In traditional Chinese opera, men play both male and female roles. In H Art Chaos, a very nontraditional Japanese dance troupe, women play whatever they want. In Chaos’ version of Romeo and Juliet, choreographer and lead dancer Naoko Shirakawa plays both star-crossed lovers, working her androgynous appeal to maximum effect. In our fair city, Chaos offers a version of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring that features black suit-wearing women gangsters hanging from harnesses and choreography that’s Martha Graham-meets-Janet Jackson. Wearing a dress this time, Shirakawa dances like a female Nijinsky, full of balletic fury yet very postmodern. At home in Japan, one critic, seemingly at a loss for words to describe H Art Chaos, said, “We might call it beauty of strong, flexible steel finished with silk.” At 8 p.m. at George Washington University’s Marvin Center Theater, 800 21st St. NW. $12. (202) 462-7833. (Holly Bass)