By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Vilsoni Hereniko, left, wrote the play "Fine Dancing"
and Steven Rosenthal designed the set for the outdoor
performance on the beach at Magic Island.
Sand meets sea meets
MAGIC
By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto
Star-BulletinVilsoni Hereniko comes from a Pacific isle half as big as Niihau. His native Rotuma is 9 miles long by 2 miles wide -- on the map, a speck 300 miles north of Fiji. The 42-year-old author, playwright and educator has fond memories of the Rotuman beach at night -- of playing childhood games after dinner, and of passing sand hand-over-hand in the cool of evening to help build homes in Mea village.
Hereniko waited seven years after coming to Hawaii to write a play that takes place in his new island home. His 11th piece for the stage combines a love of the Rotuman sands at dusk with the sunset beauty of Hawaii; so the world premiere of his "Fine Dancing" will be staged at 7 p.m. Thursday on the beach at Magic Island.
Hereniko says the unprecedented production is reconsecrating or "reclaiming the beach."
"It's making Ala Moana Park a site for creativity and community and fun and enjoyment," he says, "and a place for learning about who we are, rather than, 'Oh, we can't go there; there are all those teen-agers, drug addicts and hookers.'
"Instead of fearing that space, we're transforming that space into a site of creative energy."
The play depicts an abused wife who escapes to the beach and is pursued by her police-officer husband. On the shore she encounters Hina, the goddess of the moon, who reveals to both wife and husband some dance moves -- that is, lessons of life and relationships.
The mustachioed Hereniko is lean and artistic looking. He is relaxed but alert as he sips fragrant macadamia coffee on his airy Kuliouou lanai and explains, "Life is about: How can you fine-tune your dance so that you're not stepping on other people's toes, you're not poking them in the eye? And how do you create harmony in a society such as ours which is so diverse and so different and so politicized?
"That's my biggest challenge in life," he says. "How can I learn to dance finely with everybody from different ethnicities, different backgrounds, different classes in society? They're very different from me, and how do you dance with all those people and intentions?"
The play and setting lend each other dramatic significance. Magic Island as dramatic venue, says Hereniko, is about linking land and ocean; people and their passionate potential; Polynesian oral tradition and Western theater.
"We're all a blend of the land and the sea," he says. "The beach -- that in-between, magical space that's neither land nor sea -- let's see where it might take us. We're doing this on this beach because it's 'Magic' Island, and you and I can be whatever we want to be as long as the magic lasts.
"There's a part in each of us that wants the magic to go on ... and that magic ties in with the world of dreams and the supernatural, the world that is below us and the world above us," he says, alluding to Hina and Pacific mythologies.
On the Magic and in the magic, set designer Steve Rosenthal encountered unique challenges in his first drama project. An environmental sculptor, Rosenthal creates huge, walk-through art works. He devised a 20,000-square-foot Sun Drum Village for First Night Honolulu 1992.
Rosenthal says he had to create a setting that goes up and comes down daily. He designed elements to enhance the 1,000-foot walk from the parking lot to the beach. And, he had to be mindful of dusk over the ocean.
"The backdrop, of course, is the sunset, visible from Waikiki, which is phenomenal," he says. "Part of my task was to keep people's focus on the play with that distraction."
The play starts at sunset, then darkness descends. "It's amazing, the darkness kind of creates a womb," Rosenthal says, "because the (torch and electric) light is kind of low to the ground, and it creates a dome of light. You sense the surrounding darkness.
"It's a fascinating play. The story is very much about the transformation that all the different characters go through and I'm simply creating an environment and an ambience that will amplify that."
Rosenthal says his greatest challenge was designing a three-tiered stage. Hereniko says the highest and smallest level requires the most dance finesse.
"This is a very confined space, so I am forcing a lot of action to happen in that space and in such a way that they're not stepping on each other's toes. So, the dance is a metaphor to fine-tune your life and learn to live and love each other."
Hereniko has taken many jetes of faith since leaving Rotuma at age 14. He studied and lived in England and Fiji, where he earned a Ph.D. from the University of the South Pacific.
This past weekend he and Jeannette Paulson of Hawai'i International Film Festival fame married. He is the play's director, she the producer. Together they have received a grant to turn the play into a film screenplay.
He says "fine dances" include such jetes for one's passions.
"It's hurricane season. Is it wacko, is it crazy?" he laughs about the outdoor production. "The one thing we cannot control is the weather.
"But to me it's a risk worth taking. That is life, isn't it? You just do your work and hope for the best and do all you can. But, there's always maybe 10 percent where it's just faith that it's going to work out."
'Fine Dancing'
A play written and directed by Vilsoni Hereniko, features an all-Polynesian cast.
Time: 7 p.m. Aug. 14 to 17, and 21 to 25
