Tobari

Tobari is a Japanese word that means "curtain," but it also refers to the period of the day when light is fading from the sky, just before nightfall.

Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion 2008

The piece is entitled Tobari - as if in an inexhaustible flux.

Jack Schimmelman: Sankai Juku (studio by the mountain and the sea) Jack Schimmelman 2010

" Tobari " expresses the theme of birth and rebirth both from and into " unlimited nothingness " — the title of the first and last scenes of the performance.

Ashes to Ashes Amy Yee 2010

But in " Tobari, " Sankai Juku tempers the grim qualities typical of traditional Butoh with the theme of rebirth, as well as with striking visuals and the dancers ' majestic postures.

Ashes to Ashes Amy Yee 2010

Mr. Amagatsu, who turned 60 this year, performs a solo in " Tobari " where he flings his chiseled body toward the audience while mouthing a silent, anguished scream.

Ashes to Ashes Amy Yee 2010

While the dancers in one scene in " Tobari " crouch like fetuses, in another they stand with commanding grace in midnight-blue dresses splashed with dirty streaks of red and white.

Ashes to Ashes Amy Yee 2010

" Tobari, " a piece that Sankai Juku is performing across North America this month, begins with a spotlight illuminating a lone, nearly motionless dancer caught in a circle of brightness.

Ashes to Ashes Amy Yee 2010

In " Tobari, " there are surprising bursts of brisk walking, frantic waving of the arms, and hand gestures that mimic bobbing birds.

Ashes to Ashes Amy Yee 2010

Throughout " Tobari, " dancers move with slow precision over a stage covered with sand, which represents the " dust " to which life returns.

Ashes to Ashes Amy Yee 2010

"Tobari," which features eight dancers, poetically expresses not only the passage from day to night but also a border that has to be accepted and allowed in.

SFGate: Top News Stories pinkletters@sfchronicle.com (Elena Park 2010