University of Hawaii Manoa ‘queer dance’ course among first in nation

To the uninitiated passerby, the 1970s disco beat of “Bad Girls” by Donna Summer booming out of a dance class on the upper campus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa might seem at first for its whirling students to be just a moment of retro fancy.

But this is one of the first “queer dance” classes in the nation. And so in between the signature moves of the queer dance genre, history and culture are being taught, and exploration and self-determination are being encouraged.

As queer theory and queer studies emerge in curricula at UH and universities across the nation, UH Manoa has become one of the first higher-education institutions to offer a full­-semester, three-credit, performing arts practice-based course in queer dance, UH officials say. It is an official elective course applicable toward UH degrees in dance and in queer studies.

UH officials refer to the class an “opportunity to explore the communicative, physical and artistic aspects of dance as a medium of human expression and interaction.”

But students learn more than movement here. As pupils are taught dance lecturer Sami L.A. Akuna’s version of choreography for “Bad Girls,” for instance, Akuna also weaves in local historical context. In this case, Akuna — a celebrated drag queen icon also known by the stage name Cocoa Chandelier — recalls how at least three generations of queer performers in the islands know versions of this routine.

The origins of numbers like this, Akuna says, run back to vanguard female impersonator shows in the 1970s, including The Glade in Honolulu’s Chinatown. Akuna draws from decades of experience in entertaining on stages across the mainland and in Hawaii.

“A lot of that choreography — call them line numbers or production numbers — have been kind of handed down from show to show, with each director adding their own influences,” Akuna explained in a Honolulu Star-Advertiser interview. “If you would play the song ‘Bad Girls’ (now) … there would be some kind of collective choreographic experience because the three generations will be able to execute that choreography, which is something that I find quite fascinating.

“It’s just like hula, you know, with the kumu passing down their knowledge,” continued Akuna, who is part Native Hawaiian, and mahu — in Hawaiian culture, a third gender that embodies masculine and feminine characteristics. “Hawaii has a very unique kind of culture that surrounds drag and queer performance. It comes from mahu, it comes from mixed races, Asian Pacific Islanders, all of us that grew up here and kind of have this shared experience. … I want students to have that historical embodiment.”

Some of the movement at first glance might look similar to popular styles of contemporary jazz and hip-hop seen on TV shows such as “So You Think You Can Dance” and “World of Dance.” But watch a little longer and it becomes easy to spot key influences such as drag, ballroom, runway, vogue and pageantry. Some impersonation, lip-syncing and pantomime find their way into routines as well. The style has been popularized by numerous music artists, including Madonna and Lady Gaga.

Akuna, who holds UH bachelor’s degrees in dance and theater, and a master’s degree in Asian theater, has organized the curriculum so that over the course of the class, students traverse the evolution of queer dance by the decades, from the 1960s to today. But Akuna also invites the students to also add their own choreography during class.

Stage performance is a requirement, for two midterms and a final exam: This month Akuna’s queer-dance students made their onstage debut in the pre-show of the 37th annual Universal Show Queen Pageant at the Hawai‘i Convention Center and appeared in the Honolulu Pride Festival parade. They’ll also perform at the Hawai‘i State Art Museum on Dec. 2.

Graduate student Isi Tuifua, 35, who is gay, says Akuna’s teaching historical context along with the movement helps to give younger LGBTQ+ students a sense of connection to a heritage larger than themselves. For instance, in a class on vogueing movement, students learned not just its forms, but its origins in the vogue balls of the 1990s. “A lot of students in dance don’t know where all these influences come from in the community,” he said. “So it’s good to learn the history of where all this movement comes from, all the pioneers.”

Kara Jhalak Miller, an associate professor and associate chair of dance at UH Manoa, said the class helps fulfill “a great need to create a space of visibility for queer performing artists. … The dance faculty advocate for and support BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) and LGBTQ+ dance, theater and performance scholars, artists and artistic practices.”

The title of the class refers to the curriculum. Not all the students are LGBTQ+, nor are all the dancers stereotypically young. Ellen Ercegovich, 65, who considers herself an ally, attends the class for free as part of UH Manoa’s “Na Kupuna” program. As a caregiver for a 90-year-old, Ercegovich said she loves the emotional and physical release and exuberance of Akuna’s class.

“It’s fun, it’s fresh, it’s spontaneous,” she said, adding with a laugh, “and you’ve got 20 dancers here. You have to keep up. If you don’t keep up, you get squashed.”

“LGBTQ+, mahu and ally students tell me that Sami L.A. Akuna’s queer dance is both empowering and life-affirming,” Camaron Miyamoto, director of the UH Manoa LGBTQ+ Center, said in a statement. “This is truly powerful and transformative education — exactly what higher education can do when it is at its very best.”

Akuna said there’s been no backlash over the class, probably because a university campus tends to be known as a place for academic exploration. Akuna hopes the class also will help promote more compassion and understanding for LGBTQ+ people. “Yes, we are queer,” Akuna said. “We are people like any other people on the earth, you know, living our daily life.”