The abundance of new dance and theater available in Tokyo during the months of February and March is a sure indicator of just how profoundly new work in this city depends on grants and other handouts from funding bodies. These budgets, such as they are, must be used by the end of the fiscal year, and venues are booked solid for weekends in the runup to April. In itself, this condition has effectively established a sort of season for nonimported performance.
So far, so good. The relentless cluster of opening nights for productions that are fated to run only through the weekend, and then be consigned to the archives for reports to funders and updates in company resumes, sharpens the competition in a delightfully incestuous performance world. It creates the kind of excitement that performers thrive on and gives us all the feeling, however baseless, that there's "something going on."
But what, exactly, was hard to fathom at this year's Next Dance Festival at Park Tower Hall, which ran Feb. 16-24. This annual event has the laudable aim of turning the spotlight on new talent, and the Shinjuku event space keeps ticket prices accessible and provides a forum for younger choreographers. But as with all consumer events (and Park Tower has a good record at the box office), selection is crucial. As the venue does not have a resident artistic director, it took its cue from the great Japanese tradition of subcontracting and asked people who ran "producing spaces" to recommend performers for three evening-length works.