If I told you I saw naked men dancing, simulating masturbation and pretending to slice off their private parts, you might think this was an adult theater review.
Well, guess again. With its ballsy humor and radical depictions of modern life, Dairakudakan is a Japanese butoh company that makes other butoh companies look conventional if not conservative in comparison. Some call the company’s style an acquired taste.
Directed by Akaji Maro, Dairakudakan will perform Kochuten: Paradise in a Jar this weekend, as part of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ showcase of cutting-edge Asian artists, “Asia and Our Moment.” While traditional butoh was created in reaction to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Paradise in a Jar removes the genre from that context, says Loris Bradley, performing arts curator for Yerba Buena. Kumotaro Mukai, who choreographed the piece, was born after the war.
Bradley says, “Dairakudakan demonstrates what’s happening to the dance form, how it’s been altered and influenced by people with different perceptions.”
Still, Paradise in a Jar remains true to the butoh aesthetic. Dancers, nude and nearly so, are covered with white powder. At times shrieking and grunting, they move in ways that seem primordial and even grotesque. They are scary.
But there are no references to catastrophic death here.
Near the work’s beginning, dancers mimic everyday activities, such as cleaning and typing, but soon unravel, unleashing body language that conveys raw emotions and animalistic behavior.
In a later section, dancers huddle together like a pack of frightened dogs, while hot dogs tucked inside their g-strings wobble and flop. One by one, the men shuffle to the front of the stage and cry out loud, as they slice off their hot dogs. A hag queen (played by a dancer in drag) collects the chopped meat in a basket and then tosses it, as if to chickens.
Such imagery is funny to a point, but is it dance?
Bradley says, “Dairakudakan is not so much focused on technique or form. They are much more about ideas and states of mind.” Paradise in a Jar, she explains, depicts how men can be led and directed by their own desire.
It isn’t for everyone. In 1982, Dairakudakan was the first Japanese butoh company to appear in the United States. At its performance at the American Dance Festival held at Duke University, audience members reportedly walked out, some dragging their children with them. This year, the company returns to the dance festival under far less hostile conditions. Dance critics and enthusiasts by and large have embraced butoh, particularly in San Francisco.
Still, Dairakudakan continues to surprise its viewers, while remaining an acquired taste.