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Taipei dancers
Taipei National University of the Arts Dance School

Experience the finest dances, dancers and choreographers from Asia and the Pacific at the Asia Pacific Dance Festival. This year’s theme is “journeys” and the festival will showcase New Zealand’s Atamira Dance Company, Taiwan’s Taipei National University of the Arts, Korea’s Samulgwangdae and Hawaiʻi’s Hālau Nā Kamalei O Līlīlehua.

Besides spectacular performances, the festival also includes activities such as workshops, university course offerings, public lectures, forums and community demonstrations that aim to increase understanding about these important cultural art forms.

Performances are held at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Kennedy Theatre and the classes, workshops and other activities are held at the East-West Center and in the community.

Festival Schedule

  • July 8–26

    Asia Pacific Dance Festival Summer Intensive

    Over the course of three weeks students enjoy technique and repertory classes taught by the festival artists, as well as a Dance in World Cultures academic class taught by UH dance faculty.

  • Thursday, July 11

    Living the Art of Hula
    7:30 p.m., Kennedy Theatre, tickets are $5 to $60

    A conversation and performance with nā kumu hula Robert Cazimero, Michael Pili Pang and Vicky Holt Takamine. These kumu hula have been leaders in the hula community for the past three decades. The performance is divided into two parts—the first half is a conversation with the kumu hula and the second half will be a hula concert showcasing their creative choreography.

  • Members of Samulgwangdae
  • Sunday, July 14

    Samulgwangdae—Dance and Drums of Korea
    2 p.m., Kennedy Theatre, tickets are $10 to $60

    The members of Samulgwangdae are boyhood friends, protègès of samulnori master drummer Kim Duk Soo, and are now internationally touring, virtuoso percussionists in their own right. Thrill to their contemporary and theatrical reinterpretations of traditional farmers’ band music, shamanistic ceremonies and acrobatic military exercises.

  • Friday, July 19

    2013 Asia Pacific Dance Festival: Welcoming Ceremony
    6 p.m., East-West Center Friendship Circle, free and open to the public

    A welcome ceremony featuring the festival’s artists.

  • Saturday, July 20 and Sunday, July 21

    2013 Asia Pacific Dance Festival: Journeys

    Saturday’s performance is at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday’s performance is 2 p.m., Kennedy Theatre, tickets are $5 to $60

    A different performance each day with the festival’s featured artists Atamira Dance Company, Taipei National University of the Arts, and Hālau Nā Kamalei O Līlīlehua.

  • Sunday, July 21

    2013 Asia Pacific Dance Festival: Humanities Forum
    4:45 p.m., East-West Center’s Imin Center-Jefferson Hall

    Sunday’s performance is followed by a discussion with the visiting artists and special guest dance critics Deborah Jowitt and Steve Villaruz.

Tickets are available online, by phone at (808) 944-2697, or at any UH Ticket outlet (Stan Sheriff Center, Rainbowtique Store in Ward Center and the UH Mānoa Campus Center ticket office), service charges apply. Advance sales end at midnight the day prior to the performance. For more information call (808) 956-8246.

The Festival is a co-production of the East-West Center Arts Program and the University of Hawaiʻi Outreach College with additional support from the University’s Theatre and Dance Department.

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