These are things we experience every moment of our daily lives. Sometimes, the contrast or intensity will sharpen our awareness of the sensations. If there’s a sudden draft, when a door is opened on a cosy space, the felt experience of our surroundings is just as likely to be emotional along with physical. Our surroundings have altered and we register that change.
Having spent January in Sado ,without snow, I arrived in Russia where the relentless coldness of their winter weather threatened to penetrate to my bones. It was quite shocking.
Still, the rooms are warm, especially the air-conditioned hotel rooms. Places that are heated (or cooled) by convection: the moving and mixing of gases, particles and energy. An involuntary event that we harness and then benefit from.
During a Kodo performance, I feel something similar occurs.
Each audience member entering and sitting in the auditorium is carrying the energy of their daily life, each theatre building holding the energy of both its own unique history and locality. All things being a reflection of temperature, climate and atmosphere.
Then Kodo enters this space bearing our own dynamism.
On the stage are Taiko drums, made by Japanese craftsmen, performers dressed in traditional costumes. Across the stage is the curtain, a symbol of a boundary, but it will lift, like a door or window opening and then a new and unique atmosphere is created as all these different energies will interact and mingle.
Because, once the curtain rises “convection” occurs.
The various elements of energy within the theater begin to mix, and by the end of the performance, the atmosphere surrounding us all is neither distinctly national to the place of performance nor exclusively Kodo.
I witness this over and over, day performances, night performances, rainy days …
It is an experience that can only be felt by people who are present, it cannot be captured with photos and videos. Each sound is fresh and born in that very moment, as it is being felt by both performers and audience.
Today, you can enjoy everything on Youtube, Netflix and Spotify.
Even in such times, Kodo visits countries and tours. This involves moving insanely large drums and their stands, preparing each individual stage space with the necessary markings and then a daily tuning of the drums.
Every performance demands sweat. Each night we hand wash our costumes so they can be hung in our air conditioned hotel rooms to dry. Physical convection. This is life on the road. A cycle of preparation and movement and exchange.
Ready for the next performance, theatre or country.
Lithuania was Kodo’s 52nd country. Over nearly 40 years, this process has continued with 52 countries.
Where is Kodo performing next? (February 18, 2020)
“Kodo One Earth Tour 2020: Legacy” Europe Tour
Schedules
- Feb 18 (Tue), 2020 Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany
- Feb 23 (Sun), 2020 – Feb 24 (Mon), 2020 Concertgebouw Brugge, Bruges, Belgium –Special Concert “‘Kodo Meets The Voices of South Africa”–
- Feb 28 (Fri), 2020 – Feb 29 (Sat), 2020 Le Grand Théâtre de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France
- Mar 3 (Tue), 2020 – Mar 4 (Wed), 2020 Teatro Dal Verme, Milan, Italy
- Mar 7 (Sat), 2020 Teatro Verdi, Florence, Italy
- Mar 9 (Mon), 2020 Auditorium Parco della Musica – Sala Santa Cecilia, Rome, Italy
- Mar 11 (Wed), 2020 Theater Casino Zug, Zug, Switzerland
- Mar 13 (Fri), 2020 – Mar 14 (Sat), 2020 Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, United Kingdom
- Mar 15 (Sun), 2020 Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, United Kingdom
- Mar 18 (Wed), 2020 Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (NOSPR) Concert Hall, Katowice, Poland
- Mar 21 (Sat), 2020 – Mar 22 (Sun), 2020 Gasteig, Philharmonie, Munich, Germany
- Mar 26 (Thu), 2020 Kulturpalast Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Mar 28 (Sat), 2020 Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Liederhalle, Stuttgart, Germany
- Apr 1 (Wed), 2020 Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
