6 Questions for Pele Bauch

Photo by Stephen Yang

Pele Bauch is an interdisciplinary choreographer who combines dance with theater and weaves mixed media and set design into unique performances. Her recent work focuses on her journey as a "Hapa Haole" Kanaka Maoli (multiracial Native Hawaiian) navigating her lack of knowledge from her birthright culture. In a shared evening with Marina Celander, Pele Bauch presents A.K.A. Ka Inoa (also known as the name), which weaves supple movement, vivid characters, and personal story together with rope and name tags. A.K.A. Ka Inoa unpacks our expectations about racial identity and pushes them against the realities of personal identity, asking: What does it mean to "represent" one's race?

There are three performances of Shared Evening: Pele Bauch + Marina Celander in The Downstairs from April 22–24. Tickets can be purchased here.

1. How would you describe your work as a choreographer?

Dance with stuff. I always choreograph with everyday objects.

This time, a few thousand name tags litter the floor, encircled by about 60 paper bags that fill the
rest of the space. It’s visceral - with a moving expressive body. Then the objects bring a whole
story with them, and create context. So choreographing the interaction between body and
objects allows me to mold a visual experience. What does it mean to be named something? To
be labeled something? By working with name tags and paper bags, etc. I can move through
these questions and explore different experiences.

2. Who and what has inspired you?

Art is communion. Dance is my connection to fellow human beings and to my innermost self.
That’s what drives me.

3. What have you learned from creating and performing new work during a pandemic?

Creativity in all its forms is so vital. For one person it may be cooking a new meal, for me it’s
choreography. We need creativity, fun, love, imagination, connection to survive. When I wasn’t
choreographing (when shows were canceled), my experience of the pandemic slowly got darker
and darker until it was suffocating. And when I got back into the studio, everything started to
become more tolerable again. The first time I returned to the theater to see a live performance
after the lockdown, I cried with joy.

4. What should audiences expect from the performance?

Dance, story, paper bags, name tags... Did I mention the 300 feet of rope?

OK, but also. A.K.A. Ka Inoa addresses three audiences. To fellow Indigenous and diasporic
multiracial people who do not have the privilege of an education in their own culture: Many of us
feel lost, ignorant and isolated; we are not alone. To the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) who
are educated in Hawaiian cultural practices: I seek to be seen. To everyone else: I want to

expose this experience so that it is no longer invisible.

5. What are your upcoming plans for the rest of the year?

I am making a new work, commissioned by Women in Motion, called The Distance Process /
Dear Kanaloa. It explores distance and diaspora using what everyone is using to bridge gaps:
Zoom and Google Translate. I am working with Kealoha Ferreira, a Minnesota-based fellow
Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) dancer. The performance will be for in-person audiences in our
two cities simultaneously connected via live stream projection. Clearly, this is a piece conceived
during the pandemic, but we’re not just zooming because it’s there. It’s a continuation of this
work on diaspora and distance from one’s heritage.

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you?

It’s a real honor. It means being a part of a contemporary tradition of exploration and
experimentation.

I remember going to a show at La MaMa when I was a teenager (meaning a long time ago) that
centered on Hawai’i. I remember seeing the word “hula'' in the La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival
program description. La MaMa is the perfect venue for A.K.A. Ka Inoa.

Photo of Pele Bauch by Danny Boyd
Photo of Marina Celander courtesy of the artist

La MaMa presents

Shared Evening: Pele Bauch + Marina Celander

April 22 – 24, 2022

The Downstairs
66 East 4th Street, basement level
New York, NY 10003

Friday – Saturday at 8:30PM

Sunday at 4PM

Tickets:

Adults: $25 in advance; $30 day of show
Students/Seniors: $20 in advance; $25 day of show