Dance Reviews : Seiha Wakayagi-Kai at Japan America Theatre

In the complex hierarchy of apprenticeship traditional to the arts of Japan, Wakayagi is the name of a family, plus its dance school, performing company and international corporation--all involved with classical dancing.

Thus the uneven but valuable four-hour program presented by the Seiha Wakayagi-Kai on Saturday at the Japan America Theatre included dances by children being trained in America as well as professional artists at the top of the Wakayagi empire in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Here was the grave, intent Hisami Wakayagi impersonating a Bunraku puppet in “Yagura No Oshichi” and a supernatural creature caught up in karmic conflict in “Seki No To,” each time dancing with great deliberation. Here was the seemingly carefree Kichika Wakayagi suddenly transforming herself into a demon, a princess, a warrior and others by changes of mask and movement style in “Kagura Musume.”

Most memorable of all, here was the veteran Masayasu Wakayagi as a lord drunkenly confessing his adultery in the farcical “Migawari Zazen” and growing unexpectedly tender, wistful, childlike, lyrical.

These artists, along with the fine Masahiko and the forceful Kichiyu and Shujiro (Wakayagis all), showed both the audience and the neophytes cast in “Kisen” the inner life that must exist within every stylized gesture and rhythmic footfall passed from one generation to another. Distinguished musicians from both sides of the Pacific added to the pleasures of the program.