Session House was built so that dancers would have somewhere to put work in front of an audience. That is still the main thing it does. Rather than a single open call, we run a series of programmes at different scales, so that an artist can start small and go on to a full evening in the same room, with the same technical team.

 

The route through

 

Nobody has to start at step one. But the programmes are deliberately connected: entering Theater 21 Fes is how most people first meet the technical staff, and Dzone asks that someone in the project has worked here before.

 

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Dzone 2027 - open call

Applications are open now and close on Sunday 4 October 2026.

 

Dzone is a support system for artists producing an evening of their own. You are the presenter; we co-present and carry the staff work - lighting, sound, stage management, filming for streaming, and front of house. You pay a fixed base fee for the production, and every yen of income above that fee is returned to you. Accounts are settled between us within two weeks of the last performance.

 

The two plans

 

You set your own ticket prices, for both the theater and the stream. The room seats about 80 per performance when streaming cameras are in place. Dates, times and structure are decided in conversation with us.

 

What is included

● The venue, and the technical and production staff work
● A joint flyer, images and printed tickets; you are free to make your own flyer as well
● Your programme printed and distributed on the day, from your data
● Listing on the Session House website, promotion through our social media, and your flyer inserted into other Session House performances
● Optional: online streaming and the video data, ¥44,000
● Optional: a fixed-camera record of the performance, ¥5,500
● We handle the streaming music-rights application; JASRAC applications for the live performance are made by you, and we provide the forms

 

Production week

Tuesday 21:00 - technical meeting with the staff; cue sheet and music-rights list submitted
Friday 20:00 - lighting plot
Saturday - dress rehearsal, then performances
Sunday - performances

 

If you would rather have the dress rehearsal on the Friday, the get-in starts on Friday morning, with lighting from 16:30 and the dress rehearsal from 20:00. That adds ¥55,000 (tax included) to either plan, for the extra staff and venue time.

 

Who can apply

The project must involve a dancer or group who has previously taken part in a Session House programme, such as Theater 21 Fes. There is no restriction by genre. If you have not worked here before, the usual route is to enter Theater 21 Fes first - or simply write to us and we will talk it through.

 

Dates are allocated in order of application; where two applications want the same weekend we will discuss alternatives. From July 2027 onward, dates are offered only to artists who have done a Dzone before.

 

How to apply

Complete the application form and send it with a photograph of your stage work, by hand, by post or by email. If there are more applications than dates, we make a selection on the documents.

 

The application form and the full conditions are published in Japanese on the recruitment page. If you are applying from outside Japan, or would prefer to correspond in English, please write to us directly - we will send you what you need.

 

 

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Theater 21 Fes

The way most artists arrive here

 

Theater 21 Fes asks for original work rather than polished technique, and takes it seriously: sound, lighting and streaming are handled by our staff, with a basic lighting setup plus one special per group. The stream is a five-camera live relay, available to watch back for a week.

 

Taking part

● Provisional booking by telephone on the application day
● Registration by email: contact details, all performers' names, group name
● A look-round day - you meet the staff, run the piece, hold a production meeting and pay the fee
● Performance day - one dress rehearsal, one show

 

The fee

 

The theater tickets are yours to sell directly to your own audience, so if you sell all nine theater tickets and all five streaming tickets, what you are left paying is the streaming handling fee, postage and - where it applies - the music rights. Streaming income above your allocation is returned to you after the archive period closes.

 

Groups of four or more take either two slots for a twenty-minute work, or add two theater tickets per additional performer.

 

Next edition

Volume 141, the autumn edition, plays on Sunday 18 October 2026 at 18:00, with an additional performance on Tuesday 3 November at 19:00. Both are now full and applications have closed. Editions run through the year - please contact us or watch the Japanese recruitment page for the next call.

 

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Dance Flower

Across the year, five works are selected from Theater 21 Fes and given a longer form - fifteen minutes - in an omnibus programme called Dance Flower. The selection is made by the Session House staff under Naoko Ito, who takes responsibility for it personally.

 

From the five groups in Dance Flower, two further awards are made: the Session Prize, and an invitation to the NDA international festival in Korea.

 

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University Dance Cross - open to student dancers

UDC26th is looking for university students to perform in March 2027

 

University Dance Cross began on 14 March 2002, when fifty-two student dancers from fourteen universities across Japan came together here. It grew out of the competitive circuit - the National High School and University Dance Festival in Kobe, and the other creative-dance competitions where university dance clubs meet - and out of a wish some of those dancers had after competing against one another: we want to dance without competing; we want to make something together with our rivals.

 

It is a student-led production. The students choose their own coordinators, gather the performers, agree a theme and make the dance. Session House's part is to produce it and to carry the technical side, building the show alongside them.

 

How the evening is built

 

Rehearsals

Participants in the Kanto area rehearse together roughly twice a week from late January, and two or three times a week from mid-February. Those travelling from further away join the Kanto group two weeks before the performance, staying with Kanto participants.

 

Universities that have taken part

Ehime, Okayama, Saitama, Daito Bunka, Tsukuba, Tenri, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo Women's College of Physical Education, Japan Women's College of Physical Education, Nippon Sport Science University, Matsuyama, Mukogawa Women's, Yokohama National, Wako, Ochanomizu, Chukyo, Kyoto University of Art and Design, Nihon University, Shobi University and others.

 

Taking part

Applications and questions go directly to the UDC student coordinators, not to the Session House office.

 

Email: udc.kgr2002@gmail.com
Instagram: @udc.kgrsessionhouse

 

The coordinators work in Japanese. If you are an international student in Japan and would like to take part, write to us and we will put you in touch.

 

Past editions are documented in Japanese on the UDC page.

 

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Hiring the space instead

If you would rather simply rent the theater or the gallery and produce everything yourself, both spaces are available, with bookings taken up to eighteen months ahead. Rates and technical specifications are on the space rental and equipment pages.

 

Enquiries

Session House Planning Office
158 Yarai-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0805
Email: mail@session-house.net
Tel: +81-(0)3-3266-0461 (11:00-19:00)

 

Enquiries in English are welcome. Most of the application material is written in Japanese; tell us what you need and we will work it out with you.