Sound in Body
What happens when music and movement tell the same story?
"Fractures of the Mind" — Grand Rapids Ballet Jumpstart (2024)
Choreographer Julian Gan described his piece as "the journey of life and the coming and going of people in your life — each individual can have an impact on you, both positively and negatively." Ritsu composed and arranged the original score as an act of service to his story — a privilege and a collaboration.
Time Curves (2024)
A reinterpretation of William Duckworth's Time Curve Preludes — reimagined for electric violin and spoken word. In this video, butoh artist Rachel Finan wrote and performed original spoken word, her voice and gesture meeting Ritsu's live playing in real time. Two bodies of expression — one sonic, one poetic — tracing the same arc.
video by Seth Thompson at Green Frog Studio
Rachel Finan, Butoh Dancer Artist and frequent collaborator
"Titus" — Halloween at Standard Gallery (2021)
A Butoh interpretation of Shakespearean tragedy. Rachel Finan as Lavinia — raped, mutilated, silenced. A performance about betrayal, madness, and violence told through the body and the bow.
The Standard Gallery, Grand Rapids Michigan curated by Michele Bosak
6Exist: Deva (2008)
An experimental music video featuring dancers as the Six Paths of Existence, inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Ritsu directed and composed the score; cinematography by Eric Faden; percussion by Phil Haynes. Produced at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Nosferatu vs. Ritsu — Wealthy Theatre Halloween (2009)
Commissioned by then-director Erin Wilson, Ritsu created and performed a live original score not as accompaniment to F.W. Murnau's 1922 silent film classic — but as an equal on stage with it. The premiere was performed and recorded at Wealthy Theatre, Grand Rapids, MI.