|
‘Footholds’ segment Exploitive relationships. Family members with issues. Manipulative "friends" and co-workers. We've all known 'em.
set dance guru free
Choreographer Helen Lee celebrates
her escape with "Elemental Traps"By John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.comChoreographer Helen Lee is celebrating her escape from an emotional trap or two with "Elemental Traps," her contribution to this year's "Spring Footholds" student dance showcase at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
"When I auditioned it I felt really completely naked up there because I've been in traps all my life, and the piece is kind of a letting go of all that," Lee said after a three-hour rehearsal this week.
"It's about traps in life, and relationships and how they can suffocate you and confine you. ... Life has been a constant trap for me trying to fit in or whatever (the issue) is, and I feel like I really need to do this (piece) for myself."
"Elemental Traps" celebrates, in part, her escape from a "horrible" two-year relationship and her uneasy relationship with her Korean-born parents in Chicago.
|
"My family has put me through a lot of -- but they've also been there for me through a lot. I wouldn't be here if my dad didn't financially support me through school, but I wish he would just be there for me emotionally."My sister, who's younger than me, already has her bachelors in Biomedical Sciences, and here I am, the older daughter, doing dance and theater. He's always been comparing us ever since we were little (and) I just want him to be proud of me."
No way was Helen Lee your stereotypically demure Asian-American girl.
"I got in a lot of fist fights and stuff in high school. One time I got in a fight when the snow was melting, and we were rolling around in the mud. I had to go home like that, completely covered with mud, on the bus! It was so embarrassing, and there was no possible way that my parents would understand that I got into a fight with a girl.
"There's a communication barrier as well because they're from Korea. I went to Korean school (in Chicago) trying to learn the language but I'd always be getting in trouble and goofing off."
Lee has made progress by studying Korean to fulfill the UH language requirement. She intends to become fluent enough to talk with her parents about her passion for dance and theater in their native tongue.
"I know they're proud of me for learning the language, but they've never seen me perform, and I want them to understand how I feel about what I do."
Lee plans to commemorate the debut of her piece by getting a small red star tattoo behind her ear. She got her first tattoo, of a fairy named Tuppence, when she was 21.
"I read "Lady Cuttington's Pressed Faerie Book" by Brian Proud when I was a sophomore in high school, and I saw this fairy and felt connected to her some how. I kept that image in my head for a really long time, and when I turned 21 she was still there so I got it done. She's kind of like my protector, and she inspires me in my work. She's been with me three years now."
Credit Tuppence when Lee also appears in "Spring Footholds" portraying a morphing caterpillar in "ecillAAlice," a piece choreographed by UH Bachelor's of Fine Arts candidate Michelle Francisco with an "Alice In Wonderland" theme. BFA candidate Kathy Arakaki will use toilet plungers and toilet paper in "Contemplation," a piece inspired by her bathroom experiences.
Lee's next project is choreographing for director Cassandra Wormser's Ernst Lab Theatre Late Night production of "The Yellow Wallpaper." Lee will create and choreograph the movements of three ghostly women who are hidden or trapped in the walls of the room by yellow wallpaper.
"I would really love to see more dancers doing theater and more actors in the dance department taking classes," she said.
Lee's extracurricular pursuits include full-time membership in one butoh performance group and understudy status in another. "I like to combine butoh with modern. Those are the two (styles) I feel closest to."
Watching Lee perform, it's hard to believe that she had no prior experience in theater and little formal dance training when she arrived here three years ago. She made her stage debut in the Ernst Lab Theatre Late Night productions of August Strindberg's "Easter" and "The Ghost Sonata" early in 2000, and blossomed. Lee distinguished herself with a riveting portrayal of Gowdie in HAPA's staging of "The Love Talker" at Leeward Community College that fall, and then teamed with Moses William Goods III for a Po'okela Award-worthy performance as Mephistopheles in Dennis Carroll's production of "Faust I"/"Faust II" on the Kennedy Theatre Main Stage last March.
Carroll was one of the first to encourage Lee when she arrived in Hawaii. She'd applied to UH partly because she'd become intrigued by hula and other Polynesian dances after studying with two Polynesian troupes in the Chicago area.
"I came here because I was sick of being in Chicago. I just couldn't handle it ... I'd never done theater before so I just figured that since I was leaving home I might as well try something new, and I fell in love with it."
Lee found dance "a bit of a struggle" because the degree requirements included classes in ballet and modern dance. She'd always loved the physical act of dancing but never took lessons.
"I felt alone in dance for a while, so (although) I was still declared a dance major I did a lot more theater for the first two years. After "Faust" I decided I needed to do more dance, and that's what I've been doing."
Lee, 24, has about a year left at UH, after which she plans to return to Chicago. If she continues on to graduate school, she'll go to New York. She's also interested in film and still photography.
"I'd like to check out some dance schools and see if I can get into some independent film work. I like mainstream (movies) to a point, but it's so media-oriented that I like more underground stuff."
Presented by the University of Hawaii at Manoa Department of 'Spring Footholds'
Theatre and Dance
Where: Ernst Lab Theatre
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: $9 ($7 for students, seniors, military, and UH faculty/staff;
$3 for UHM students with Spring 2002 I.D.); on sale beginning Monday
Call: 956-7655
Click for online
calendars and events.
