THE HANGOVER REPORT – Otherworldly, phantasmagorical visions: SANKAI JUKU returns to The Joyce with a greatest hits program

Sankai Juku performs “KŌSA: Between Two Mirrors” at The Joyce Theater (photo courtesy of the company).

Last night, Sankai Juku returned to The Joyce Theater, commencing a two week run of the Tokyo-based companys KŌSA: Between Two Mirrors. Created just last year, the surreal evening length piece is comprised of excerpts from the company’s large body of work. Although in essence a “greatest hits” program, KŌSA nevertheless stands on its own as a standalone experience.

Butoh is marked by an astute relationship between tension and unfiltered expressiveness (as well as the utilization of all-male casts, invariably bald and caked in white body makeup), in effect imbuing performances an organic, undulating “build and release” quality — one that’s artfully conveyed by the company’s heightened aesthetic. Although rich in tradition, Sankai Juku — founded in 1975 by Ushio Amagatsu and inarguably one of the prominent global purveyors of butoh — has distinguished itself for evolving the distinctive Japanese dance tradition with the times (e.g., the use of contemporary-sounding soundscapes, at times to somewhat trite effect), bringing a sense of accessibility to its works.

Seamlessly merged from its numerous underlying sources, KŌSA’s progression of atypically succinct scenes present intersecting worlds, suggesting a larger order to Amagatsu’s multifaceted universe. In turn gorgeous yet grotesque, calm yet urgent, Sankai Juku offers audiences phantasmagorical visions that both distort and shed light on our humanity and place in the natural world. Throughout the evening, the disciplined all-male company performed with a detached, otherworldly quality that mesmerized.

RECOMMENDED

SANKAI JUKU: KŌSA
Dance
The Joyce Theater
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through November 5

Categories: Dance

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