ON STAGE
STAR-BULLETIN / OCTOBER 1966
Songwriter Kui Lee whispers to his wife, Nani, at the Waikiki Shell.
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The Tau Dance Theater celebrates its 10th anniversary with a tribute to Kui Lee
Hawaii's pre-eminent modern-dance troupe will devote half its 10th anniversary concert this weekend to a man of the '60s -- singer/songwriter Kui Lee.
In retrospect
Tau Dance Theater's "'Umi: 10th Anniversary Concert":
» Place: Hawaii Theatre
» Time: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday
» Tickets: $8 to $28
» Call: 528-0506 or visit the Web site hawaiitheatre.com
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Peter Rockford Espiritu and his Tau Dance Theater will dedicate the second part of their show to a premiere of "Ain't No Big Thing!" a tribute to Lee that will feature eight of his songs. Along with the title piece, "Rain, Rain Go Away," "All I Want to Do," "Kamakani Ka'ili Aloha," "Goin' Home," "Days of My Youth" and "Na 'Ali'i" receive a splashy, fun 'n' funky retro nod from Espiritu and company.
At Sunday's rehearsal at the Ballet Hawaii studios in the Dole Cannery complex, costume designer Puamana Crabbe brought in some of the company's costumes, all in white to honor Lee's memory. "They'll be accented occasionally with an old aloha shirt and mu'u," Espiritu said. "Some of them will wear bell-bottoms with flair, keeping with that funky Polynesian 'Hawaii Five-O' look. ... (It'll be) streetwise, cool and even a little sexy-looking."
COURTESY OF BBA
Lee at age 8, front, with another actor in a WWII propaganda film.
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A trio piece danced to Lee's "Kamakani Ka'ili Aloha" incorporated some hula, danced by Espiritu, Malia Yamamoto and Ka'ohi Yojo. The athletic finale, using the "hang-loose" title song, had the company doing a bit of a Texas line-dancing during the chorus. A romantic duet between Espiritu and Marie Takazawa on one of Lee's most beloved songs, "I'll Remember You," brought out applause from some of the dancers watching the two rehearse.
"The whole idea of the Kui Lee project was to reintroduce the man and his work to a new generation -- or even two," Espiritu said. "For example, 90 percent of my company had never heard of Kui Lee.
"Our kuleana as a modern dance company is that we're about Hawaii, and our responsibility is moving our culture into the future. ... Kui Lee broke that ground back then. He brought Hawaii into the contemporary music arena, and his songs are still fresh and new and swinging."
(The man's mana was such that, when Elvis Presley did his "Aloha from Hawaii" concerts in January 1973, ticket and merchandise sales benefited the Kui Lee Cancer Fund, in honor of the composer who died of the disease while only in his 30s.)
COURTESY OF BBA
Artistic director Peter Espiritu and Holly Chung rehearse the dance "Petroglyphs" in the Ballet Hawaii studios at Dole Cannery.
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Espiritu will intersperse some of the dances in the Kui Lee suite with video remembrances from those who knew him. "It'll help get out the background of the man, who apparently was very approachable, fast-moving and funny."
Those featured include Jimmy Borges, who knew him more on a professional level, and Dr. Mike McCabe, who "knew Kui as a buddy. They were this wild, yin-and-yang thing."
A little-known fact is that Lee started off as a dancer and choreographer named Kimo Lee. "I've seen pictures of some of his dancers, and with the leaps and extensions, they almost look like they could be dancing in my company.
"This guy was it, and to this day, it helps us understand how he was invested in the native culture, to be very Hawaiian but with a New York edge. ... Don Ho became legendary because of his music."
Through a decade of choreography, Tau Dance Theater has had vibrant collaborations with other local musicians, dance companies and hula halau. But this weekend, the focus will solely be on the talented dance troupe.
The first half of the Hawaii Theatre concert will feature a retrospective of some of Tau's earlier heralded works. A trio of well-known pieces, from "Waipio Paka'alana," "Hula Blues" and, particularly, the starkly evolving and cyclical "Petroglyphs," will be brought back to life.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Mayu Omura and other Tau Dance Theater dancers rehearse their moves for the "Petroglyphs" dance.
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Espiritu is confident that the latter piece is still "so strong that, 50 years from now, it still will be groundbreaking. It really shows the abstraction of an idea, of stagnant forms carved in lava, and to have bodies translate them into human mobiles. A piece like this transcends its cultural base."
The concert has been staged with the financial help of a dance-and-fashion-show fundraiser held last July at the O Lounge. Espiritu is happy be back at the palatial downtown theater where the company made such a splash years ago.
"Even though Tau was established in 1992, I count our real start from '96, since then I could actually pay my dancers."
He notes that more than half the company has been with him since the beginning. "Holly Chung, who also performs in 'Ulalena' on Maui, and Marie (Takazawa) -- she and I are the salt of the earth to Tau Dance Theater -- we've been dancing duets for years. Also two men who'll be dancing in 'Petroglyphs,' Quinn Allen and Squire S. Caldwell."
Tau's goal is "responsibly moving culture through the arts in Hawaii." Many of the dancers are skilled in both Western technique and hula, Espiritu said.
"Tau is about making connections ... and it has to do with identity. This company is only made up of local dancers who live and work here in Hawaii. I'm proud of that."
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Marie Takazawa and Peter Espiritu practice their moves for "I'll Remember You," one of the tribute dances for songwriter Kui Lee.
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FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Quinn Allen carries Miyuki Okajima during the company's finale tribute to Kui Lee, "Ain't No Big Thing!"
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