[NEohioPAL] Berko review: Inlet Dance Theatre's sold out performance at the Hanna

[Roy Berko]

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*A look behind the scenes at Inlet Dance’s marvelous evening of dance*

Roy Berko
(Member, Dance Critics Association)

Every once in a while a reviewer has the opportunity to not only see an
enthralling dance performance, but to experience it from the inside.  I
accomplished both when I not only saw Inlet Dance’s recent evening of
dance, but sat in on a rehearsal.

Inlet Dance Theatre’s sold out November 16 performance at the Hanna Theatre
consisted of two world premieres.

The opening number was a ten-minute excerpt from CHAKRA, choreographed by
Kapila Palihawadana.  Kapila is a Sri Lankan born
dancer/choreographer/founder and artistic director of nATANDA Dance Theatre
of Sri Lanka.  He is one of five international artists who are
participating in a three-month stay in the area through the Cleveland
Foundation’s Creative Fusion International Artist-in-Residence Program.
Kapila has spent his time working with Inlet dancers and engaging in
sharing his talents throughout the community.  The culmination of his
residency will be the full unveiling of CHAKRA at Cleveland Public
Theatre’s Danceworks ‘13.

CHAKRA, with mood-right lighting by Trad Burns, flowing costumes designed
by Kapila, Ivan Leccaroa Correra and Kristin Wade, and an original acoustic
drum score by Sean Ellis Hussey, was emotionally involving.  The athletic
piece, with strong leaps and powerful interactions, represented a
traditional healing ceremony.   The short excerpt insured pleasurable
anticipation of the forthcoming staging.

>From 2006 through 2008, Inlet Dance participated in the Ohio Arts Council’s
International Artist Exchange Program.  Artistic director Bill Wade
travelled to Easter Island to select an artist from the island to come to
Cleveland.  The next year Akahanga Rapu Tuki came to Cleveland  to teach
the Inlet dancers five traditional dances from Rapa Nui.  In 2008 seven
Inlet dancers travelled to Easter Island to complete the artist exchange.
They spent two weeks performing, teaching and exploring and forming a
“family” with the island residents.

The results of these exchanges inspired CENTER OF THE EARTH (TE PITO O TE
HENUA).  Developed in small segments, the final melding of the parts became
public at the Hanna Theatre presentation.  It will be repeated at the
International Performing Arts for Youth Conference in Philadelphia during
its January session.

The results of the years of effort was obvious to the enthralled audience.
CENTER OF THE EARTH is a tour de force.  The first segment, Hotu Matua,
explores the idea of a healthy interdependent community centering on the
journey of the people coming to Rapa Nui on canoes.  The water, the waves,
the cooperative movements were all vividly apparent.

Three women and then three men next illustrated the clear gender specific
roles and dances of the residents.  Exploring the island left an impression
of the physical environment and was illustrated in the fourth segment, Lave
Tubes, with the dancers forming visual images of the topography, the needed
dexterity to transverse the land, and how cooperation was required to be
successful.

Wind, created by whipping and interweaving with heavy ropes, gave a clear
vision of the ever present “voice” in every experience on the island.  It
incorporated the history, sense of ritual and the breath of life of the
Rapa Nui people.

Underwater World, a metaphor for uniqueness and diversity, unearthed
visions of turtles and other underwater sea life.  The ocean is always
there, always present in the life of these island people.

REPRISE was a repeated capsule of the entire program.  It was a
reinforcement that illustrated that the work was image based choreography,
rather than the traditional dance step based choreography.

I had the privilege of observing a rehearsal of the Hanna program at the
Idea Center on PlayhouseSquare.  The marvel of Inlet is its total
dedication to collaborative works, in an engaging example of a functional
family.  Both Bill Wade, who is a master at working interactively with his
dancers, much as he did when he taught at the Cleveland School for the
Arts, and Kapila Palihawadana, sought out input and integrated the views
and ideas of the dancers.  This technique is not usual in the dance world.
Most commonly, the choreographer develops the movements and implants his
ideas on the dancers.  Most often this is done through knowledge of
traditional dance vocabulary and historically developed movements.

Since there is no vocabulary for the types of dances being developed for
these programs, not only were movements being created, but a vocabulary was
developed.  According to the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis of communication, if
something has no name it does not exist in any form other than a quick
illusion.  To create permanency, and the ability to repeat and perfect the
ideas, they needed to be named.  This was evident in the idea development
as the interactive dances were created.

It was fascinating to watch how almost fifteen minutes was spent developing
the exact hand placements for an instantaneous segment.  Not once did the
choreographer tell the dancers what to do.  The dancers suggested,
practiced, worked it out, as Wade blended his views with the “family.”  It
was a lesson in true cooperative creation and the building of trust.  What
a lesson for others to learn of how to create without letting ego and power
be the rule of operation.  It was a true lesson on the building of
community, an important aspect of not only the motto of the people of
Easter Island, but of Wade, himself.

*Capsule judgement:  The Inlet Dance Theatre program was an experience that
anyone interested in community, healthy family relationships, ethnology and
sociology, let alone dance, should experience.  When the program is
repeated in other local venues, GO!  This is an absolutely MUST SEE
experience!*

Next up:  CHAKRA at Cleveland Public Theatre’s Danceworks ’13, April 11-13,
2013.
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