PHOTOS BY FL MORRIS / STAR-BULLETIN
Rehearsing for the performance of "Ladies Night Out" are
Annie Motteler, foreground, and in the back, Deanna Luster,
left, Marie Takazawa, center, and Ann Smith.

Revenge of the
dancing women

An entire concert is devoted
to works choreographed
and performed by women

By Scott Vogel
Star-Bulletin

What's your first thought when you hear of an evening of dance called "Ladies Night Out"? Is it of Chippendale's strippers and that awful murder mystery movie on USA? Perhaps it's time you got your mind out of the gutter and your eyes off the double-digit cable channels. We're talking high art here. Not that "Ladies" doesn't have its affinities with TV. There's plenty of terpsichorean tumult and backstage suspense. There just won't be a murder.

As long as Peter Rockford Espiritu doesn't try to give any input at rehearsals, that is.

"We banned him because he's a man," said choreographer Rachel Berman, the associate artistic director of Tau Dance Theatre. This was not an easy thing to do. For one thing, Espiritu is the head of Tau Dance Theatre. For another, he is Peter, a man who is constitutionally unable to keep from poking his nose into such things.

"I wanted to, but they insisted that it should be just women, period," he said.

PHOTOS BY FL MORRIS / STAR-BULLETIN
Esther Izuo rehearses a solo dance piece.

Espiritu can't have been surprised. After all, it was his "Men Dancing," a biannual event since 1998, that provided the impetus for this year's variation. The choreographer's method was to assemble a veritable who's-who of Hawaii male dancers, presenting a program that included everything from jazz to ballet to modern dance. The ventures were well-received, perhaps too well-received. A backlash was inevitable, and it came courtesy the women of Tau Dance Theatre, who were no doubt beginning to feel neglected.

"We said, 'When are the women going to have a chance?'," laughed Berman, a 10-year veteran of the Paul Taylor Dance Company who recently returned to the islands upon her retirement from that venerable New York institution. With little provocation, Espiritu conceded that the ladies deserved an evening of their own, and immediately scheduled the program to open Tau Dance's fifth season.

Accordingly, the itinerary includes pieces choreographed by four women from Tau Dance -- Berman, Marie Takazawa, Betsy Fisher and Esther Izuo -- and the works have quite a kinship, however coincidental.

PHOTOS BY FL MORRIS / STAR-BULLETIN
Betsy Fisher rehearses a solo she's preparing for
"Ladies Night Out" at Leeward Community
College Theatre.

Berman noted that although each woman conceived of her dance without consulting the other, the dances all have a bluesy feel, the ladies having chosen music by divas as diverse as Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, Bessie Smith and k.d. lang.

"I think it's pretty heavy," said Espiritu, when asked how this year's program will differ from same-sex evenings past. "I noticed that in 'Men Dancing,' the pieces tended to be a little bit more frivolous. I don't want to say 'less deep' because the men will get mad. But I notice that the content of the (women's) work reflects their life, where they're at, what they love. It is deeply emotional and reflective of themselves -- even the light works."

Of equal interest are the pieces by other women on the program who, though working in different genres, share an intensity of commitment to choreographic seriousness. "Equinox" is the title of a piece by Lori Ohtani's Tangentz, a Butoh performance group. The women of Kenny Endo's Taiko of the Pacific, led by Endo's wife Chizuko, will perform two pieces. And Sing Sing Bliss has choreographed a traditional dance based on Chinese cave drawings.

Espiritu is particularly proud to be hosting the celebrated Halau O Kekuhi, which is bringing its own female energy from the Big Island. The award-winning halau is led by the daughters of Edith Kanaka'ole, kumu hula Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele and Nalani Kanaka'ole. Espiritu claims that their part of the program is not to be missed.

"This is one of the rare times that people on the leeward side can see this group," he said. "I'm really excited, I can't wait to see them myself."

But for now, Espiritu will have to content himself with occasional visits to rehearsal, not speaking unless spoken to. He seems genuinely impressed by what the women have planned for this weekend, even as he's obviously learning a bitter lesson: you don't need a man to put on an evening of great dancing. Then again, Espiritu taught us all the opposite lesson last year.

Ladies Night Out On stage: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday Place: Leeward Community College Theatre Cost: $15; $10 students, seniors and active-duty military Call: 455-0385

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