http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/arts/dance/review-becoming-kazuo-ohno-a-bold-copycat-tribute-to-a-butoh-master.html 2016-09-20 10:11:54 Review: Becoming Kazuo Ohno, a Bold Copycat Tribute to a Butoh Master The performer Takao Kawaguchi reproduced, gesture for gesture, expression for expression, several Ohno dance-theater performances in a show at Japan Society. === As audience members arrived at The cacophonous scene introduced “About Kazuo Ohno — Reliving the Butoh Diva’s Masterpieces,” Mr. Kawaguchi’s attempt, as he has put it, to “become Kazuo Ohno.” His approach: to reproduce, gesture for gesture, expression for expression, several of the master’s performances as captured on video. Mr. Kawaguchi, who never saw Mr. Ohno perform live, has Having never seen Mr. Ohno perform live myself, I could only ask, not answer, an obvious question: Did the copy measure up to the original? Whether or not it did, Mr. Kawaguchi appeared ecstatically devoted to his material, as he led us into the theater and offered excerpts from “ In “The Embryo’s Dream,” from “My Mother,” he staggered across the stage, an androgynous figure with a parched rose in one hand (Mr. Ohno was known for gender-bending), his body as brittle but tenacious as its petals. Passages from “La Argentina,” a tribute to the flamenco star Antonia Mercé, were melancholic, flirtatious, extravagant. Onstage costume changes — into a liturgical robe and cap for a section of “Dead Sea,” or white face paint and red lips for “La Argentina” — underscored the premise of becoming someone else. The program also featured guests from