Eloquent Gestures Mark Classical Okinawan Dance

On Saturday, two very ugly women taught the rudiments of Okinawan classical dance to a rapt audience at the Japan America Theatre. Or, more accurately, two women in very ugly masks set about emphasizing the distinctions between the exquisitely supple hand motions of Ryukyu classicism (demonstrated by two unmasked women nearby) and their own comic clumsiness.

In a varied, 12-part program by women dancers and male musicians from the Okinawa Prefectural University of the Arts, no selection isolated a dance technique famed for its delicacy more than this quartet (“Shundou”) with its contrasts between curved and splayed fingers, hands effortlessly curving in space versus hands curtly shoving at the air.

However, the stately trio “Mutu Nuchibana” added unexpected splendor to the elegant walking steps and dipping turns of this antique, intricately formalized idiom: the wielding of flower garlands, for starters, but also the glitter of silver finger pendants that magically caught the light with every gesture. And the solo “Timatu” in a more recent style found the refined Miyoko Toguchi using subtle facial expressions to enhance the remarkable softness of her dancing.

The lyrical solo “Higasa-odori” showcased Kimiko Kakazu’s dexterity with an umbrella, while small bells hanging from tasseled ropes in the trio “Kuakukabi” allowed the dancers to accent their smallest actions with a metallic clatter. Wooden clappers provided the percussive accents in the quartet “Yurujina,” and hand drums materialized for the ensemble finale to “Wakashu-odori Medley.” Okinawans seem to like dancing with something in their hands almost as much as wearing bright, intricately decorated fabrics.

Directed by Takako Sato, the company also presented a display of traditional martial arts (“Bu-no Mai”) a folkloric genre scene involving a storm at sea and sellers of fish and peaches on land (“Kariyushi-achineh”), fan dancing galore (none more sumptuous than “Kariyushi-no Mai”), plus a duet in which--like Nanki-Poo in “The Mikado”--popular entertainers proved not quite what they seemed (“Takadera Manzai”).

Kishun Nishie and Kiyoyuki Owan led the artful vocal and instrumental ensemble.