A15-minute drive from Niigata Station, just across the mighty Shinano River pouring into the sea from the Northern Alps, a massive oval-shaped hall sits amid rich green parkland. This is Niigata City Performing Arts Center, aka Ryutopia — the nation's only public theater with a resident dance company.
Named Noism — meaning "no isms," or boundaries — the company was founded in 2004 by Jo Kanamori, who is still the center's artistic director for dance. At age 17, after taking ballet lessons from a young age, the Yokohama native left to study with the renowned Maurice Béjart in Lausanne, Switz- erland. From there, having blossomed in both dance and choreography, he went on to forge a sparkling 10-year career largely at the Netherlands Dance Theatre under its iconic master of contemporary dance, Jiri Kylian.
When we met as snowflakes drifted down last month, the company was deep into rehearsals for a rerun of their acclaimed 2007 "Play2Play — interfering dimension," whose Niigata season preceded upcoming shows at Kanagawa Arts Theatre in Yokohama — where Kanamori, 39, in his first stage role for 2½ years, is set to deliver a great new-year present for his fans.