Dairakudakan Kochuten, Tokyo's Kichijoji

March 19-23

Legendary Japanese butoh collective Dairakudakan (www.dairakudakan.com; [0422] 21-4984), led by acclaimed Japanese actor and dancer Akaji Maro, has a nurturing system for training and guiding young dancers, with the aim that they will go on to direct and choreograph their own work.

"Blood," running this week at its compact Kochuten space in western Tokyo's Kichijoji, is the creation of 31-year-old Ikko Tamura, who has been with the company since 1998. A promising young dancer, in 2002 he directed and choreographed the "Zattoh no Riverutan," which earned him praise in Japan. He then won the 2003 Dance Critics Society of Japan's Newcomer Award. Tamura, who joined Dairakudakan to work and learn from his idol Maro, also had the opportunity to join celebrated French choreographer Josef Nadj in the 2006 performance of "Asobu," which premiered at the Avignon Theatre Festival in France.

In May, group member Takuya Muramatsu will also present a new work, "Laugh At Such Time," ahead of Dairakudakan's summer trip to the United States. Fortunate audiences there will have the opportunity to see the troupe participate in the American Dance Festival with a performance co-directed and choreographed by Muramatsu and Maro.