On a sand-dusted stage set against a majestic wall of fossil reliefs, eight butoh dancers from the internationally renowned Sankai Juku enter into a sublime dialogue with gravity. Through the graceful arcs they trace across the sand, a philosophical visual poem unfolds.
Following 2012’s Tobari – As if in An Inexhaustible Flux and 2014’s Kagemi: Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors, the company returns to Esplanade with its Southeast Asian premiere of Meguri: Teeming Sea, Tranquil Land, the latest creation by its acclaimed founder and artistic director Ushio Amagatsu.
Featuring a set design inspired by fossilised Paleozoic sea lilies, Meguri—symbolised here by the pictograph of the Chinese character “?”—delves intimately into the themes of circulation and rotation. The piece references natural phenomena, such as the ebb and flow of water, to reflect on the passage of time, the cycle of the four seasons and transitions of the earth.
Amagatsu and his senior dancers Semimaru, Toru Iwashita and Sho Takeuchi—the three of whom are featured prominently in selected scenes—draw the audience deep into their texturally rich and metaphorical world of dance. Delicate at every turn, yet viscerally intense with each precise movement, it is this mastery of form and emotional depth conveyed in Amagatsu’s creations that has mesmerised the world over the last 40 years.
Sankai Juku, meaning “studio between mountain and sea”, is one of the most sought-after butoh (a form of Japanese dance theatre) companies in the world. To date, they have performed in over 700 cities and 45 countries, with several awards including the Laurence Olivier Award (2002), the Asahi Performing Arts Award (2007) and the Japan Foundation Award (2013).
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