Experimenting with Mind-Altering Dance

Urban Japan is a culture in love with the cutting edge, and in this it shares a singular, pulsating passion with the world of contemporary dance. Where better then to immerse yourself in experimental ecstasy than "Japan Dance Now," a rare smorgasbord of movement innovation by the island nation’s latest generation of choreographers? While multimedia collaboration is flourishing in the fertile soil of new dance around the globe, this group grafts in the latest in fashion design, robotics, and pop culture with a distinctly Japanese feel.

Yoko Higashino, founder of the immaculately stylized performance group Baby-Q, performs his solo E/G-Ego Geometria, set to live music and video. In Coffee, artist collective Nibroll explores the potential for explosive behavior in such mundane acts as sipping a cup of joe. Particularly curious is The End of Water, a series of vignettes examining archetypes of femininity, performed by the all-female — but male-directed — Sennichimae Blue Sky Dance Club, a butoh-inspired troupe based in Osaka. As for local audiences, you get bragging rights that S.F. is one of only three cities on the up-and-comers’ U.S. tour.
Jan. 29-31, 8 p.m., 2009