KAIHO was officially founded in 2023 by director Brandon Lagaert, after having worked as a co-creating performer of Peeping Tom for over a decade, where he has crafted his signature style as a multi-disciplinary artist.

KAIHO’s work frequently examines the nuanced distinction between solitude and loneliness, exploring how individuals maintain their isolation even within communal spaces. This investigation of human connection, and often its absence, forms a central pillar of the company's artistic research.

The artistic language is primarily rooted in dance and theatre, which serve as the core elements of the work. These foundational components are further enhanced through the integration of lighting design, scenography, sound composition and visual elements.

KAIHO’s productions have been performed in various countries all over Europe as well as in Japan, Taiwan and Korea. Some of these performances, productions and collaborations have been with and for: Aura Dance Company, Equilibrio Dinamico, Rui Paixão, Seungkwan Yang, PERA school of Performing Arts, Fontys Dance Arts in Context, Civica Scuola di Teatro Paolo Grassi, Amsterdam University of the Arts and many others.

The birth of KAIHO

KAIHO has been founded in order to add a certain coherence to the different outcomes of Brandon Lagaert’s own work and to house all his collaborations with various artists of diverse artistic backgrounds.

The work investigates the borders, similarities, contradictions and relations between polar opposites, such as dance and theatre, body and objects, aesthetic and story. To tie these opposites together he prefers working with concepts because of their ambiguous and easily convertible nature.

These concepts are being used as a red thread through the movement, storyline, audio design, lighting design and everything related to the creation process.

The role of dance

Lagaert has always believed that energy creates form and not the other way around, meaning that movements come from within and therefor don't have to be aesthetically pleasing to be called dance.

“Without the right energy, quality and setting, dance is possibly nothing more than mere movement.”

This is the reason why he creates characters that are compelling because of who they are and the situations they find themselves in. Dance is being used as a medium to help tell the narrative within these alternative personas which results in more genuine movement qualities.

These qualities are mostly drawn from internal conflict and visualised through an external struggle, portrayed through characters who seem confused and confronted by the intimidating fast-changing world around them.

The themes

Solitude and loneliness, combined with the subtle difference between them, is a recurring theme in the work. The characters that possess these personality traits have difficulty reaching out and even in the company of others they feel lonely because of a lack of connection and mutual understanding.

Even though Lagaert’s work contains surrealistic elements they are deeply grounded in realism through the use of personal stories and realistic acting.
This ensures the audience has something to grasp on to when experiencing foreign elements and alternative uses of different mediums.

The one thing that he is adamant about is that he is not interested in spreading a message. The audience will come across a blend of stories, experiences and sensations but presented in a way that leave it up to the spectator to decide what it means.

“Art reveals more about the spectator through their opinion of the work,
than it reveals about the maker.”