Voice of Mitsutake Kasai
Mitsutake Kasai, who has continued performing onstage since 1998, speaks about his feelings as he explores what dance can be through trial and error.
Looking Back on 25 Years of Continuing to Dance Director, Session House Planning Office, General Incorporated AssociationMitsutake Kasai
The first time I was allowed to dance at Session House was in February 1998. At the time, I was looking for a small theater where I could give my own solo performance. It was a time when there was no internet, so I did all sorts of research using word of mouth and what people familiar with theaters told me, and went to see places directly. Of those I visited, Session House was the one that most immediately felt right to me. On the very day I went to look it over, I decided to rent it, and held my first performance of my own at Session House.
Looking back, compared with today it was an era when small theaters could be found here and there. Each had its own theatrical atmosphere and its own characteristics. Some venues mainly staged plays; others mainly staged dance. Of course, some did both. Theaters launched projects with their own distinctive character, staging dance performances and festival-format performances. Among them, Session House has generated a truly countless number of projects and continues them without interruption even now. I, too, have had the opportunity to be involved in a great many projects. Through them, I have also been able to get to know many dancers. A small theater is a place to dance, a place to meet and exchange, and also the very first place where something new is born.
Sadly, however, over the past few years, partly because of the novel coronavirus, many small theaters have closed. With that in mind, in recent years I have wondered whether there was something I myself could do, and have continued organizing projects and doing the staff work myself, holding performances a few times a year, though irregularly, at the rehearsal studio Tenshikan. At Tenshikan, I have presented solo performances by the studio's owner, Akira Kasai (笠井叡), Night Sessions like those I previously held at Session House, and improvised performances between dancers. Things have eased considerably now, but until a few years ago, COVID made it difficult for people to gather in one place for several years. Dance performances shifted online and elsewhere, people drifted away from theaters, exchanges between people were shut out, and the energy of audiences who go to see performances weakened too. And the very way dance exists changed. Change with the times is natural, but as we move toward the future, I believe that small theaters will once again give birth to a new movement suited to this era.
Creating something new again from what has broken. It is easier to destroy than to make. Making takes several times longer. Yet there is also the joy of bringing something into being again. Savoring that joy, from here on too. I hope that small theaters, starting with Session House, can flourish.
Mitsutake Kasai
Excerpt from Voice of Session House 2023
