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But the dances were the anchor. \u201cToba-e,\u201d a traditional work, features a mouse and a servant, whose ambition is to capture it. Or does the mouse capture him<\/em>?<\/p>\nThis lighthearted piece, which features six musicians, is full of comedy. Subtitles reveal the servant\u2019s fury at the mouse as he stews over his inability to catch it: \u201cYou not only gnawed the rice bin, but even bit my lovely wife\u2019s nose.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As the servant (Hanayagi Motoi) goes on the hunt, the mouse (Hanayagi Suzuhiko) switches up the mood: \u201cI have longed to share the pillow with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mouse is cute \u2014 coyly pulling his tail across his face, scurrying to hide behind a column or pawing at the air \u2014 but Motoi is next level as he invests his whole being into the role of the servant, employing a potent muscularity with his face, both expressive and somehow like a mask, and his lithe body, anchored by loose limbs. Increasingly intrigued by the mouse, he manages to be spry and grounded as he flitters on the balls of his feet and wavers forward and back. His center of gravity seems elusive, more wispy than cemented to the floor, especially as he shifts from despising the mouse to desiring it. But more than that, you sense dance history passing through his body.<\/p>\n
Also vivid is the male performer Tokuyo in \u201cBol\u00e9ro\u201d as Kiyohime. While four ensemble dancers surround Tokuyo with fans \u2014 sometimes holding them horizontally flat with prayer-like hands or opening them as they swirl around Kiyohime\u2019s body like waves \u2014 Tokuyo is more spectral than human. Apart from his precise, methodical movement, it is his stillness that carries an unsettling force. The snake is growing from within.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n