coast caused the destruction of arts facilities and institutions there, Kouakou traveled to Brussels, where he worked with choreographer Bud Blumenthal. In Japan, he encountered Butoh, and recognized the similarities between this movement form and the African traditions of “trance” dancing. Over time, he would also work with choreographers from Burkina Faso, Germany, Italy, and, ultimately, the United States.

In 2003, Kouakou joined the faculty at the Duncan Centre Conservatory in Prague, to teach modern dance for six months. That same year, he formed his own company, Daara Dance. He has performed all around the U.S. and has presented his work internationally, and also offers workshops and classes throughout Europe, Japan, and the United States.

Now based in Los Angeles, he plans to “maintain his footsteps” across the globe as he pursues his long-term goal of building an “artistic bridge” between his origins in Ivory Coast and the United States.

 

Awards and Accomplishments

  • Jerome Foundation Fellowship, Research in Dance (2012)
  • U.S. Japan Fellowship (2008)
  • New York Foundation for the Arts Artists’ Fellowship (2007)

Follow Michel Kouakou

Twitter Facebook
Tags
choreography cote d'ivoire dance

Jury Members

2012 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Dance

Alicia Adams

Vice President of International Programming & Dance, The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts

Bonnie Brooks

Chair of Dance, Columbia College Chicago

Joan Finkelstein

Director of Dance, New York City Department of Education

Jane Forde

Independent Arts Consultant

Larry Keigwin

Artistic Director, Keigwan + Company

Lawrence Rhodes

Artistic Director of Dance, The Juilliard School

Andrea Snyder

Co-Director, American Dance Abroad
Share this page
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Related Prize Recipients

Tatiana Desardouin

Tatiana Desardouin receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Dance for her presentation of hip-hop and house dance that brings the vernacular tradition of these genres in the Black diaspora to her performances, choreography, and artistic direction.
Portrait of Tatiana Desardouin

Tamisha Guy

Tamisha Guy receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Dance for her evocative and intuitive performance style that blends elements of contemporary, modern, and narrative dance traditions, and for her commitment to furthering her own practice through instruction, collaboration, and mentorship.
Portrait of Tamisha Guy

Leonardo Sandoval

Leonardo Sandoval receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Dance for his dynamic choreography that expands the boundaries of tap as a genre and his unique practice that engages elements of Afro-Brazilian dance traditions including samba, forró, maracatu, and passinho.

You may also be interested in

April 12, 2022

Alice Gosti’s ‘keys to my city’ unlocks new perspective on dance

The Vilcek Foundation partnered with Italian-born choreographer and performance artist Alice Gosti on the production of a new performance, keys to my city.
Alice Gosti with her arm raised, wearing a dress made with house-keys.
March 22, 2022

Soledad Barrio: “When I dance, I am my true self”

Dancer and choreographer Soledad Barrio receives the Vilcek Prize in Dance for her commitment to the growth and evolution of the genre of flamenco, and for her artistic leadership with Noche Flamenca.
Soledad Barrio with her hands on hips looking directly at the camera.
March 15, 2022

Leonardo Sandoval: Finding rhythm in the city’s soundscape

Vilcek Creative Promise Prizewinner Leonardo Sandoval brings the traditions of Afro Brazilian music to contemporary tap and percussive dance.
Leonardo Sandoval wearing overalls standing in the middle of a street.

Join our mailing list

Sign Up
Vilcek Foundation
21 East 70th Street
New York, New York 10021

Phone: 212.472.2500

Email: info@vilcek.org

  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Our Founders
    • Board and Staff
    • Press Center
    • Contact
  • Prizes
    • Vilcek Prizes
    • Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise
    • Vilcek Prize for Excellence
    • Prize Recipients
    • Grants for Organizations
  • Art
  • Events
  • News
  • Careers
Connect with us
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Vimeo
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility Statement
© 2023   Vilcek Foundation