Of fluttering geese and butterflies

By Carol Egan
Special to The Advertiser

Anna Tam Chung of the Phoenix Dance Chamber performs a Tibetan dance. The ensemble performs Sunday at the Hawai'i Theatre. Carl Hefner 'Sandalwood Sojourns' A dance concert by the Phoenix Dance Chamber 4:30 p.m. Sunday Hawai'i Theatre $17, $22, $27 (includes $2 theater restoration fee) 528-0506, hawaiitheatre.com

Uncannily resembling the ballet solo "The Dying Swan," made famous by Anna Pavlova, this dance soon evolves into quite another style. It is the "Goose Dance" from Mongolia and requires superior control and balance.

Letoto's dark eyes shine as she later explains how a dance from the southernmost province of China, the land of the Dai people, has elements resembling the classical court dances of Thailand. Other influences to be seen include Russian ballet and Beijing Opera.

Whether it is the "Goose Dance," "Catching Butterflies" from Anhui or the humorous water dance from southwest China, Phoenix Dance Chamber's upcoming "Sandalwood Sojourns" production has something to please for everyone.

The performance, under the direction of co-founders Diane and Leon Letoto, uses theatricalized folk dances from many provinces to illustrate the history of Chinese dance in Hawai'i.

Colorful costumes, many of them made for the company in China, will lend charm to the Sunday concert at the Hawai'i Theatre.

The Phoenix Dance Chamber's own history goes back to 1989. That year, for the bicentennial celebrating the arrival of the first Chinese immigrants to Hawai'i, the dance program at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa invited a guest artist from Beijing. Among the students in the Chinese folk-dance class was undergraduate dance major Diane Letoto.

Surprised by the lack of Chinese dance companies in the state, Letoto, encouraged and inspired by the guest teacher, Liu Youlan, and aided by her husband Leon, founded Phoenix Dance Chamber, a company devoted to presenting works representative of many provinces of China.

Liu's visit was extended through the spring semester, giving the Letotos and other students a chance to learn numerous dances and styles from her. Before returning to teaching at the Beijing Dance Academy, she helped the Letotos found their group and establish dances.

Now based in Hong Kong at the Academy for Performing Arts, Liu Youlan has continued to be a source of inspiration and collaboration.

At first the small company of dancers performed primarily in Chinese communities. It filled the void caused by the lack of other Chinese dance groups and was especially in demand during the New Year's celebrations.

Meanwhile, the Letotos began to see another need.

"In 1991, Liu Youlan came back to help us develop a curriculum for students from children through adults. Leon felt it was necessary to establish a school which would provide a training ground. Liu helped with that and also expanded our repertory," said Diane Letoto.

The school now has 40 students, from 5-year-olds through adults. Gina Ling, teacher of the children's classes, also performs with the company.

"In 1992 we gave our first official stage performance at Mid-Pac," says Diane Letoto. "That's also the year we went to China for the first time. We went on a 'dance exchange,' traveling to Hong Kong, Kunming and Beijing to visit schools and companies, both professional and amateur. They would perform and teach Chinese dances, and we would perform hula and Chinese dances and teach them hula."

Since that time the company has done three more exchanges. "In 1995 we went to Mongolia and participated in a fire dance on the grassland, then, in Shandong province, we went to a village where more than one hundred dancers performed a drum dance for us."

The Letotos will do a five-city tour this summer.

Besides its classes, performance activities and dance exchanges, Phoenix Dance Chamber also travels to Canada every other year for a North American Chinese Dance Competition and served as co-producer of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts at the Hawaii Theatre in 2003.