Aju

Amy J. Iwasaki (aka Aju)

Aju is a multilingual vocalist, poet, dancer and visual artist who draws inspiration from her multicultural upbringing, channeling her passions to empower youth through the arts.

Daughter of a Japanese father and Norwegian-Irish American mother, Aju landed in the San Luis Valley Colorado highlands from Kawasaki, Japan, at age 11. By discovering her love of dance, Aju was able to ground tumultuous waves of cross-cultural identity crisis that she had faced as a youth. Her fascination for creative expression (language, semantics, cultural, visual and performing arts) led her to pursue cultural and linguistic studies in Brittany (France) and the Basque Country (Spain), and travel through Mexico and South America as a young adult.

Aju fuses her love of working with youth and the performing arts as a dancer, a singer, an active community member and an events coordinator. She has danced, choreographed, performed and taught with dance ensembles such as Mandala, Take the Lead, and The Dance Gallery Project. She has produced and coordinated events such as Peaces of the Uni-Verse: International Music and Dance Festival, The Real History of the Americas and a cultural symposium titled A Call to Reflection, Unity and Action: Our Responsibility to Mother Earth, advocating multicultural, environmental and social justice awareness. Recently Aju performed as a musician in an Off-Broadway production of The Vagina Monologues in New York City.

Much of Aju’s work draws from her perceptionist philosophy of life and love of all things that relate to the essence of fusion (fusion of styles, ideas, identities, and languages). Above all, she is an advocate for truth, self expression, respect for the earth and all living things. As a vocalist, Aju uses her rich and powerful voice to harness divine feminine energies, fuse multicultural identities through verse, and from time to time channel sacred language.

Since joining forces with Molina Soleil in early 2009, Aju has been traveling throughout the US, speaking and performing to a broad audience base and working intently with K-12 and college students. Currently Aju is working on a Soulaju accessory and clothing line – an ecological, fair trade and local-minded business – due to debut sometime in 2011.