DANCE REVIEW : ERIC VU-AN IN BEJART’S ‘KABUKI’ SOLO AT UCLA

When is “Kabuki” not “Kabuki”? When it’s neither Japanese classical theater nor a large-scale Belgian dance drama derived from Japanese sources, but merely a confusing chunk of ballet ephemera shoehorned into an otherwise familiar mixed bill.

Certainly the audience for Maurice Bejart’s Ballet of the 20th Century at Royce Hall, UCLA, on Thursday was never told that a ballet listed in the program as “Kabuki” was just a seven-minute solo from a two-hour, 15-minute epic of that name.

The narrative context for the excerpt--the significance of that splash of blood on the unnamed character’s tunic, the mournful and martial passages in both Bejart’s choreography and Toshiro Mayuzumi’s score--also went unexplained. Any possible link to Japan likewise remained a secret, and this from a company that lavished nine paragraphs of program notes on “Le Marteau sans Maitre.”

In this data void, “Kabuki” served only as inconsequential showpiece fodder, deftly redefining the prodigious elegance, sensitivity and technical refinement of guest artist Eric Vu-An but scarcely providing a coherent experience.

Vital in attack, but meticulous in articulation, Vu-An linked his remarkable jumps, turns and batterie with a smoothness, a fluid assimilation of movement contrasts, that denied any suggestion of effort.

He is a surprisingly thoughtful virtuoso, always dancing from some inner need yet unerringly sculpting those noble body shapes that we recognize as classicism. This natural eloquence, combined with his striking exotic looks, make him unique in the dance world.