With Virtuosity

She is neither young nor beautiful. But she has striking presence and is one of the most interesting dancers in Japan today. After getting to know post modern dance in New York in the 1980s, when she joined a group led by Nina Wiener, Mika Kurosawa set off in search of her own dance. Among her diverse efforts to find it since her return to Japan has been a collaboration with her co-director Deguchi, involving nullifying dance techniques learned so far, with interesting results.

Since 1999, Mika Kurosawa has devoted herself to solo dance, which has led her to some tangible answers to long-held questions.
Her recent solos have been consistently thrilling. “The Rose Man, Roll,” is one of a series of solos stretching over several years. In collaboration with Deguchi, she appears with a gaudy wig in a long robe like a gorgeous artificial lady, casually dancing, sometimes rolling on the floor. Then, after showing her naked image on a table put together by herself, far from erotic, she starts to dance fiercely in armour-like skin wear with huge breasts. Her dance to the music of The Beatles is much like a striptease, swinging around tassels on the nipples of artificial breasts. Posing on ...