A performance coming to the University of Hawaii at Hilo Performing Arts Center this week melds traditional dance and music with the contemporary.
Since their first collaboration, “Imaginary Homelands,” which premiered in January 2022, choreographer Yukie Shiroma, taiko master Kenny Endo, Okinawan music grand master Norman Kaneshiro and music educator Derek Fujio have been working on a continuation, “(re)imaging Homelands,” through original music and choreography.
Shiroma has been studying modern dance and Okinawan dance for over 40 years and currently teaches Okinawan dance courses for the University of Hawaii at Manoa Department of Theatre and Dance.
In this show, Shiroma is using traditional Okinawan dance movements to tell a story within the context of modern dance while still honoring the two as separate styles. The outcome is a fusion of the past and present.
“By studying a culture’s dance, you can see and understand what was happening 300 years ago, because dance is most often a reaction to the current environment around someone,” Shiroma said. “Dance is a hand-me-down from teacher to student, so dances are always changing. I think there is a way to continue and respect those traditions while still in the context of our present day.”
According to Shiroma, one of the main inspirations for both “Imaginary Homelands” and “(re)imagining Homelands,” is Salman Rushdie’s book of essays, “Imaginary Homelands,” which are the fictional creations of migrants who seek an understanding of the places they live now and the places they come from.
Rushdie writes about how, even when returning to one’s home country, those who migrate no longer feel at home because they have been inundated with ideologies from another world. To satisfy the loss of their homeland, migrants recreate these different versions of their homes in their memories, even if the version does not exist.
“When people migrate, they see their home with filtered glasses, and every time we remember something, we get further away from what happened. Everyone has a different perspective,” Shiroma said. “For Okinawa, when I visited for the first time, my Aunty told me that the war never ended for them, but for the U.S. and Japan, they got to go home.”
During World War II, the bloodiest ground battle took place on Okinawa Island and killed 149,193 people from Okinawa — approximately one-quarter of the civilian population. The U.S. military then came back to occupy the land, and now there are 13 military bases on the islands that have 100 fewer square miles than Kauai.
“While the story of Okinawa is very specific, we are expressing these feelings in a way that can be felt universally. We all have a connection to our ancestors,” Shiroma said. “Everyone from America, except native populations, are from somewhere else. The show is meant to inspire people to ask questions about their own lives and think about their own stories.”
Shiroma has reprised two dances from the original show and added three new ones — “Broken Mirrors,” “Kame Kame Luahine” and “Bones: A Life Once Lived,” which all center on recalling ancestral memories.
“Broken Mirrors” is about the fragments of memory that remain after leaving home, “Kame Kame Luahine” is based on Shiroma’s grandmother and the rhythms she had while washing rice in Okinawa, and “Bones: A Life Once Lived” is inspired by the conversations around returning remains to their respective homelands.
Eight contemporary dancers will be accompanied by live music — composed and performed by Endo and Kaneshiro, along with musicians Derek Fujio, Brandon Ufugusuku Ing and Jesse Shiroma — that will also intersect traditional and contemporary art through Japanese taiko, Okinawan sanshin and modern instruments.
“It is fascinating to have live music, because the sounds they create together truly takes you to another place,” Yukie Shiroma said. “Hawaii does not have many opportunities for anything like this, so we’re all very excited to finally be bringing the performance to Hilo.”
According to Yukie Shiroma, the goal of this show is the same as the original — showcasing experimental, collaborative work and inspiring young local artists who often believe they have to choose between the traditional and contemporary art worlds.
“(re)imagining Homelands” will be at the UH-Hilo Performing Arts Center from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. Tickets are still available online at artscenter.uhh.hawaii.edu or by calling the Box Office at (808) 932-7490 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tuesday through Thursday.
Email Kelsey Walling at kwalling@hawaiitribune-herald.com.