Japanese Women Wear Red and Vent in Controlled Mayhem
By ANNA KISSELGOFF

An accent on the wacky and original makes the Japanese Contemporary Dance Showcase a hot ticket every year, as proved again on Friday night at the Japan Society. The five troupes performing in the eighth annual showcase demonstrated that experimental dance in Japan is as lively as ever.

Batik, the group that opened the sampling of excerpts and full works, led off with a unison tantrum by women in red dresses. Kaiji Moriyama, a revelation as a soloist, countered with his stunning Noh-like purity and fierceness. The Sennichimae Blue Sky Dance Club bounced back with its gleeful schoolgirls in a pop brand of Butoh, while Monochrome Circus and Noism05 focused on movement exploration.

Oddly, few of these companies are presented later in New York by American producers. It is as if some (especially the women's groups) are too extreme in their aggressiveness or too specifically Japanese in their frequent social critiques. This year, the offerings were more diverse.

In her image of controlled mayhem, Ikuyo Kuroda of Batik knows what she is about. "Touch" is an emotional roller coaster, an explosion of rage related to what the background program material calls the frustration of Japanese women and the tension between "internal (me) and the external (not me)."

A big bang introduced four women in red jumpers, hands at the crotch and rocking and kicking to heavy-metal percussion. Raising their skirts, some put their hands into their ruffled panties - to take out a pair of shoes. The score moved between classical music and pop, and the dancers, augmented to six, modulated their energy into quieter but no less aggressive encounters. A victim laughed as a tormentor swung at her repeatedly.

The high energy unison movement was full of twitches and falls, punctuated by caryatid poses. By the end, emotions were chillingly and impressively escalated into an ecstatic dance. The dancers were Minako Ueki, Maki Odawara, Ioe Shiina, Yukiko Doi, Ya Yoi Nishida and Ms. Kuroda.

Mr. Moriyama's "Sword" was at a more rarified level. Torso bare, his blond hair tied in a ponytail, white gauze pants wrapped around his legs at different lengths, he emerged from meditative stillness into an oddly dislocated solo of paradoxical fluency. Go Taneda's sound score offered a slightly metallic whir for Mr. Moriyama's unconventional virtuosity as his body moved in and out of architectural shapes: a dance of amazing concentration by an amazing dancer.

"Sword" and the quintet "A Bowl of Summer" by Sennichimae Blue Sky Dance Club were the highlights. The club's choreographer, Akadama, and female dancers (Inakichi, Teruteru, Ponta, Kulala and Suzume) may use one name but their range is not limited. Unlike other rebels against Butoh, Japan's expressionist dance, they have not discarded Butoh's movement technique of detailed slow-motion muscular control. As they sat, knees up, like admonished schoolgirls, their faces deepened into grimaces and smiles. Butoh's theme of cataclysm and rebirth, however, was absent.

The piece started out with the women in handstands against a wall. Childhood's playfulness and fears alternated. One woman walked with a jack-o'-lantern mask on her head and an ensemble moved sideways with crablike efficiency: a blend of styles with possibilities.

"Bubbles," choreographed by Monochrome Circus, which is directed by Kosei Sakamoto, was danced by Mr. Sakamoto, Yuki Goda and Yuko Mori. There was some extraordinary experimenting with different ways of propulsion in this trio for two men and a women. The textured sound contrasted with the brilliantly executed rapid rolls, spiraling falls, hip swivels and shifts of weight.

Jo Kanamori of Noism05 was not afraid to use ballet partnering for three women and two men in "Lost Title." Yet the overall idiom in this pure-dance piece with an emotional tinge was refreshingly unpredictable. The dancers were Sawako Iseki, Nami Sato, Mika Matsumuro, Yasutake Shimaji and Shintaro Hirahara.