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In the name of art, the NoA took a  look at the HijikataTatsumi title from Microcinema International, "Summer Storm." Hey, we're not huge sci-fi watchers, but we checked out the always interesting artist Lynn Hershman Leeson's "Teknolust" and though it highly compelling, so we dropped this doozy of a dance performance into the MacBook Pro and connected it to the big screen.

The dance scenes shot in the film are from 1973, broadcast in the center of Tokyo on multiple motion billboard screens following their restoration thirty years later from their original 8mm print. Barely clothed figures bending and gyrating, presenting the modern dance equivalent of the expressive movements that were also being seen in contemporary dance in the U.S. at that time, although the Japanese form harkens more to the primary historical spiritualities ingrained further into Japanese culture than the multicultural melting pot that constitutes America.

There's an unmistakably haunting factor to these often grotesque dance configurations, a mood of strangeness prevailing regardless of the name of each particular dance piece. One could imagine this DVD projected on the wall of an underground lounge bar in many of the world's major cities while its constituents drink lychee-pomegranate mojitos. As the figure emanates from the black background, a solitary form of white powder, transcending through form, one determines that the artist deserves more, deserves a gallery of quiet contemplation and tribal interpretation. 

Microcinema's 71-minute DVD brings us Tatsumi's final performance of the Butoh - literally, the dance of darkness that was born out of Japan's experiences in WWII, and informatively influenced by the Dadaists and Surrealists of the day, leading to titles for the dance pieces such as "Girls picking herbs," "Three Fly Girls," and "A Girl."

The grainy quality of the picture captured off the 8mm film adds to the mystery of the performance, the dancers coming in and out of the soft light, ghosting themselves into the viewer's psyche as the watcher wrestles with the form and function of the physicality on display. Put it on your big screen, and let us know how long it took to hypnotize you. We here at the Nation are still mesmerized by it all.