Oguri’s Butoh Style Inspired by Getty’s Setting

With the sweet scent of jasmine in the air, the sun dipping below the horizon, and the gurgling fountains in the Getty Center’s main courtyard as bucolic backdrop, butoh master Oguri brought his site-specific, 75-minute work, “In the Shallows,” to amazing life Friday evening.

Accompanied by composer Yuval Ron on keyboards and the mesmerizing vocals of Bulgarian singers Tsvetanka Varimezova and Angela Rodel (strategically placed on balconies above the area), Oguri and his company, Renzoku, shepherded the audience on an awesome journey.

Exploring the connection between humans and the Getty’s architectural environment, the dancers took advantage of natural elements--wind, water and foliage, but more importantly, space. Moving from fountain to fountain, tree to tree, and travertine wall to travertine wall, the performers created a tableau of unsurpassed mystery. With billowing beige silk costumes (Oguri in a dress is a sight to behold), and Magritte-like faces (whitish makeup, accentuated by painted-on, Groucho-esque eyebrows and mustaches, and hot pink lips and cheeks), this was inspired butoh.

Whether on his back with head hanging over a platform, or crawling on his knees, his face a tortured smile, Oguri is the consummate artist: Enigmatic, he is an emotional vessel through which life’s secrets unfold. Deftly aided by company members Roxanne Steinberg, Jamie Burris, Eric Binkley, Jean Copeland and Mia Doi Todd, Oguri climaxed the performance by unfurling his own brand of red carpet--brown butcher paper--upon which the dancers slowly paraded into the exquisite night.