As the former dance critic for the Seattle Weekly and the Seattle Times, I still immediately assemble my thoughts and responses whenever I see a dance concert that stirs me. I can't help it: I know how hard it is to choreograph and perform dance well, I want to broadcast to the world every time I see something powerful and moving. Dance is a maligned art, yet there is so much mysterious, indescribable energy that can only be expressed through physical gesture. As Martha Graham explained: "The body says what words cannot."
After I saw last week's student concert, I trumpeted the acheivement and talent of the Big Picture students (and friends) all weekend, to everyone who would listen. Thus I thought I would pass along my thoughts to y'all as well. I was so impressed and inspired!
Oftentimes, cultural performances coast along, powered by the exoticism of music and dress, without ever really establishing a strong connection between witness and performer. The concerts get a sleepy, one-note feel after a while. Blame for these so-so experiences gets placed on inadequate venues, rehearsal periods, sound systems -- whatever. Yet your concert proved that those incidental elements will all hold up fine as long as they're consciously called to serve something larger and more brave.
Whether moving delicately or explosively, the Pacific Islander dancers summoned up and expressed the full totality of the dance they were performing - mystical, communal, earthly, divine - a dance of ancient, elemental power that one needn't expect all high schoolers to be able to convey. I cannot remember ever seeing such a range of movements - hugely fierce, tenderly soft - at such close range, with such a unity of spirit and passion amongst the group. In that big gym, seated on bleachers, the audience could see everything --and every swaying hip, every thrusting arm, cast us under its spell. The movements conveyed power beyond the personal, and took us all far beyond our individual moorings.
I was impressed enough by all of this, but then afterwards I learned that some of the performers had just learned these dances, tutored for only a couple of weeks in this unique, demanding style. That the newcomers assimiliated into the group so well is proof of the courageous tidal force of this whole endeavor. I take my hat off to the organizers, mentors and - mostly - performers of the Pacific Islander Cultural Festival. You should be proud. And you should do more!!
