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Japanese dance company comes to Centennial Hall

Arizona Daily Wildcat Photo Courtesy of UAPresents "Hiyomeki," characterized by a unique and fluid Japanese dance style, is performed in part by a member of the Sankai Juku dance group. The group will be appearing tomorrow night at Centennial Hall

"Human being's dialogue with gravity" is how Ushio Amagatsu describes Butoh, an entirely unique and fluid dance style that arose out of post-war Japan.

Tomorrow, Amagatsu, in conjunction with UA presents, brings his internationally known Butoh dance company Sankai Juku to Centennial Hall to introduce their new performance "Hiyomeki."

A word that means "within a gentle vibration and agitation," "Hiyomeki" is an enigmatic ritual as much as it is a dance.

"They are very interested in what it is to be human in the most universal sense," said Andrew Kranis, manager of Sankai Juku.

As symbolic as it appears, the movement of the body takes precedence over the message of the movement itself, allowing both a new freedom of movement not previously seen in the old traditions of Japan. Emotions such as joy, pain and vulnerability once repressed are finally allowed to be expressed.

Six dancers, including director and choreographer Amagatsu, perform with whitened faces, the uniformity of appearance conveying a universality of the human experience on a bare, sand-covered stage.

Each dancer brings with him individual expressions of movement, working with a haunting musical score by Takashi Kako and Yoichiro Yoshikawa that illustrates the relationship among light, object and the human body.

There will be a free "Arts Encounter" discussion of modern dance 45 minutes before the performance in room 102 of the Center for English as a Second Language. Sankai Juku's "Hiyomeki" begins at 8 p.m. at the University of Arizona's Centennial Hall. Ticket prices range from $16.00 to $28.00 with discounts for students, subscribers and UA faculty and staff.