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Kanami Kusajima arrives in Washington Square Park just before 4 p.m. each weekday that she performs. She sometimes grabs a hot dog from a nearby vendor, who she considers a friend, before setting up her canvas. She tapes down the blank papers just before the arch, and dips her finger in black paint to write down her social media handle, all just before she turns on the music.
The dancer, known as “Let Hair Down” on social media, told me performing in the park isn’t about the money — it’s about sharing art. Kusajima first took to Washington Square after graduating from SUNY Purchase College at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally from Japan, she knew she wanted to stay in New York to dance, though options for performance were almost entirely virtual. With this intersection between paint and movement, she lets the art connect people.
The skateboarders almost always get in Kusajima’s way, but she said it doesn’t bother her all that much. When she first started performing in the park she was just looking for a way to engage and interact. “I really needed to see actual humans, not someone online or with display,” she said. “I wanted to show my dance in person, not in front of the laptop and the only option I could think of was doing this.”
Kusajima is admired by crowds of people each day she performs, but she remembers one interaction she said describes the core of why she keeps dancing. “This lady came over and whispered in my ear, ‘OK, I’m homeless, but I really want to give you this,’ and she put a folded dollar bill in my hand and walked away,” Kusajima recalled.
Kusajima believes there is something special about art. For her, it’s a connecting force. “I just needed it for myself, but I realized people needed it, especially at the time,” she said, referring to the pandemic.
Kusajima did not share how much money she makes, but said dancing in Washington Square Park is her primary income. She has no plans to stop anytime soon, especially if she can keep connecting with the New York community through the channel of movement.
Photos by Miranda Ferrante.