The Tokyo Ballet: Maurice Béjart's "M"

Beauty, eroticism, and death become indistinguishable as Béjart reaches deep into the mind of Japan's most contested writer. A schoolboy stands before the sea as four numbered selves split from his body: Ichi (1), Ni (2), San (3), Shi (the Japanese word 4 and for death). They spread, orbit, then begin to close. Scenes from "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion," "Confessions of a Mask," and "The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea" unfold as kimonos give way to military uniform, then leotard. A long scarlet ribbon is drawn from young Mishima’s body as figures reach for its length. At Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Mizuka Ueno returns as the cold center of "Kyoko's House," her movement at times driven by mechanical sound rather than melody, drawing on gestures rooted in Noh and Kabuki. Created for this company in 1993 and later performed at the Palais Garnier, Béjart resolves the work in a sakura fubuki: a cherry blossom blizzard through which death lifts into light.