Seriousness, Whimsy in ‘Mirror’

Fusion rules. And Boogie Butoh might be an apt name for one of the elaborate riffs that movement artist Don McLeod explored in his hourlong solo work-in-progress, “Behind the Mirror,” which opened last weekend at Pasadena’s Fremont Centre Theatre. Purists can grumble, but Butoh--that austere, sometimes grotesque Japanese dance form--does leave room for whimsy.

And whimsy is a welcome counterpoint to much of the seriousness of the evening, more a melange of Kabuki, Noh and mime--with an accent on the latter. Still, McLeod mines it with only limited success.

Appearing at first bewigged as an aging geisha, white face a mini-mask of horror, McLeod is kimono-clad, accessorized with parasol and fan. Stooping, shuffling and faux-sipping tea to the incongruous sounds of taped piano, he sheds this persona at the onset of koto music after peering into a hand mirror: Let the bald head shine, the bare chest glisten, McLeod’s negotiation of life’s passages had begun.

Arms splayed, balancing on one leg and bathed in Kryptonite green lighting (designed by Blake Torney and Dominik Krzanowski), the performer morphs into a monster. With a flick of his tongue, he is a lizard basking in the sun, a burrowing mole. The primeval mutates into a crying baby, followed by zealous quivering and quaking seizures: McLeod as smoking hipster, vamping at the disco.

Each time a gong sounded on tape (shopworn music selections included excerpts by Steve Roach and Harpsody), the artist is born anew. There is homelessness and the quintessential fetal position. Schmaltzy violins and new age tunes signal wonderment.

If McLeod, a man possessed of control and dexterity, would trust himself to merely be, a certain depth could have permeated the work, a spell could have been created.

* “Behind the Mirror,” Fremont Centre Theatre, 1000 Fremont, South Pasadena. Saturday and Jan. 29, 8 p.m.; Sunday and Jan. 30, 7:30 p.m., $10-$12. (626) 441-5977.