Sankai Juku

Kagemi (Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors) begins with a forest of giant lotus flowers. As the flowers rise up, six dancers are revealed in white, skeletal costumes curled, fetus-like, among the stalks. These dazzlingly aesthetic spectacles move elegantly, and they are free from any special meanings or burdens. Exemplifying Japanese Butoh’s expression of human awareness, this spellbinding performance is a calming apparition of gracefulness. Part of the second generation of Butoh troupes from Japan and with the vision of artistic director Ushio Amagatsu, Sankai Juku has premiered a new piece on a constant pace, approximately once every two years.

About the Company

Founded in 1975 by Ushio Amagatsu, Sankai Juku has performed in 40 countries and visited more than 700 cities. Amagatsu has trained in classical as well as modern dance before he worked out his own version of Butoh. For Amagatsu, Butoh expresses the language of the body. In his works, he presents an abstract vision of the infinite evolutionary movement, of the relationship of the body to gravity, and of the relationship of gravity to the earth and the environment. Now based in Paris, Amagatsu takes design inspiration from many other cultures. The bald head and white face is a theatrical device used by South American and West African cultures, while the lotus flower seen in Kagemi is a universal symbol in Asia, India, and Egypt. “I want people to have the impression of the universality of the human being,” he explains. “To me, it denotes simplicity,” Amagatsu said. “By erasing your everyday personality by putting on white makeup and shaving your head, you can emphasize basic human forms.”

Performances at Northrop

1986, 1987, 1996, 2006

Critic's Comments

“This desire to understand, to extract pieces of sense and beauty, and our presence on earth is at the heart of Kagemi—Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors.”
- Le Monde ( France )

“Sophisticated beauty…Sankai Juku creates its unique art form that transcends the times.”
- Nihon Keizai Shimbun ( Japan )

“[Ushio Amagatsu] conveys the infinitely minute yet spellbinding transformations of a world in constant metamorphosis.” - Dance Magazine

Evening's Program

Kagemi (2000)Choreography: Ushio AmagatsuMusic: Original music by Takashi Kato/Yoichiro Yoshikawa“The Kage of Kagemi is shadowThe light of contrast, the image in the mirror of water’s surfaceThe mi is seeing and being seenSome say Kagemi is the ancient origin of “mirror” (kagemi)In light, the surface that reflects and is reflected, looked into and looking backSurface beginning in the horizontal water plane and transforming toThe perpendicular faceFrom an ambiguous and transient state to one clearly outlinedThe right hand asks, the left hand answersOnce an imaginary surface is defined”---Ushio Amagatsu

Ⅰ Wind in the water depths
Ⅱ MANEBI – two mirrors
Ⅲ Echoings of gaze and return gaze
Ⅳ In the light by the waterside
Ⅴ Infinite dialogue
Ⅵ Empty / Full
Ⅶ CHIRAL / ACHIRAL, Agitation and Sedimentation