Condors
(Mar 2001)
Los Angeles, CA — The Japanese
American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC) proudly presents
Condors. Japan’s most outrageous dance theater company, in
"Love You Live," on Friday, March 23, 2001 at 8 pm at
the Japan American Theatre (JAT) in Little Tokyo in Downtown Los
Angeles. The performance is part of the first US tour of the
wildly playful, all-male group that Dance Magazine Japan describes
as "eros with madness and joyfulness." The JAT is
located at 244 S. San Pedro St. Tickets are $20/$18 reserved.
$17/$15 JACCC Members, $12 Students Seniors / Groups.
"If there had been an applause
meter on the premises, the needle would very likely have swung off
the high end for Condors," according to the NEW YORK TIMES.
This crowd-pleasing, all-male
"bad boys" of comedic dance theater from Japan premiered
their signature brand of sexy, spoofy dance theater to rave
reviews in NYC in January 2000. With a corps of "utterly
untrained and wrestlers, bowling pins, and smirking bald brides
and grooms, among other iconic images.
Director choreographer and lead
dancer Ryohei Kondo’s weightless and razor sharp movement is
combined with unique and kinetic stagecraft taking the audience on
a wild, rock and roll ride through pop culture. The company will
film footage in LA’s Little Tokyo for use in their West Coast
premiere production at the Japan America Theatre.
Utilizing a casual, free-form,
streetwise, movement style reminiscent of Stomp!, most of the
dancers are formally untrained but all possess unique stage
personalities. The group’s standard costume is the gakuran, a
traditional military-style uniform worn for decades by most
Japanese schoolboys. The use of the gakuran within the context of
performances that subvert Japan’s patriarchal male identity has
gained them much fashion style publicity in their home country.
The company performs regularly to enthusiastic audiences
throughout Japan. This performance is part of their US premiere
tour, which begins in New York.
Ryohei Kondo
Reraised in Argentina and
Peru, Ryohei Kondo founded Condors in 1996 in Tokyo. He has
directed and choreographed nearly a dozen works for the company
while also working with other artists and maintaining a solo
performance career. His work, "P-kies Summer Concert
1995," was created for Fuji Television and toured to more
than 40 venues in Japan. He hs also helped international screen
and stage star John Lone realize Lone’s stage show, "Night
and Day." Kondo made a major international debut as the lead
dancer in Kota Yamazaki’s "Inflection" in 1994 at the
prestigious International Choreographic Competition in Bagnolet,
France. He has also performed with butoh pioneer Akira Kasai and
such well-known choreographers as Kurniko Kisanuki and Toshiko
Takeuchi among others.
Directions & Tickets
The Japan America Theatre (JAT) is
located at 244 South San Pedro Street (between 2nd and 3rd
Streets) in Little Tokyo Downtown Los Angeles. For tickets, call
the JAT Box Office 213- 680-3700, Mon.-Sat., 12-5pm or Sun, after
12pm on show days. |
