Finding Unity With Just Bodies and Sheets of Metal
by JENNIFER DUNNING for the New York Times

The hourlong piece, choreographed and directed by Ko Murobushi and performed by Mr. Murobushi and his three-man Edge Co., pays tribute to Tatsumi Hijikata, ...

"Handsome Blue Sky" revolves around four supple, brass-colored metallic sheets that allude to costumes in Hijikata's seminal "Rebellion of the Body (Nikutai no Hanran)," which the Edge performers manipulate to light-reflecting, crashing effect.

published: October 8, 2005

Plumbing the Depths in Vast Inner Landscapes
by CLAUDIA LA ROCCO for the New York Times

In "Before the Dawn," Yumiko Yoshioka's body became a menagerie of strange creatures. A founding member of the all-female Butoh company Ariadone, she appeared in voluminous red robes, her face masked. When her hands emerged from the fabric, they skittered over her body like spiders or pecked at her flesh like birds. Eventually shedding much of her clothing, she made her body both a physical and an abstract object.

published: October 26, 2005