Shinobu Fujiwara-Carr

Born in Okayama, Japan. As a kid, she stayed late at her grandmother's house to watch music videos like Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, Madonna, and Stevie Wonder. Her parents took her and her brother to watch Hollywood movies often. She was under the impression that the U.S. is actually the land of free, and wanted to work at the UN to help underdeveloped countries when she grew up. One day, watching the movie "Working Girl" (1988), she decided to go to NY to be a secretary to start.

In the high school year, she started dancing Hip Hop, then moved to Osaka to go to a language school to learn English to prepare to study abroad. She was chosen to be in the Osaka Dance Delight grand championship, the biggest street dance contest in Japan, in December 1992.

She moved to New York in March 1994 to attend a secretarial school and immediately started working as an Administrative Assistant after graduating. She performed at the Central Park Summer Stage in 2002 with Cebo as a member of Next Generation New York.

She learned about the Black culture and is working on giving back to the community mainly. She was invited to the online Black Lives Matter discussion with Cebo for Japanese, and contnues to educate Japanese dance community.

For over 15 years, she felt it is her life purpose to form a nonprofit to give back to the street dance community. She feels that it is important to create a safe and sustainable space for the community. Her work has just started!

https://www.instagram.com/shinobunxgn/