For 35 years, in this place, we have kept dancing the present tense.

 

The heat of the stage, and the bustle of a backyard cafe that opens onto the street. Nine days, 19 to 27 September, in which anyone can be the leading player.

 

Since it was founded in 1991, Session House has gone on creating, presenting, nurturing and connecting contemporary dance here in Kagurazaka. In this 35th anniversary year we take "Memory and Future" as our theme, and offer masterworks from the past, the history we have accumulated over many years, a stage experience for children, a dance talk that crosses genres, and a closing celebration that looks ahead.

 

Works danced by the choreographers themselves; works handed on to young dancers; an archive of video and talk; and new work that rises up across the generations. This is a festival that traces 35 years of memory and carries it into the dance still to come.

 

Festival Information

 

Tickets (tax included)

 

Advance sales opened on Tuesday 7 July 2026 at 12:00.
The Children's Stage Experience and the Festival Backyard are free of charge.

 

How to Book

Book through the Session House reservation form and settle when you arrive:

 

Or pay in advance by credit card through teket. Each programme has its own page; the teket site is in Japanese.

The Power of Masterworks: https://teket.jp/17165/75815
The Power of History: https://teket.jp/17165/75852
Dance Talk: https://teket.jp/17165/75883
The Power of the Future: https://teket.jp/17165/75869

 

If you would like help booking in English, please write to mail@session-house.net or call +81-(0)3-3266-0461 (11:00-19:00). See also our Visitor Guide.

 

Programme at a Glance

 

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The Power of Masterworks

Masterworks danced by the choreographers themselves, and by the young dancers they chose

 

Solo masterworks from the past, performed twice over: once by the young dancer who has taken the piece into their own body, and once by the choreographer who made it. The young dancers take on works written into the history of dance; the choreographers show where they stand now. The result is a meeting across generations.

 

Programme

Ryohei Kondo, "Kori no Kyuka" (excerpt)
Choreographer: Ryohei Kondo
Young dancer: Kotone Yasaka (八坂采音)

 

Asami Ida, "MOTH"
Choreographer: Asami Ida
Young dancer: Moeko Uematsu (上松萌子)

 

Kaho Kogure, "Mimosa"
Choreographer: Kaho Kogure
Young dancer: amimuto

 

Kim Ito, "Kim Ito Solo Works"
Choreographer: Kim Ito
Young dancer: Rion Nishikawa (西川璃音)

 

 

Advance payment by card: https://teket.jp/17165/75815

 

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The Power of History

Ryohei Kondo and Mademoiselle Cinema dance and talk the dance of Kagurazaka

 

Across 35 years of Session House, no one has worked here longer or made more work than Ryohei Kondo and Mademoiselle Cinema. Through their pieces and their archives, these two days look back over the path of Japanese contemporary dance and of Session House itself.

 

Ryohei Kondo, "The Coming of the Goats"

From the Ringo Planning years, 2007 to 2012. Goats wander through the era when Session House was as busy and noisy as a public bathhouse. Ryohei Kondo and his dancers raise up that former time, the people who were in it, and the air that still carries through to now.

Cast
Mitsutake Kasai, Naoto Katori (香取直登), Masato Kunieda (国枝昌人), Yo Nakamura (中村蓉), Yugo Yasuda (安田有吾), Natsue Yamaguchi (山口夏絵), Ryohei Kondo

 

Mademoiselle Cinema, "Heisei March"

First performed in 2019, under the tagline "It ends, it begins." An out-of-season sports day, born at the turn from the Heisei era to Reiwa. This time, with Bushman and Takahiro Mochizuki along for the ride, that exhilaration is cut into the stage once more.

Cast
Tamami Takenoshita (竹之下たまみ), Natsumi Hasushi (蓮子奈津美), Mayuko Akimoto (秋元麻友子), Moe Sugawa (須川萌), Eha Kudo (工藤えは), Tomoko Odo (大堂智子), Takahiro Mochizuki, Ikumi Kurosu (黒須育海), Rikito Eguchi (江口力斗), Tezuka Bausch (手塚バウシュ), Naoko Ito

 

"Take a Breather" Archive Show

Ryohei Kondo, Naoko Ito, Mademoiselle Cinema and the dancers look back through video and talk. From footage of the dance works that went out into the world across 35 years, through to "The Coming of the Goats" and "Heisei March" as they are performed here, this is the story of Session House - with laughter, with nostalgia, and with a breath out. Please spend these 35 years with us.

With
Ryohei Kondo, Mademoiselle Cinema

 

 

Advance payment by card: https://teket.jp/17165/75852

 

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Dance Talk - Beyond Genre

 

A talk session with the teachers of the Session House dance classes. Across ballet, Nihon Buyo and contemporary dance, they talk beyond genre about the body, expression, the stage and teaching.

Speakers
Yasuyo Omoto, Sengiku Bando, Taiju Matsumoto, Tomoko Hirata

 

 

Advance payment by card: https://teket.jp/17165/75883

 

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The Power of the Future "New World"

A festive dance drawn by Mitsutake Kasai

 

With Mitsutake Kasai as director, and Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" as its axis, the same music and the same theme are danced by two different casts. The Next Version is performed by young dancers chosen through audition, the Core Version by veteran dancers. Bodies from different generations face the same music and the same theme, closing the festival as a celebration.

 

Core Version

Akira Kasai, Mitsutake Kasai, Naoka Uemura, Setsuko Yamada

 

Next Version

Riko Abe (阿部理子), Rie Kato (加藤理愛), Yui Komatsuzaki (小松崎結友), Mao Hayashi (林真生)

 

 

Advance payment by card: https://teket.jp/17165/75869

 

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Children's Stage Experience

"Step into the light and you're a star!"

 

A stage experience for children, devised by Senseishonals, a dance collective whose members are schoolteachers, nursery teachers and others who work with children every day. The children take part in a physical expression workshop, then go straight out onto the stage and into the lights for a showing. No experience is needed. It is the kind of stage experience that can only happen here, now.

Devised by Senseishonals

 

To apply, use the Session House reservation form and write the child's name, age and school in the notes field.

 

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"Tada de Dance" - workshop for teachers

Mon 21 September 2026 (holiday), 13:00-15:00
Venue: Session House 2F Garden
For primary school and kindergarten teachers and nursery teachers
Free of charge

 

Senseishonals run a workshop that uses dance to build the skill of standing in front of other people - the everyday performing technique that teachers and nursery staff need. Apply through the Session House reservation form.

 

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Festival Backyard

 

For the run of the festival the 2F Gallery is thrown open as a cafe and lounge, with an exhibition about Kagurazaka also planned. It is the festival's resting place - somewhere to drop into before or after a performance, full of the promise of a new discovery or a new encounter.

 

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Venue and Enquiries

General Incorporated Association Session House Planning Office
158 Yarai-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0805
1.5 minutes' walk from Exit 1b, Kagurazaka Station (Tokyo Metro Tozai Line)
Email: mail@session-house.net
Tel: +81-(0)3-3266-0461

 

Organised by General Incorporated Association Session House Planning Office
Co-presented by Mademoiselle Cinema / Ringo Planning Executive Committee / Mitsutake Kasai × Naoka Uemura / Senseishonals / Session House Co., Ltd. / Top Star / Bushman
Supported by the cultural organisations of the Kagurazaka district, Ikimachi Inc., Heablex Inc., Koten Kukan Ltd.
Grant Arts Council Tokyo