Oguri Shines Amid Lackluster Company

When models attempt to act, the results are often wooden and forced. The same could be said of a Western dancer assaying butoh, an apocalyptic form of Japanese dance characterized by certain grotesqueries and angst-ridden movement. Japanese-born dancer-choreographer Oguri, riveting even in stasis, along with his locally based company, Renzoku, acutely proved this point in the premiere of his “Effect of Salt,” Friday at Cal State L.A.’s State Playhouse as part of the Fall Ahead Performance and Dance Festival.

Maybe it’s a DNA thing, or just a matter of training (Oguri danced with butoh great Min Tanaka), but the sad truth is Oguri’s got it and his good-looking troupe--Boaz Barkan, Jamie Burris, Dona Leonard and Roxanne Steinberg--does not.

Against an Oguri-designed set consisting of a large calligraphic splash of black on white, two ramps, and a hanging rice paper-like scroll, a pair of dancers slowly moved, spoon-like, across the silent stage wearing black suits and white shirts. Steinberg (Oguri’s wife), similarly attired, struck a one-legged pose, also affecting molasses-slow movements. Leonard, meanwhile, unconvincingly spouted lines of text while Barkan languidly waved a white flag.

Music was added--Yuval Ron’s industrial brew of percussion, sax samplings and electric guitar, performed off-stage by Offer Ankori--and then came Oguri’s virtuosic turn. Also suited-up in black and white, he alone among the troupe makes butoh’s exaggerated movements emotion-packed. Whether angling on his shoes’ outer edges, creeping across the stage in a cadenza of transmogrified chaos or hurling himself about like a punch-drunk fighter, Oguri compels absolutely.

Morleigh Steinberg’s pristine lighting enhanced the tableau, especially when the music took an unexpected romantic bow, bathing Oguri in an elegy of mystical orange.

Salt is sweat, salt is tears, salt is sharp. The effect of Oguri and his “Salt” is to both satisfy and arouse simultaneously. If only his company could do the same.