- RYUTOKAI
— On the future of theatre culture and dance companies
Noism Talk Session “RYUTOKAI”
Since 2011, RYUTOKAI has been held as talk session series featuring experts active in various fields – art, society, lifestyle, politics, philosophy, culture, and management – exploring modern society from each of their unique professional perspectives. Having reached its 30th session, the project will now move into a new phase. Going forward, it will be held once a year as a roundtable event welcoming multiple guests, under the new title “New RYUTOKAI”.
“New RYUTOKAI” vol.1
— On the future of theatre culture and dance companies
For the first session, we will invite five dancers who each lead their own dance companies in Japan. Together, we will discuss our activities and outlook for the future from the perspective of theatre cultural policy.
Date: Saturday, 24 January 2026, 16:00–18:00 (120 minutes)
Venue: RYUTOPIA Niigata City Performing Arts Center – Studio B
Tickets: 1,000 yen (pay at the venue)
(Reservations open on Tuesday, 11 November at 0:00 via the form below.)
Speakers:
Kazuyuki FUTAMI (La Danse Compagnie Kaleidoscope)
Ikuyo KURODA (BATIK)
Yoshimitsu KUSHIDA (Dance Company Lasta)
Kaori SEKI (Seki Kaori PUNCTUMUN)
Shintaro HIRAHARA (OrganWorks)
Jo KANAMORI (Noism Company Niigata)
Inquiries:
Dance Programming Division, RYUTOPIA Niigata City Performing Arts Center
3-2, Ichibanbori-doricho, Chuo-ku, Niigata 951-8132
Tel: 025-224-5627 (except closed days) Fax: 025-224-5626
E-mail: info-noism@ryutopia.or.jp
Kazuyuki FUTAMI
Director of La Danse Compagnie Kaleidoscope / Dance Brick Box. Board member of the Contemporary Dance Association of Japan. Studied under Hiroshi Shoji. From 1993, worked for two years in France under the Artist Overseas Training Program of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Founded La Dance Compagnie Kaleidoscope in 1996, focusing on company creations and external commissions. In 1999, he received Agency for Cultural Affairs Arts Festival Excellence Award. In 2014, he received Eguchi Takaya Award from the Contemporary Dance Association of Japan, and Yamato City Culture and Arts Award in 2020.
Ikuyo KURODA ⓒSatoru Seki
Started classical ballet at the age of 6 and moved to the UK in 1997 to study contemporary dance. In 2002, she founded her own company, BATIK. Her choreography, which pushes the body to its limits with extreme and dynamic movements based on ballet technique, is supported across genres, blending the inherent impulses of dance. She has received numerous awards including “Next Generation Choreographer Award” and “Audience Award” in Toyota Choreography Award 2003, Asahi Performing Arts Award in 2004, and the Dance Critics Society Award in 2006. In addition to her work with BATIK, she has collaborated with various artists including Jo Kanamori’s Noism05, Norimizu Ameya, Hideo Furukawa, Akira Kasai, Hideki Noda, Kazumi Kushida, and Jonathan Munby. Since 2022, she has been developing the “Ikuyo Kuroda Re-enactment”.
http://batik.jp/
Yoshimitsu KUSHIDA ⓒHitoha Nasu
He was a member of Noism from 2007 to 2012. In 2013, founded Dance Company Lasta. Recipient of numerous awards at domestic and international competitions, including NPDF 2015 (Czech Republic) and as a finalist at SFC Seoul International Choreography Festival in 2015 and 2016. Invited to Busan International Dance Festival. Has choreographed for Noism2, Nagareyama City in Chiba Prefecture, Yamato City Ballet, Kanagawa Prefecture Artistic Dance Association, Roppongi Art Night, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs Art Caravan. His films ”Keisho” and “Naraku” won awards across Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, London, Spain, and Greece. In September 2025, “Naraku” was performed at The Coronet Theatre in London, featuring guest dancers Satoshi Nakagawa and Miwa Motojima.
Kaori SEKI ⓒYasuo Kuboi
Director of Kaori Seki PUNCTUMUN. Her interests lie in the ecology of humans, animals and plants, sensory functions, and non-verbal communication. She explores the expansion of sensations both within and outside the body, calling the process “Ugo ugo”, a practice for discovering new sensations within oneself. Based on the body formed through this practice, she conducts performances and workshops both domestically and internationally that engage the audience’s five senses through sight and smell. She has received the French Embassy in Japan Award for Emerging Choreographers at the 2012 Yokohama Dance Collection, the Next Generation Choreographer Award at the Toyota Choreography Award 2012, the Elsur Foundation Newcomer Award in 2013, and the Japan Dance Forum (JaDaFo) Award in 2016 and 2024. In recent years, she has obtained qualifications as a Microbial Testing Instructor and Shisei Care Ikuji® (Posture Care Parenting®) Supporter, approaching human development and existence from multiple perspectives.
Shintaro HIRAHARA
He works as a creator specialising in spatial composition across all aspects of stage arts, including choreography and direction.
Founder of the theater company OrganWorks. In addition to presenting his own work, he actively engages with artists from other fields, including Akiko Nakayama, Yuma Tomiyasu, Tomohiro Maekawa, Ryuta Horai, and David Lang. Interpreting dance methods such as street dance and ballet through the Japanese concepts of “mai” (ritual dance) and “odori” (expressive dance), the aim is to create works connected to society’s various problems, using bodies that reach outward even under an inward-focused consciousness.
In 2013, under the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists, undertook a 9 month training period in Spain.
In 2015, received the Otaru City Cultural Encouragement Award.
In 2016, won both the “Next Generation Choreographer Award” and the “Audience Award” at the Toyota Choreography Award.
In 2017, received Japan Dance Forum, Dance Forum Award.
In 2021, served as a choreographer for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
In 2022, won the Music Pen Club Contemporary Music Division Annual Award for “‘Einstein on the Beach’.
Access
Address: 3-2, Ichibanboridori-cho, Chuo-ku, Niigata-city 951-8132
Tel: +81(0)25-224-7000 (Programming Department)
By train ■15 minutes on foot from JR Echigo Line Hakusan Station
By car ■15 minutes from Bandai Exit of Niigata Station, 20 minutes from Niigata Chuo IC of Kanetsu Expressway/Banetsu Expressway
By bus ■15-20 minutes from Bandai Exit of Niigata Station, 5 minutes on foot from Shiyakushomae (City Hall-mae) bus stop on Bandai-bashi (Bandai Bridge) line (BRT) in the direction of Aoyama
▸Niigata Kotsu website – Bus schedule, fare information
※ RYUTOPIA has no dedicated parking. Using public transportation is recommended.
▸RYUTOPIA website – access page
Organizer: Niigata City Art & Culture Promotion Foundation
Production: RYUTOPIA Niigata City Performing Arts Center
