Masculine energy powers Tau dance numbers

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

•	'Men Dancing' Presented by Tau Dance Theater and guests 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday Hawai'i Theatre $18, $23, $28 528-0506

Espiritu's background has provided him an impressive array of tools in his conceptual and physiological gearbox, tools the 'Aiea-born dancer and director of the Tau Dance Theater isn't shy about displaying.

"I see myself as a modern Polynesian, and I express what that means to me abstractly through dance," he says.

Case in point: Espiritu's ambitious new piece, "The Burning of Hopoe," based on the Hawaiian legend of Hopoe, who was turned to stone by the goddess Pele.

The piece, which Espiritu will debut this weekend at the all-male dance concert "Men Dancing," opens to a classic aria, progresses through a driving techno piece overlaid with a song by traditional Hawaiian artist Frank Hewett and finishes to the score from "Bram Stoker's Dracula."

"It's very athletic," Espiritu says.

Now in its third installment, "Men Dancing" marks the start of Tau Dance Theater's 2002 season.

For this year's performance, Espiritu has once again recruited a formidable roster of diverse talent, including Austin Hartel, director of Dalton-Hartel Dance NYC; Halau o Kekuhi; Andrew Sakaguchi; 24-VII DanceForce; Halau Hula Ke Kai o Kahiki; Sami L.A. Akuna; Ben Arcangel; Makana; Lopaka Kanaka'ole; and Kawai Cockett.

Espiritu says the show will cover a range of dance styles, such as hula, street and Javanese, each reflecting Pacific or Asian influences, and each powered by the masculine energy of the show.

"It's really rare," he says. "The only glimpses you might have of anything sort of like this are the all-male halaus at the Merry Monarch Festival. The intensity of these guys expressing themselves in their genre makes for a really powerful performance."

Espiritu says the camaraderie of the performers is infectious.

"A lot of times, people are so focused on what their doing in their own genre, they don't get to see what other performers are doing," he says. "This event sort of brings our community of dancers together. It's amazing to watch them watch each other with respect and, a lot of times, awe."