Splashin’ time at ‘Atlantika’
By Nadine Kam
Nadine Kam photos
Ashley Layfield is the Spanish jellyfish in “Atlantika.”
Iona Contemporary Dance Theatre presented its splashy fundraiser “Atlantika” Saturday night at the Kahala Hotel & Resort, an event guests won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
Guests followed a procession of mermen, draped in blue veils, into the pool area where they were greeted by the spectacle of dancers reimagined as sea creatures, from a mermaid and feathery anemone at the entrance, to a towering sea dragon on stilts and covered with yards of streaming fabric. This may be one of Iona’s most elaborate events ever, the vision of creative director Cheryl Flaharty.
Among the guests was Henry Ian Cusick (that’s Desmond to non-”Losties”). Many of the guests dressed in blues, greens and other aqua tones to suit the night’s theme, so it didn’t surprise me that some of those I photographed at the beginning of the event ended up in the pool at the end of the night. I was just praying I didn’t end up in the pool by accident while running around the pool to shoot video. I was only sorry that I didn’t capture the moment the guests made their running leap into the pool. I had overheard them plotting, but thought they’d wait until after dessert.
Among those who ended up in the pool was Kenwei Chong, who also tried to get Cheryl into the pool. Dressed in white, she wisely ran for shelter.
Others inched closed to the pool and its warm water when presented with windup toys, that swam away, sometimes too far for them to reclaim, causing much sadness among the big “kids.”At a typical event, I might shoot 20 video clips, but because of the costumes and because the dancers move so well, I ended up with 66, a lot to go through.We were treated to s sound track of bubbly and psychedelic music of the ’60s by DJ Julien Palmarini. Hair, including Summer Partlon’s towering Octopussy beehive, was by Dack Quigley. Meanwhile, the part of the Ethereal Jellyfish, in white in the video, was played by the Star-Bulletin’s Michelle Poppler, who I totally didn’t recognize while shooting the video, even though she was an inch away from my face!
Rain arrived with dinner, sending some guests running for cover, which was weird, this being a water-themed event and all, but I had no doubt that in sunny Kahala, it would pass quickly, and it did, just a light blessing.
Food — such as sea critter fritters (baccalao) and pan-roasted kampachi with sea foam, mussels and clams — was rather slow to arrive and Cheryl said later, while toasting marshmallows beachside, that they had trouble getting started because no one seemed to want to sit down. Everyone was too busy strolling around, admiring the dancers and their extravagant costumes, photographing and videotaping all that was happening.
It was great fun an you can read the who’s and why’s about the event in my earlier story at http://archives.starbulletin.com/2008/08/21/features/story01.html
And original blog post at: http://blogs.starbulletin.com/fashiontribe
The living fountain, Robyn Franklin.
The lion fish.
The water was just fine for guests who made a running leap, evening dresses and all, into the heated pool near the end of the evening.
After the guests jumped in, more of the dancers, like the starfish (Jamie Nakama), had to take the plunge. Below, guests waited in the holding tank before stepping into Iona’s surreal world:
Dee Laris and her husband Omer Kursat. Dee helped sew many of the costumes worn by the dancers.
Nina Arizumi, left, and Sharyl Shultz came dressed in watery hues.
From left, Sarah Masciangelo, Matt Haley and Isis Godfrey-Byrne ended up in the pool by evening’s end.
Kenwei and Florence Chong gave new meaning to the idea of wearing fishnets. Knowing that most at their table would be wearing shades of blue, he felt they had to step it up and do something different, and Florence came up with their wraps while wandering the aisles of Ben Franklin earlier that day.
Denny Randall and Marilyn McCormick-Randall. Marilyn found this sequined dress in her closet, which reminded her of shimmering fish scales. If she didn’t have something that suited the theme, she said she would have bought something in the spirit of the annual event, which the couple has attended for a decade.
