Theatrical dance show “ON TIME,” presented by Prince Dance Company, was held May 11-12 at Kahilu Theatre in Waimea. The show featured a mix of dance types including hip-hop, ballet, contemporary, urban and circus performed by students from Prince Dance Institute.
In an interview with Big Island Times, Angel Prince—founder of both Prince Dance Institute and Prince Dance Company—discussed the highlights, challenges, and inspiration of the show and why it was a “resounding success.”
Q: Tell us about the performances.
A: We had approximately 800 people in the two shows on May 11 and 12. Highlights of the performance were the spoken word pieces with the dancers which happened throughout the performance. There were 100 students ages 7 to adult performing and a mix of monologues, scenes, various styles of dance, circus arts in the form of trapeze and aerial silks, and singers, all performing to a backdrop of contemporary music.
Q: Would you say the event was a success?
A: The event was a resounding success. It was a mix of heady intellectual dialogue around humans' sense of time and all its mysterious facets told through an absurd romp one part Alice in Wonderland, one part philosophical texts, one part contemporary and urban dance and a dash of circus. The audience gave a standing ovation at the end and we had audience members return again for a second night. Feedback was that it left one thinking about time in new ways.
Q: Did the production team face any challenges in bringing such a complex, multi-faceted performance to life?
A: Yes the material itself was challenging. How do you address a topic that not even the greatest minds of our time have been able to answer? Einstein has come close to the theory of relativity but still we don’t understand how space time works. But the technical aspects of the show, the combination of multiple genres, is something that Prince Dance has been doing for 20 years. This was Prince Dance’s 20th original show and was probably the most smooth and trouble free of them all, which is due of course to an amazing team of professionals who have been working together for years. The gift of giving student performers the opportunity to be directed on a world class stage with a team of seasoned professionals in an original, contemporary show is very unique, and quite a special occurrence in Hawaii.
Q: How did the collaboration between the choreographers and cast contribute to the overall narrative of 'ON TIME’?
A: The choreographers were given the theme and also some ideas to play with and then allowed to come up with their own approach to the questions of what is time? The actors were given time to explore the topic using divisive theater to create characters. Writers — Noelani Anderson and myself — wrote an initial draft and then took the story and melded the choreographer's pieces into the script, to make a cohesive show that was woven together with all the parts that were contributed.
Q: Anything else you like to add?
A: Some of the actors and dancers didn’t receive their parts until two or three weeks before the performance. That is a very short time for amateur, student performers. Despite the tight timeline everyone was able to memorize their parts and pull it off seamlessly. Our lighting designer, Kristin Lake created a beautiful rainbow color scheme that she used throughout the show. One of the characters, Photona, who represented timelessness, which is light, the only thing in our known universe to be “timeless” appeared throughout the show with rainbows as her signature look. Jumping off the inspiration of the light and all its waves, Kristin created a beautiful rainbow on the cyclorama and in the overhead light schematic, which was a first in the PDI shows, every time Photona appeared on stage. Costume designer Michelle Harman created over 200 original costumes for this show as well, many of which the performers got to take home with them at the end of the run.
For more information about Prince Dance Institute, visit princedanceinstitute.com.