kedagoro
This dance company led by Reisa Shimojima and formed in 2013 currently centers around six members. Major works include the company’s representative work “sky” (2018), a work dealing with the United Red Army in which the creative process is intersected with the structure of collective madness in radical organizations like the URA; and “Because Kazcause” (2021), a work looking at the case of Kazuko Fukuda, who murdered a fellow club hostess in Matsuyama in the 1980s and then underwent cosmetic surgery to evade capture. The troupe’s latest works include “Sewol” (2022) which looks at the fatal sinking of the MV Sewol ferry in South Korea. The company has also been invited to perform at various overseas dance festivals including SIDance in Korea and the Hong Kong Dance Exchange. Based on the philosophy that dance is “a method for interpreting the world,” kedagoro stages border-transcending and controversial works in both Japan and overseas. The troupe garnered both the KCA Kyoto Award and Audience Award at KYOTO CHOREOGRAPHY AWARD 2020 and won the 17th Japan Dance Forum Award. Shimojima’s activities are supported under THE SAISON FOUNDATION Fellow program for 2022 – 2025 and she is the official Associate Artist for the International Dance Festival “Odoru Akita.”