Gender-crossing dancer mesmerises fans

By Chisa Fujioka

TOKYO, Aug 6 (Reuters Life!) - On stage, the Japanese dancer, with heavy white makeup and pouty red lips, spins to booming music, sending a rainbow-coloured kimono fluttering.

Off stage, the dancer is just another teenaged high school boy, but one with legions of fans, especially female, who can't get enough of his cross-dressing performances.

Nicknamed "Prince of the Sidelong Glance" for his ability to mesmerise audiences with a single look from his downcast eyes, 16-year-old Taichi Saotome's dancing has been praised by domestic media for its feminine elegance and understated seductiveness.

Male actors playing female roles is mainstream entertainment in Japan, where traditional kabuki theatre, which traces its roots back to the 17th century, is still performed only by men.

Saotome, who debuted at the age of four, is a big star of the kabuki-influenced "taishu engeki", or theatre for the masses, which is a more casual, less expensive, form of entertainment.

TV stints and a wave of publicity have broadened his fan base beyond theatre buffs to include Japanese women entranced by smooth-faced, innocent-looking youths.

"It's in all the movement," said the lanky dancer, explaining the secret of playing female roles.

"My shoulders are getting broad and high, so I have to make up for that by using my body, by moving my shoulders more," he told Reuters as he relaxed backstage in a navy men's kimono and without the elaborate make-up that takes him 30 minutes to apply.  Continued...