Politics meets Clown meets Dance in this alternate reality where almost everything is possible. Within this new piece titled Know the Rules, Win the Game Kunji Ikeda draws on the sordid history of the Taikomochi – the Japanese clown – to engage with physical and logical boundaries. The clown seeks to live in truth, to remain fully embodied until arriving at a crux, a systemic problem that needs to be explored; the dancer seeks physical virtuosity within a set structure of choreographic choices. Together these forms will feed one another in order to illuminate how art can fearlessly play within our political landscape.

Performed by Kunji Ikeda and Richard Lee
Original Composition by Darren Young
Set / Projection Design by Jennie Thorp-Vallis
Costumes by Joanne Ikeda

PERFORMANCE HISTORY

KickStart Festival 2018
Toronto, Ontario

Fluid Festival 2018
Calgary Alberta

National Arts Centre 2021
Online DanceForth Series

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING…

2021 – Review in The Dance Current – Canada’s Dance Magazine
“Boldly tampering with the fourth wall…
This back-and-forth between states of formality is both entertaining and disarming and gives the work the levity it needs to broach more serious issues…
Creative and multi-layered storytelling.”
Rachel Silver Maddock – The Dance Current

“An absolutely poignant, intensely physical and wonderfully thoughtful and playful piece…
Your risky partnering, connection, and storytelling was compelling, insightful and kept me in a state of perpetual curiosity and anticipation, wondering where you guiding me next.”
Allen Kaeja – Kaeja d’Dance

“A generous, playful, mischievous spirit gifts the storytelling with surprise, irony and profundity that rings true.”
Gerry Trentham – lbs/sq’

“A strong proposition, well researched, imaginatively developed and engagingly performed.”
Denise Fujiwara – CanAsian Dance Festival

“You genuinely made me laugh and that is quite the achievement… You two are fantastic dancers, and the dance does serve the narrative well.”
Tedd Robinson – 10 Gates Dancing

“Truly f*cked with me in all the most wonderful ways”
Audience member

Kunji Ikeda and Richard Lee – interview on the CBC Homestretch