By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Onoe Umenosuke, left, adjusts a specially made kimono
worn by Gertrude Tsutsumi. The kimono is designed to
come loose at the pull of a string to make for a quick
mid-performance costume change.
Classic Japanese performance
By Cynthia Oi
makes room for an exploration of hula
Star-BulletinA mixed pot of performance arts will cook on stage when the Onoe Kikunobu Dance Company presents three concerts this weekend at Kennedy Theatre.
Artists from Japan and Hawaii will serve up their talents in different segments each night, but the main course will be the company's traditional dance pieces.
The concerts also will compare different forms of Japanese dance and contemporary hula, said Gertrude Tsutsumi, a dance instructor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and teacher of the Onoe School of Dance.
Onoe School members will dance to the Danny Couch recording, "These Islands," with choreography by Onoe Kikunojo II, the school's headmaster.
Then kumu hula Victoria Holt Takamine will lead her dancers in performing to a Japanese song, "Kawa No Nagare No Yo Ni (Flowing Like the River)," sung in Hawaiian and English. The Onoe School then will dance to the same song sung in Japanese.
The program includes karaoke and other contemporary performances, but the heart of the concert is the traditional dance.
The Onoe School performs Nihon Buyo, a dance form that developed in the Edo period of Japan with roots in Kabuki and Noh, said Tsutsumi, whose professional name is Onoe Kikunobu.
The different styles of dance and music will yield "enlightening" performances, she said.
"I hate to brag, but the dancers, I think, do a pretty good job."
Onoe Kikunobu Dance Company
On stage: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday
Click for online
calendars and events.
