By Carl Hefner, Special to the Star-Bulletin
Summer Partlon as young Pele and Una Starbuck, below, as Hi'iaka in
Iona Pear Dance Theatre's production of "Hawaiian Myths & Legends."
Hawaiian legends wax eclectic
By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto
Star-BulletinOpalescent lava. Live fire. Black netting filled with stars. 'Ohi'a-lehua branches painted metallic black. Handmade feather capes in rainbow hues. Fluorescent paints pouring over bodies. These opulent elements are part of this weekend's premiere of "Hawaiian Myths & Legends" by the Iona Pear Dance Theatre.
In Hawaii's multicultural tradition, Iona Pear artistic director Cheryl Flaharty presents indigenous mythology with both the showiness of Western materialism and the spirituality of Japanese butoh.
Butoh is characterized by nearly nude dancers wearing white body paint. The improvisational school of dance is in the moment, neither past nor present -- yet both past and present. The butoh-influenced Iona Pear company is making its first full-length foray into the folklore and deities of these islands.
It's "edgy," Flaharty says, bending at the waist and gesturing with great extension. She sits lithely, with dancer-straight posture, in her Kailua home/office/dance studio on a recent warm afternoon. The house interior is painted white as a butoh dancer. New Age music plays in the background. A chemical smell comes from the yard, where dancer/workers flameproof 'ohi'a tree limbs before painting them.
"There's maybe a feeling of, 'Are we going to respect the culture in this piece because we are a very avant-garde, contemporary dance company?' "
Flaharty had seen twice the Kanaka'ole Foundation staging of "Holo Mai Pele" -- the travels of Hi'iaka. Then, she had journeyed to make offerings at Volcanoes National Park. There, she gathered 'ohelo and lehua to weave a haku lei.
"The moment I placed the lei on my head, I knew that the lei was not from me, it was from Hi'iaka and that I was asked to take it across the lava and give it to Pele," she recalls.
"I really felt with that experience, A) that I was given permission to make this dance, B) that I really understand Pele and Hi'iaka. I had gone there seeking Pele, but you can't have Pele without Hi'iaka, and you can't have Hi'iaka without Pele. And, I totally understood the balance between these two," she says of the polarity of Pele and Hi'iaka, destruction and creation, lava and 'ohi'a-lehua.
By Carl Hefner,
"It was a very wonderful experience for me, that was when I started the piece."
Special to the Star-Bulletin
Norbert Larsen plays
the role of Kamapua'a.The production is an unprecedented collaboration of at least four remarkable females -- Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, contemporary Hawaiian playwright; Leina'ala Kalama Heine, kumu hula and longtime dancer in Brothers Cazimero shows; sing-er/composer Melinda Carrol; and Flaharty herself, a prize-winning choreographer whose cache is melding the dance with visual art.
For "Myths & Legends," Kneu-buhl provided narration for a provocative segment on the lusty pig god Kamapua'a, while Heine chants and Carrol sings and composed (with David Kauahikaua) for a segment on young Pele.
The troupe's part-Hawaiian assistant director is Sam Laulakokeakuaaloha Apiu "Sami" Akuna. Akuna dances the part of Lohi'au and admits feeling "iffy" about the production, which translates ancient stories using nontraditional dance forms. But he said a short performance for fourth through sixth graders at Anuenue Hawaiian-language immersion school got a positive response.
"The reaction made me feel better about premiering the show at the Hawai'i Theatre, being that it's a Hawaiian immersion school. They were excited. I think they really enjoyed it."
Iona Pear's other assistant director is Caroline Sutton of Austin, Texas, who holds a master's degree in dance from the University of Hawaii. The ethereal dancer has fair hair and face punctuated by large dark eyes. She joins David DeBlieck in depicting the "tree love" of the 'Ohi'alehua legend.
By Carl Hefner, Special to the Star-Bulletin
Sami Akuna as Lohiau.
She explains that 'Ohi'a and Lehua were happily married, but the jealous Pele destroyed the couple. Pele later relented and revived the couple as the 'ohi'a-lehua tree -- bonded forever as strong, rough bark along with lovely, delicate blossom.Sutton says tree love transcends human eros love and platonic love: "When you go to the tree realm, all of those sort of human kinds of love don't have definition anymore. In tree love you just exist together in harmony.
"When David and I perform that, it is a very pure feeling of eternally being loved and supported by another soul, and having your individual existence as well. It almost sounds like an ideal human relationship: Individuals support each other's growth, always being there for another person but without being obstructive. And you know that, and it's without judgment, and you love each other in the moment."
Sutton said each time she and DeBlieck intertwine in the dance, they perform it a little differently, because butoh means freedom and suspending judgment.
"There's no right, no wrong, there just is ... That's why it's very powerful as a theater form. All of the dancers are completely honest with their energy, with their presence on stage. There's no screen, no filter."
Dancers in the moment recreate Hawaiian antiquity -- neither past nor present, yet both past and present.
On stage
What: "Hawaiian Myths & Legends" presented by Iona Pear Dance Theatre
