There were a few satisfyingly entertaining moments, but my overall impression of Sankai Juku: UMUSUNA: Memories Before History was that of bemused boredom. The general reliance on shock value and lack of inherently impressive dancing left me unimpressed. Exactly three moments actually held my interest: When the original dancer first looks at the audience, there was a moment of self awareness which I enjoyed. When his solo ends with the entrance of red light, noise, and corresponding dancers, I jumped in my seat, and I can always respect when a performance elicits a visceral response. Finally, when the dancers interacted with the “water” on the stage, I appreciated the simple yet effective use of stage lighting.

That being said, I have been dancing competitively my entire life and am trained in or have performed the following styles: Ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, tap, hip hop, bhangra, Bollywood, raas, and bharatnatyam. I know what is challenging for the human body. Furthermore, as captain of a dance team that does a variety of styles and performs with elements of stage production, I know what it takes to put together an entertaining show. As a dancer and consumer, it is part of my paradigm that a dancer’s/performer’s first and foremost responsibility is to entertain the audience. If an audience is collectively bored at any point while you are on stage, you have failed. The dance movements I witnessed on stage left me bored. I realize that it’s kind of “the point” of butoh to contrast with refined dance styles, but at no point did their movements, formations, speed, or prowess have me on the edge of my seat. I can appreciate that they spent tens of minutes doing ab exercises in front of me and that itself is challenging, but I was not entertained.

Moreover, I generally enjoy/appreciate shock value, but this performance seemed to rely on the strangeness of the dancers’ costumes, makeup, and expressions without backing it up with actual visible skill. I’m sure the dancers can do very impressive movements, but I never got to see them. The performance surely has value for those whose paradigm of performance differs from mine, but if you look for entertainment in dance this might not be the show for you.