“The culture of aloha means many different things. The aloha spirit is bigger and broader than love, than hello or goodbye,” says hula instructor Tatiana Kealoha Robinson, who grew up learning hula from her mother in their halau, or hula school on Oahu. More like a family than a school, a halau is a defining […]
Stephanie Silvia
Stephanie Silva directed her own modern dance company in New York City and is a student of American poet Diane di Prima. She teaches movement and writing.
Posted inArts + Scene
The Circle Keeps Turning
In some circles ballroom dancing never went the way of the Jerk, the Pony or the Watusi. Monday nights at the Moose Lodge in Eureka, those 50 or better gather for the Friendship Circle Ballroom Dance Club, a local tradition since 1951. The dance floor is always crowded with happy folk tripping the light fantastic […]
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Joyous Zumba
Six bucks can buy you a margarita. That’s also the fee consummate musician and merrymaker Marla Joy charges for the Zumba classes she teaches from Fortuna to Trinidad. “Drink one margarita and you might consume 300 to 600 calories,” Joy says. “You might feel OK, but for six dollars come in and get a better […]
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Do-Si-Do Your Partner
The Humboldt Folklife Festival, July 16-23, offers some fantastic opportunities to kick up your heels. While the early part of the week is dedicated to concerts, dancing takes over Friday night, July 22: The annual Festival Barn Dance at the Arcata Vet’s Hall is not to be missed. Monthly barn dances held by the Folklife […]
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When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
The first time Shelly Fugate saw Riverdance on TV she just got up and started doing what the dancers on the screen were doing. What being the hyperspeed version of traditional Irish step dancing performed with preternatural precision. “My feet just started doing it. My heart led, but my feet were doing it,” said Fugate. […]
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How Does Your Garden Grow?
What sparks inspiration? What causes the muses to say: Give in. Release me? Sometimes it’s a subtle nudge: a small poem, splashes of paint on a canvas, a sketch, a few movement phrases put together in the dance studio. And sometimes the spark turns epic. A symphony resounds. A fully staged ballet unfolds. A sculpture […]
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Twirling into the Cosmos
Just around the corner is Dance Class with Erin Fernandez’ Spring Concert*. Unlike her winter production, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, a staged ballet that follows the tradition of Nutcracker with the littlest dancers looking ahead to the roles they‘ll be dancing each year as they move up the ranks, Fernandez’ Spring Concert is a […]
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Humboldt Cinderella
Of course this Cinderella, our own Cinderella, A Humboldt Cinderella, wears Uggs. Forget that dainty slipper. (Who wears a glass slipper, anyway?) This is a ballet with bona fide ballerinas; an art form with a deceptively dainty reputation. In reality, ballet dancing is hard-ass work. Dancing in pointe shoes onstage may be the equivalent of […]
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Dancing in the Month of May
It’s hard to know where to start. For me, it begins with modern dance and then ballet: Their historic relationship of rebellions and reconciliations inform my inner dance life. But there is so much more. Dance was the first human artistic expression. Dance and the drum. Before language there was the sound of our nascent […]
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Dance Times Three
This is it. The ultimate group show, without allegiance to any school of dance or aesthetic. This is the day you get to see it all: young and old, experienced and up-and-coming, classical and modern. The Two Left Feet Dance Project gives dancers from all walks a chance to show their stuff. Choreographers rent their […]
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Defying and Defining Gravity
When the director of dance studies, Sharon Butcher, says the HSU Dance Department is “moving forward with great momentum and a powerhouse of new, extremely talented dancers,” she isn’t kidding. Gravity Defined, HSU’s Spring Dance Concert at the Van Duzer, boasts 46 dancers in 10 new works choreographed by students and faculty. All good. Major […]