Skygate at Honolulu Hale / At the center of the Skygate statue of Honolulu Hale stands a woman draped in an aqua gown. Water pours forth from her headdress and gloved fingertips. She is a living fountain–and the centerpiece of IONA Contemporary Dance Theatre’s latest creation “The Living Earth.”

Mother Nature, a shiny brown roach, bodhisattvas, animals and constellations are on deck as well for IONA’s biggest show to date, with 30 dancers in stunning costumes designed–as they have been since the company’s inception in 1990–by artistic director and founder Cheryl Flaharty.

A week before the show’s June 4 opening, the work isn’t quite done.

“There are lots of costumes in the living room and needles in the rug,” Flaharty says, describing her Kailua home where the pieces are built and stored. “One of the main costumes has been started, but barely.”

There’s no trace of panic in her voice, however. Flaharty has sewn up 11 new works in the past 19 years and she has her system down. “I have a few very devoted women who have been with me for years. They enjoy seeing the vision come into form. It’s an amazing process,” she says. “I’ll design Saturday night, pin it on the dress form, and my seamstress will come in early in the morning and start sewing where I’ve pinned. That’s often how that happens, a mad dash to the finish line.”

The concept for “The Living Earth” came a year ago. At an IONA performance on Lanai, Flaharty witnessed the profound impact her dancers were having on the audience. “They were so enamored and reverent. I realized that people can actually go there and honor the universe, or the power of love, that’s moving through that dancer, and be with that energy through the vehicle of the dancer,” she says. “I watched it happen. It brought tears to all of our eyes.” The idea for the bodhisattvas–enlightened beings–came to her, and the show was born.

Dance rehearsals began, which, through the improvisational nature of the company allowed for much creative input from the dancers. As Flaharty describes, “I’d say, ‘you are the earth bodhisattva. This is what your costume looks like. It goes from the sky all the way down to the roots. This is what you’re channeling.’ So they work with that and when they finally get the costume, the whole thing comes together.”

In the meantime, an outdoor venue was needed. With a $5,000 grant in hand from the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts, Flaharty secured the grounds at Honolulu Hale, which presented its own set of challenges. “They’re very particular about the grass, the garbage, the parking…It’s been a big learning curve.”

But not without its benefits. The sacred geometry behind the design of Isamu Noguchi’s Skygate statue–the tubular tripod between Honolulu Hale and the Municipal Building–turned out to provide the perfect harmonic setting for “The Living Earth.” Branching out from the center altar where the living fountain flows are nine viewing tents, or “Gates of Awareness.” Prior to the show, audience members choose to follow one of nine paths–with themes such as unity, bliss or rhythm–thus sealing their itinerary. Their chosen path determines the order in which they move from tent to tent. After the ninth, everyone has seen the entire production.

“What ends up happening is everyone who chooses a certain path will be together every time they go to a new tent,” Flaharty explains, “and they’re going to start to realize by the end of the third tent that they’re a little group. And that’s one of the overarching goals of the show is to create a sense of community.”

Within the nine tents, dancers interpret issues worth thinking about as we go about our day-to-day existence–world peace, biodiversity, animal rights, Mother Nature, metamorphosis, nuclear disarmament, cultural and religious diversity, global warming solutions and environmental protection–but entertainment is still key. The show’s mission, Flaharty explains, is not to bog down an audience with metaphysical challenges, but to stimulate hope and awareness along the artistic journey. “We want to encourage the audience to go up to the bodhisattva, or to take water from the living fountain, as a blessing of this time of change.”

After the show, the audience can meet up at the Green Café (with food from India Café on Kapahulu). “We got a liquor permit,” Flaharty says. “So you can go with your friends and have supper and a glass of wine. And talk about it.”

IONA Dance “Paint By Number” on the Andy Bumatai Show

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