Butoh is an outlandish, mesmerizing and, perhaps, revolutionary style of Japanese dance that has come to the attention of much-befuddled Western audiences. Welling up from its roots in archaic Japanese culture, this intriguing dance form draws on myth, folklore and a kind of demonic dynamism thriving on sexually charged energy. The kinetic tableaux of Butoh, filled with white-faced, undulating performers, depict an anguish that has a timeless quality. The bizarre imagery may breach current notions of prim Japanese dance, but the raw emotion thoroughly eclipses the age. Edin Velez's Dance of Darkness is a rather comprehensive survey of Butoh, featuring seven performers and troupes in a wild array of settings. We see scantily clad dancers snaking across a rocky scarp; a horde of weirdly costumed dancers moving fitfully through a forest; and solo performers etched in shadow upon a strident stage. A New York-based artist, Velez has imbued Dance of Darkness with a resonant style, evoking the multivalent perceptions informing Butoh. Exquisitely captured dance footage and interviews are suspended in a lush video collage, recreating the dream-like realm of a dance form that doesn't distinguish between stage and life. Steve Seid