The UH-Hilo Performing Arts Center is opening its doors for an audience once again to present the Dance Collective as its first live show since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dori Yamada, associate manager of PAC, is producing the Dance Collective and is coordinating with several county dance studios as they prepare pieces for the Friday night show.
“The ongoing pandemic has made it more difficult to plan things. In past years, you could account for most things, but this has been challenging because speed bumps keep happening,” Yamada said. “Those challenges have been an added layer of difficulty for the show, so anything we present will feel victorious. We’ve had to overcome so much.”
The collective will bring some of the island’s most talented and passionate choreographers and dancers together from the Center Stage Dance Alliance, Island Dance Academy, N2 Dance, UH-Hilo’s own dance department and others.
While many of these studios have been able to put on shows on their respective stages, the Dance Collective gives the community a way to come together and support each other’s work.
“The dance community here is really small and all studios are kind of separated. Everyone does their own thing in their own space,” said Mana Hoopai, co-director of Center Stage Dance. “The collective gives the motivation for different studios to come together and forget we’re separated. We can watch each other dance and form a community that should already be here.”
Hoopai has been part of the Dance Collective with Yamada since the first one in 2016. He also participated in the virtual show in 2021.
“The collective is one of the best things that happens, we basically set our watches to September,” Hoopai said. “We all love to share what we’re doing and what our students are doing. There is a reason I’ve done it every year.”
After missing the live annual show for two and a half years, the sixth collective will showcase dances that reflect the emotions from the past couple years.
“Most pieces will be reflecting the emotions everyone has had since March 2020,” Yamada said. “There aren’t limitations on choreographers, they can explore all sorts of themes. A goal of the show is to support artistic, creative license for the people participating.”
Zoi Nakamura is a dance instructor, choreographer and student at the Island Dance Academy. She will be performing three pieces as well as presenting a choreographed dance with nine dancers.
“From a choreographer’s standpoint, it’s important to get dancers out and give them an experience of performing their art live,” Nakamura said. “As a dancer, I’m more nervous than I normally would be. It’s been so long and when we were prerecording dances, there was always the opportunity to start over if we messed up.”
”We haven’t been able to do this for so long, so I’m excited for that adrenaline rush and for the privilege of peer feedback,” Nakamura added.
Yamada is excited that dancers and choreographers have the ability to share their art again and enjoy the reciprocity from a live audience.
“I am so grateful to everyone for participating in the Dance Collective so we can have an event to share with the public to keep dance alive,” Yamada said. “Performers feed off crowd energy, because it’s so special to share the thing they’ve worked so hard on. It’s exciting.”
The performance will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Tickets for the general population are $20. Tickets for UH-Hilo and Hawaii Community College students, and children 17 years and under, are $10.
Proceeds will be used to provide performance opportunities for dancers in the island community and perpetuating the event.
Tickets are available on https://hilo.hawaii.edu/depts/theatre/tickets/.
Those who want to purchase tickets from the PAC Box Office can do so over the phone at 932-7490 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tuesday through Thursday.
The center’s box office window will no longer be open for walk-up purchases during the week. The window will be open for will call ticket pick-up and current event ticket purchasing two hours prior to each performance.
Face masks will be required in the theater until the UH-Hilo mask requirement is lifted on Monday, Sept. 19.
Email Kelsey Walling at kwalling@hawaiitribune-herald.com