DANCE SCENE
'Nisei' tells World War II story in dance

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

•

'Nisei' With Covenant Dance Theatre, Kenny Endo and Lane Nishikawa Opening gala dinner, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Leeward Community College; (tickets $100, $50 for 8 p.m. performance only), to benefit the Library of Congress Veterans History Project in Hawai'i. O'ahu — 7:30 p.m. July 4; 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. July 5, Leeward Community College. Free parking and 11:30 a.m. shuttle for July 5 matinee from Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. Tickets: $15-$35. Kaua'i — 7 p.m. July 8, Kaua'i Community College Performing Arts Center. $15-$25. Big Island — 7:30 p.m. July 11; 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. July 12, University of Hawai'i-Hilo Theatre. $15-$25. Maui — 7:30 p.m. July 15, Maui Arts & Cultural Center. $15-$35. 947-5702; Neighbor Islands. 1-888-598-8115.

Her father, Lawrence Hirokawa, never volunteered any information, but for the purpose of writing a paper when she was at Waiakea High School, the Hilo-born dancer had drawn out some stories. Some of the story of his years with the famous 100th Battalion is told, wordlessly, through his body.

"He has a glass eye and a scar on his back because of shrapnel," Hirokawa said. "I had to ask him about the war, because of the high-school paper. He never brought it up. The more I talk to people with World War II parents, the more I realized that this is typical. They don't talk."

Hirokawa and her Covenant Dance Theatre of New York will talk for them this week, as a statewide tour of her homage to the Japanese-American veterans, "Nisei," begins Thursday. The score includes original music and excerpts from radio broadcasts, but much of the story, again, is told wordlessly, through the dancers' bodies.

Hirokawa performed at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo before earning her bachelor of arts in dance at the University of California at Irvine and then moving to New York.

In 1989 she founded Covenant, which comprises a performance company and school, and since then has created a new work for the company every two years. Like many dance performer-teachers, Hirokawa choreographs partly to give her student dancers a chance to appear with professionals. She said she found it easier to blend dancers at various skill levels if she conceives the work herself.

The idea for "Nisei" came in the course of planning a dance work on a more general wartime theme, when someone expressed surprise to hear about soldiers of Japanese ancestry fighting with the Americans.

"They said, 'I thought they were the enemy,' " Hirokawa recalled. "I realized how little East Coast people know about that part of the war.

"And then friends told me, 'People don't really know about those soldiers. Why don't you do your production on that, since your dad was one?' "

The work premiered two years ago at the Richard Perry Theatre in Brooklyn, and although the idea of bringing the production home to Hawai'i lurked in the back of her mind, Hirokawa waved off such thoughts as "a crazy dream."

A message from Hilo changed her mind.

"I got an e-mail out of the blue from Jackie Johnson, a drama professor at UH-Hilo," she said. "I grew up dancing in her musicals. In her last paragraph, she said, 'Wouldn't it be great if you came back and brought your company to do "Nisei" here?' "

Johnson then enlisted the university theater to be the first co-sponsor of the tour and introduced her to managers at the other venues: Leeward and Kaua'i community colleges and the Maui Arts & Cultural Center.

And now several relatives have signed on as joint producers on each island, her sister Laurie Hamano chairing the overall committee.

The program includes performances by the Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble and O'ahu-born actor-playwright Lane Nishikawa, as well as Covenant's "A New York Rhapsody," a 20-minute piece set to George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."

Ballet Hawaii dancers will join the 26 New Yorkers onstage, as will several veterans themselves, in walk-on appearances. They, said Hirokawa, are the real stars of the show, which opens and closes with a scene of a child hearing the Nisei war story from her grandfather.

"The biggest thing that struck me is telling the story of the generations," she said. "This is one legacy that should be carried on."