In the spring of 2024, when Ryohei Kondo, artistic director at , announced an open audition for a new project, more than 850 people applied.

¡°The sheer number of applications made me rethink ¡ª why not try to make something on a larger scale?¡± he says.

And so the ambitiously large and remarkably diverse dance theater troupe Company Grande was born, as part of the Saitama Arts Foundation¡¯s ethos of ¡°art for all.¡±