Voice of Session House 2024

Naoko Ito, who has supervised Session House's dance programme and led its resident company Mademoiselle Cinema since 1991, talks about the hopes she put into the 2024 dance projects and what they achieved. Naoko Ito: “Our Organisation Is Beginning to Take Shape.” Session House, founded in 1991, turns 34 this year! If it were a dancer, it would be at the “Dance Flower” stage! You could say it is in its prime! It is also time to think about our future activities. At Dance Flower, for the first time in a while, the “Best Award” and “Korea ND...

Sengiku Bando, who teaches Japanese classical dance at Session House, created a production that crossed the boundaries of dance, featuring 15 dancers from Japanese classical dance, ballet and contemporary dance, each bringing their own distinctive strengths. The performances were highly acclaimed. Japanese Classical Dance on a Journey Across Borders — Sengiku Bando. Japanese Classical Dance on a Journey Across Borders — Sengiku Bando. The project for Sengiku Bando's version of “Madame Butterfly,” bringing together multiple genres of dance, was presented as part of “Dance Bridge,” organised by the Session House Planning Office...

Satoshi Ishibuchi, who formed part of the musical ensemble for “Dance Bridge: Tokyo's Okuni,” the final production of 2024, contributed an essay analysing the achievements and significance of its collaboration with dance. Dance and Music Working Together in “Tokyo's Okuni.” Professor, Daito Bunka University — Satoshi Ishibuchi. From its creation stage, “Tokyo's Okuni,” performed in December (choreography and direction: Naoko Ito), radiated an inscrutable energy, rather like a local festival somewhere in Japan. The cast...

Mitsutake Kasai has continued dancing on many stages, including overseas, for many years. Last year his appearances at Session House included “Dance Bridge: Tokyo's Okuni.” This year, as he has done before, he will take on the challenge of dancing all of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with a number of dancers in Night Session. He has written about the spirit behind this undertaking. Aiming for a Year of Dancing the Ninth Symphony — Mitsutake Kasai, Director, Session House Planning Office General Incorporated Association. It is 2025. I get to write here every year...

Each year at Session House, he researches and analyses ways of understanding works, including by holding post-performance “email discussions” for “Dance Bridge,” “Dance Flower” and “Theater 21 Fes U25/U35.” At the same time, he has performed as a dancer in the “Dance Flower Award Winners' Performance” and “Dance Bridge: Tokyo's Okuni.” Here he speaks freely about the feelings he brings to creating works and dancing. “Clowning and Dance” — Takahiro Mochizuki, Top Star. I am sorry to start with something so personal, but I...

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.” The words he wrote for the programme handed out that day and...

It goes without saying that a dance production, too, depends on staff working in lighting, sound, stage management, video, reception and more. Miho Ishizeki, who has handled lighting at Session House for many years, has sent us a distinctive reflection, perhaps prompted by its relationship to painting. “What Is This?” — Miho Ishizeki. Since 1997 I have been responsible for lighting various performances, chiefly dance, at Kagurazaka Session House. I would like to share some thoughts about light. The job of lighting is “light...

The writer Ichie Watanabe began holding her talk series “Let's Listen to the Voices of Fukushima” a year after the great earthquake that struck eastern Japan on March 11, 2011, and the Fukushima nuclear accident. Three meetings were held last year, but the threat of radioactive contamination continues, as the areas still designated difficult to return to demonstrate. Please listen to the voice of Ichie Watanabe, who organises these gatherings. “Fourteen Years After the Nuclear Accident: Fukushima Today” — Ichie Watanabe. Fourteen years have passed since the explosion accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in March 2011. At first...

In 2024, Session House 2 [Garden] again provided a space for activities including our own projects and jointly organised or supported projects, as well as exhibitions, talks, readings and life-drawing sessions held by those renting the venue. A Record of Our Own, Jointly Organised and Supported Projects. February 10–11: Group exhibition by former Waseda University Calligraphy Society members who completed their membership in the 2010 academic year (Heisei 22). February 19–23: Wawawa Haiku Exhibition (T). March 27–April 7: Suse Meier (ツーゼ・マイヤー) Exhibition, “The World Is Shining.” May 17–23: Kiminori Sagawa (佐川公則)...

A Record of the 2024 Dance Programme. January 20. January 27–28. Theater 21 Fes vol.131 (1 performance). Magnum Madam (マグナム・マダム), “This is life” (3 performances). Choreography and direction: Natsue Yamaguchi (山口夏絵). Performers: Violet, Yohei Tanaka (田中洋平), Atsumi Fujii (藤井淳水), Masato Kunieda (国枝昌人), Mami Hamaji (濱地真実), Takahiro Mochizuki, Shiiko Utagawa (歌川椎子), Keiko Ogawa (小川圭子), Aya Matsui (まつい綾), Ai Miyauchi (宮内愛), Natsue Yamaguchi (山口夏絵). February 11–12. February 17. February 24. Ringo Project, “Waiting for Kondo-san” (3 performances). Choreography, composition, direc...