JAPAN SOCIETY CONTEMPORARY DANCE FESTIVAL: Japan + Asia

Isadora Duncan, (considered by many to be the “Mother of modern dance”) once said, “Dance is the movement of the universe concentrated in an individual.” This insight couldn’t have been more true than in the pre-show solo Matou at Contemporary Dance Festival: Japan and East Asia at the Japan Society on January 10, 2025. 

Choreographed and exquisitely performed by Ruri Mito from Japan, in a rock garden-like setting, Matou, (meaning “to wear, put on, tangle, roll up”) evokes the mystery of life, its constant movement and evolution.   Mito leans on a shelf contorting, revealing sensual allure oozing out of her skin.  Costumed in an almost sheer nude unitard (Tomoko Inamura), she shapes, writhes, slinks, distorts throughout her body with fluid, seamless control suggesting shifting sand, water, earth, and body in utero… everything and anything. 

Trivial Perfection, (Premiere) by Korean choreographer Daeho Lee is performed by a quartet of male company members of C.SENSE. The work expresses the camaraderie of four “guys” as they romp, collaborate, bond, individuate from each other, then come back together again to strengthen their selfhood and gender identity.  Lee writes that he tries to reveal “how fragments of small movements come together to create perfection, transforming the trivial into something profound, like a mosaic. ”

One initiates a movement, like tapping a foot, or flicking of hands, then another joins in and then another forging unison movement. They lunge in a line together, row boats, tickle, fondle, slap their own thighs, and then each others’, becoming more aggressive and somewhat sexual in this male bonding activity.  They hug in friendship, and then break away in startled confusion about the bond.  Lee has an astonishing group of virtuoso dancers, suddenly springing into the air in a spontaneous moment, or gently, in slow motion, lifting one another upside down, legs in the air. The accumulation of small gestures and actions develop over time to create a full picture and insight into the simple yet complex feelings of inter- dependency among men. How do they glue together in friendship, yet maintain their own individuality?

…and, or… (Premiere) by Taiwanese choreographer I-Ling Liu imaginatively explores the complexity of a male female relationship fraught with ambivalence, competition, and feelings of love-hate. A couple “at odds” with each other most of the time, is danced by Jyun-Yi Lin and Wei-Ting Hung, costumed in orange and green jumpsuits by Yu-Teh Yang. They dance in silence.  The two partner in many ways: a male supports a slow, sensual, promenade of the woman on releve’ — it appears at the beginning and again at the end; a habitual ritual of frenzied slapping, (the man often patting himself on the back to affirm his own dominance over the woman); lifting, throwing each other on and off; distancing, coming together; unsure of their mutual trust, but bonded by attraction that could pass for love, but isn’t, 

The final piece of the evening, Where We Were Born,  (Premiere) reiterates the exploration of choreographer Ruri Mito’s solo in the pre-show performance… this time with eight amazing performers, almost always holding hands, becoming one body throughout. The piece opens to rumbling sounds with all in a group shape like a mountain, slowly, slowly, moving as one, shifting and changing form, exploring primal life, indescribable at times and a miracle to observe. Bodies, sink, rise, shift, move in glacially slow speed: as our imagination is piqued to see the earth or the sea or the universe as it gives birth to new and different forms of life. A tour de force, one is amazed at the strength and intention of each dancer sublimating self to the group expression, the whole as a magnificent sum of its parts.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Mary Seidman