Shu Kinouchi

Shu Kinouchi is a ballet dancer and multidisciplinary artist from a suburban town near Yokohama, Japan. He began training at Mayumi Kinouchi Ballet Studio at age 2 and later studied at the Hamburg Ballet and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre. As a teen, he joined the Studio Company at ABT in New York. Shu has danced with Houston Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, and, since 2020, with Benjamin Millepied’s L.A. Dance Project.

With LADP, Shu has performed internationally in works by Millepied, Bobbi Jene Smith & Or Schraiber, Rauf “Rubberlegz” Yasit, Janie Taylor, Dimitri Chamblas, Idio Chichava, and others. His touring credits include the Sydney Opera House, Joyce Theater in NYC, Théâtre du Châtelet, La Seine Musicale, Philharmonie de Paris, Dubai Opera, and the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, among others.

His choreographic work blends ballet, martial arts, theater, and performance art, often drawing from the nuance and restraint of Japanese unspoken culture. Recent creations include This Could Be You, developed at LADP’s Dancer Create, and SHU LOVES CHAIRS: a piece about support, a solo dance-theater work in collaboration with LA-based studio WAKA WAKA by Shin Okuda and director Carolyn Braver.

In 2025, Shu will serve as Creative Lead for the Everybody Dance LA! Summer Intensive at LA Dance Project. As a freelance artist, dancer, and model, Shu was featured in PhotoVogue in 2024, in a portrait by Dan Chan. He also performed a lead solo in RZA’s production A Ballet Through Mud, and his performance in the experimental film SHU (周) by Mike Schwartz was selected for the LA Dance Film Festival.

Shu joined L.A. Dance Project in 2020.

Shu Kinouchi