A Year of Continuing to Dance the Ninth Symphony
Mitsutake Kasai, who has given numerous dance performances in Japan and abroad over many years, revived Night Session, a challenge in improvised dance. Last year, on six occasions at two-month intervals, he took on the challenge of dancing all of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with several other dancers. We asked him to report on what he learned from the experience.
Mitsutake Kasai
Night Session Live
In 2025, I devised a project called “Night Session Live,” holding an event every other month, in the odd-numbered months, in which I invited several guest dancers to dance all the movements of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with me. I had previously done a project called “Night Session,” but then it took the form of a duet with a guest dancer. This time, groups of four to six dancers including me performed six times, each using a recording with a different conductor. Initially, I planned to make a different work each time. But after the first performance in January, I discussed it with the Session House staff, and we thought it might be interesting to use the Ninth for every performance. We decided to do the Ninth six times.
Night Session Live
I have danced the Ninth several times before, so it feels somehow familiar to me. But I imagine that most people, even if they know the Ode to Joy from the fourth movement, are not so familiar with the first, second or third. Although the dance was basically improvised, I laid out the musical structure in considerable detail, gave the performers a running order each time, and went into the performance after just a few rehearsals, so I think I put my fellow performers through quite a challenge. Even with the same music, a different conductor means that what you hear changes, and of course the tempo changes too. And when the dancers change, a different landscape appears even with the same music every time. Each time, I also invited dancers according to a theme I had in mind. As for the structure, that first January performance became a benchmark. We did the six performances with that as the core, making small changes. Another theme this time was wanting people to feel they could watch dance casually. So we included one drink and tried a style where people could watch while drinking, including alcohol. I think the decision to build beer sales into the third movement every time worked well. It came from an idea I had long wanted to try: doing a bar and dance at the same time. Since it became something of a regular feature, I think the audience could relax a little as they watched. We also allowed photographs and videos during the performance, and allowed them to be posted on social media. I did that in the hope it might help publicize the performances, even a little. Doing six performances with the same music was a new challenge for me, and changing the structure slightly each time and having a few rehearsals with the dancers was very stimulating. With each performance, I became able to listen more and more deeply to the music, and I truly felt that the Ninth is a piece that gives you new discoveries the more you listen.
Night Session Live
2026 has arrived, another new year. I hope to devise something new again this year. I want to make use of the small theater as a place, and bring dance closer and closer to people. New things emerge one after another, and the landscape of dance changes with the times. Amid that, I believe what remains universal is, after all, that it is live. Session House is indeed such a place. A great deal of dance will surely be born here again this year. And this year is Session House’s 35th anniversary.
Night Session Live
