Voice of Ryohei Kondo
While serving as stage manager at the Saitama Arts Theatre, Ryohei Kondo pursues an extraordinarily wide range of dance activities with Condors and elsewhere around the country. He has also continued participating in many projects at Session House for nearly 30 years. Early in the new year, in the final Dance Bridge of the 2024 season, he delighted us with a project in which he and five dancers danced his own world—the world of Ryohei Kondo, or RK. Its title was “Another side of RK.” Imagine the performance through the words he wrote for the programme handed out that day, and through the photographs.
“Dancing RK” — Ryohei Kondo
The first place I ever showed a solo dance to an audience was here at Session House. It was a five-minute work with a dressing-table chair I had picked up in the street and a gut-string guitar. For four minutes I played guitar and sang; I danced only for the final minute. Even that feels nostalgic now. This “Another side of RK” is a solo, but a solo made up of all six of us together.
I keep repeating myself with myself. RK now and in the past. Everyone else is RK too. My daughter and I are both RK. Perhaps it is blood, and existence. Catherine, the pink doll who appears on stage, comes from a solo work made before my daughter was born; the desk on stage dates from my time in South America.
I feel that everything continues to live within a deeply personal history. I dance solos, and will go on dancing solos; I may fall into loneliness on my own, set off on a journey alone, or suddenly realise, “I'm all alone!!” Either way, I dance solo. Session House, together with everyone—perhaps it is a single form that will not fall apart.
Thank you for making a special trip here at New Year.
Thank you, my other selves. With all of you taking part, I am not lonely.
Ryohei Kondo
Excerpt from Voice of Session House 2024
