'San Francisco Butoh Festival'
Thurs/8-Sun/11, Cowell Theater

UNLESS SOMEONE HAS the moxie to yank it up again, the curtain is dropping on the San Francisco Butoh Festival. After eight years, founding director Brechin Flournoy is calling it quits to follow her bliss somewhere else. Hers has been a remarkable achievement, moving a personal passion of hers – and what used to be a rather obscure Japanese art form – into the cauldron of Bay Area dance. For this last hurrah, Flournoy has assembled three generations of women Butoh artists, foremost among them the astounding Hiroko Tamano. Also appearing are Su-En, a performer from Sweden who explores Nordic influence on Butoh and made a mini-appearance in a SoMa loft a few years ago, and Kathy Rose, who reestablishes Butoh's birthright within German expressionism and was last seen performing at the Exploratorium. The newest generation is represented by two Bay Area-grown artists, Megan Nicely and Molly Barrons. Closing the weekend will be a potpourri of current and forward-looking, all-American Butoh trends. Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m., Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna, S.F. $16-$24. (415) 345-7575. (Rita Felciano)