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0

FRIDAY
OCTOBER 27, 2000

8

GET FUNKY WITH FOLCLORICO
Bale showcases South American dance styles -

6'

CourtesyFksgUMSs
Bale Foclorico jumps into action this weekend at the Power Center, featuring ensembles performing a variety of high-energy, traditional dances.

By Charity Atchison
For the Daily

1he
Bahia
Power
eleven

vibrant Bale F=olclorico da
is Coming to tz'ke over the
Center, just one stup on aii
week tour of the UniLted

Bale
Folclorico
Power Center
Tonight. Tomorrow
at 8 p.m.

States for the 32
member troupe.
A company
kno.vn for its
hih energy
level. the danc-
erS, IILsiciIns
and sini.!ers will
hopefuilly have
the audience
danlcin in the
aisles with their

program "Carnaval 2000." The Bra-
zilian carnival has its roots in Por-
tuguese pre-Lent celebrations. In
1 840 the first masked ball in Rio de
Janeiro was celebrated ascarnival.
"Carnaval 2000" will include
many elements of Brazil's history
and draw off ofall aspects of'Brazil's
heritage. The Afro-Brazilian martial
arts, which were developed during
Brazil's colonial period, "Capoeira."
will be performed as part of this cel-
ebration. Its steps are high kicking
and double as both dance and mar-
tial arts.
"Samba de Roda," a style oftsamba
that survives only in Bahia, is the
most popular dance rhythm in Bahia.
"Dan- De Origem" is based on the
legend of creation of the universe,
as interpreted through the African
religion Candombli.
rChes for rd



Other dances will come from the
sugar cane plantations that served
both an artistic purpose and were
used as a means of protection against
slave masters.
The piece Maculeli is still per-
formed in Bahia by fishermen. Its
purpose is to evoke the goddess of
the sea for a good catch.
Based out of Salvador in the north-
ern Brazilian state of Bahia, this
lively troupe is the only professional
folk dance company in Brazil.
Walson Botelho, the company s
general (;;rector, founded Bale Lol-
clorico in 1988. Later that year
the company won the "Best Perfor-
mance of the Year" at the Bahia
International Dance festival.
The company also received an
award from Fiat Industires given to
the best dance company in Brazil, the
aCial 1dentit*


"Fiat 90." They have also received
many other performance awards and
have enjoyed many successful tours
of Europe and the United States.
The company began touring the
United States with its 1995-1996
season. In their short existence. Bali
Folclsrico has gained much respect
for their ability to bring the folk
darce scene of Brazil to the interna-
tional stage.
Wherever this company goes they
receive warm welcomes from their
audiences.
Company manager Harry
Rakowski said, "These artists are the
most energy filled saturated group I
have ever seen and it seems to be
endless, especially on such a long
and difficult trip."
yIn 'Lee'

6

Courtesy ofBlue
Mose Allison appears at the Bird of Paradise with David "Fathead" Newman.

ilhythmic Afro-Brazilian MUsiC and
dance.
Bale Folclorico preserts t ,newest
Rekdal sea

azz Sage'
rings 40:
experienc(
By Christian Hoard
Daily Arts \writer

By Amanda Gardner
For the Daly

'Actually. the
jiga I not gone
explains Paisley
Paisley
Rekdal
Shaman Drum
jonight at 8 p.m.

book would not have been written
to the University of "Michigan,"
Rekdal who is surprisingly grate-
ful t a fellow graduate stu-
dent who accused her of being
ashamed she was Chinese
American. Mortified at this
assumption. Rekdal furiously
began her journey into the
depths of her confused soul.
This appallingly offensive
remark sparked Rekdal's
exploratory memoir, "The
Night My Mother Met Bruce
Lee" She writes with an honest
curiosity about all of the facets
of her identity that had been
preconceived by her face for
almost thirty years.

she is ostracized for being- mixed?:
Rekdal paints a picture of her family that would
confuse anyone. Her stories depict the interracial
relationship of her parents that is not fully accepted
by her grandmother. In her memoir, she cringes
as she watches her mother adamantly struggle to
communicate with a Taiwanese sales woman and is
forced to eat the only meal her mother knows how
to order.
Her poignant stories of misconception. misunder-
standing and loneliness probe past the confines of
racial identity. They explore gender, politics and his-
tory from the perspective ofa human being trying to
remember how it all explains her.
Her memoir is a compilation of random detailed
stories held together by her need to understand her
relation to these worlds in which she finds herself
lost. Her first friend Agatha. an African American
adopted by a white family, struggles with her own
identity; her white boyfriend struggles to convince
her that he can see beyond her skin color; her desire
to live in Japan because she fancied the art; her
tumultuous journey through China and her eye-
opening trip with her mother to Taiwan. All of
these worlds leave Rekdal with the same question,
"where do I fit in?"
In Korea she struggles to escape the unfitting
American stereotypes that she represents. Her
attempt to discover her identity in China, Japan and
Korea only continue to confuse her while simulta-
neously chipping at the core of her struggle, unveil-
ing what she had journeyed so far to discover, that
she wanted to go home; that she has not one identity
but "finely demarcated areas between want, belief
and feeling."
After attending the University of Washington and

Trinity College in Dublin, Paisley Rekdal received
an M.A. in Medieval Studies from the University
of Toronto and an M.F.A here at U of M. She has
received a Fulbright award and a Hopwood award
and has published poems and essays in Poetry North-
west, the Sonora Review. Crab Orchard Review and
the Chattahoochee Review amongY others. Paisley
Rekdal lives in Wyoming where she teaches poetry.
tAO-TNER MET BRUcr
4 '
P S Y
3 TTE sTK k "

t

"We'd like to carry on now and
play a song originally recorded by
Mose Allison, who's really a jazz
musician," says Pete Townshend,
just before the Who rip into "Young
Man Blues" on Live at Leeds. "And
I did read something on one of his
record covers that said he was a
'jazz sage.' Quite what that means, I
don't kniow."
Townslhend's confusion aside,
jazz sage' is a pretty fair description

Mose
Allison
Bird of Paradise
Tonight. Tomorrow
at 8 p.m.
AL0O

Rekdal attempts to discover
where she. the daughter of a Chinese American
mother and a Norwegian father, fits in. In retrospect
she- admits that she never talked about her racial
identity before, not because she was ashamed of it,
but because "no one wanted to hear about it." Or so
she thought.
Rekdal's non-fictional tales travel from her birth-
place, Seattle, Washington, which she describes as
a racially diverse environment, to the heart of Asia
where she searches for herself. In Asia she is the
parpdigm they have for white Americans and in
America, she's Chinese. So, where does she fit in'?
Alone in the backyard of her cousins house where

of Mose Alli-
son, who, at 70,
is very much
the grand old
man of a
crossover style
of light-bop
jazz and laid-
back blues. Part
Oscar Peterson,
part Ray
Charles and
part Nat King
Cole, Allison
has toured and
recorded for

1S~S
'Alison
years. of
e o Bi
Allison cut two albunm mo thc'h
Original Jazz label before mo
onto Prestige and Columbia R colds,
later finding a home di Atlalic
Records. Though Allis aiiaL± a
backer in Atlantic produceiru'tdlii
Ertegun, several Atlantic --execs -
as well as famed producer Jrry
Wexler - wanted Allison to folggo
his blues-jazz stance for sometrinng
more popular.
Allison demurred and st
around Atlantic long enough to.-Crn
out several classic albums, including
1962's 1 Don't Worry About a T/imng,
which was recorded just as Alli n,
who had previously only sang (I a
few cuts per album, remade hinelf
into to a full-on jazz balladeur.:-
If Allison's recent albums ha% en't
had the half-sardonic. laid-bick
swagger of his early work, G's
at least been consistent - - thee's
always the sweet, drawling ter
the wry lyrics, piano-playing tlat s
both understated and bop-flavored.
After six decades in the music
biz, Allison still tours heavily-and
is perhaps better suited than ever to
play the role of the world-wise piano
man than ever before - after all,
few singers could sound so coolly
detached when delivering ines Like
"I don't worry 'bout a thing /
I know nothing's gonna be alri
(from "I Don't Worry Abou ta
Thing").
Saxaphonist David "Fathead"
Newman will open Allison's shows
at the Bird of Paradise this weekend.
Newman, who first rose to-promi-
nence as a member of Ray Charles's
band, spent most of his carccr as an
ace sideman, playing with the lilaes
of Red Garland and Herbie Mann.
He's also had a long and disc
guished recording career of his o,
culminating in last year's Chi'llin, a
collection ofclassics ("Take the Q l-
trane," "Caravan") and Newmai's
originals.

r


Courtesy of Pantheon Books

a- -

ATTENTION WOMEN"'
LIBERATE YOURSELVES FROM MALE CONTROL.
WRITE FOR DAILY ARTS.

more than 40 years, never seriously
deviating from a musical formula
that blends genres while clinging to
a traditionalism that's largely rooted
in his Southern upbringing.
Allison grew up just outside of
Moorhead, Mississippi, where he
soaked up Southern blues and simul-
taneously fell in love with records of
Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller and
Earl Hines. After joining the army
and gigging as pianist with an Army
band, Allison graduated from Lou-
siana State University in 1953. Like
many an aspiring jazz musician,
Allison then moved to New York
City, first finding jobs as a sideman
before landing his own recording
contract in 1957.

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