On a sweltering summer day recently, members of the Condors dance troupe were pouring with sweat as they practiced for their upcoming national tour. Choreographer and lead dancer, Ryohei Kondo, was in the center of a circle of the dancers, who were voicing their opinions freely.
Currently enjoying near-idol status in Japan, the Condors attract a lively following that reaches beyond dance fans, and tickets for their shows are among the hottest around. Condors began in 1996, when six male friends got together and decided to create a one-off dance performance which Kondo, now 38, says was for their own enjoyment — no one expected they would take off. Even today, some of the growing troupe still have day jobs: high-school art teacher, office worker, bar owner, secondhand-clothes shop owner and university lecturer.
Still, the group have been making waves in the contemporary Japanese dance world and have performed in New York and Los Angeles, Shanghai, Singapore, Bali and Melbourne, and Central and South America. Most recently the troupe returned from a successful tour of Europe — their first trip there. Kondo spoke to The Japan Times about how he got involved in dance before Condors' upcoming tour.