Sankai Juku: TOTEM—Void and Height

Sankai Juku: TOTEM—Void and Height is a butoh dance performance and the North American premiere of TOTEM, the final work of the Tokyo company Sankai Juku. It was directed, choreographed, and conceived by Ushio Amagatsu, who founded the company in 1975 and died in March 2024 shortly after completing the piece. A single monolithic form presides over the stage while seven dancers, their bodies shaved and chalked white, move in Amagatsu's idiom of descending into gravity rather than resisting it, in a work that runs one hour and fifteen minutes. The performance is danced by Semimaru, Sho Takeuchi, Akihito Ichihara, Dai Matsuoka, Norihito Ishii, Taiki Iwamoto, Makoto Takese, and Sotaro Ito, with music by Takashi Kako and Yochiro Yoshikawa.