By Anneliese Wirsching

Naive starts with Pei-Ling Kao uttering a simple “let’s begin,” spoken simply to Kahana Ho, the lighting board operator. As the music begins, Kao drops her notebook from hand, triggering a series of unbound primal movements. It was as if her body was moving in accordance with its most intuitive desires. Following this solo, which lasts about 6 minutes, five dancers emerge from a yoga mat placed up against the audience’s seats. Wearing colorful pedestrian clothing, they erupt into a fury of linear shapes and patterns. Emphasizing the flick of the keys on the piano, each dancer moves as if a part of a symphony orchestra. But it didn’t end there; there were over thirty sections of this arrangement, presented by each dancer in solos, duets, trios, and so on. Naive was presented at Kumu Kahua Theatre as part of their Dark Night Series. The artists involved were Spencer Agoston, Maddie Biven, Kahana Ho, Jason Kanda, Pei-Ling Kao, Mareva Minerbi, and Anna Quijano. 

One solo in particular, danced by Biven, offered a dark, feminine, and vulnerable expression of the section. She carved through the space with intense and sharp balletic movement while slithering her upper body. In contrast, one of Kanda’s solos teetered on dance comedy as he conducted the audience to snap along to the piano. From massage chops to jumping and rolling, this ensemble offered movement variety that kept the audience on the edge of their seats. 

The music offered its own character to the show. The dancers were accompanied by Glenn Gould’s 1981 recording of the Goldberg Variations BWV988 composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the background you can also hear an ever so faint hum. At first I thought the hum was coming from one of the dancers or even an audience member. But upon a second watch of the show, it was clear the hum came from the recording. This minor detail dragged me in more as an audience member and revealed to me how vulnerable this work and process really was. The humming added an informal touch to the formal classical recording. 

Kao did a great job of blurring the lines between performer and audience. At one point, Kao opened the curtain to reveal the outside. This allowed the audience or performers to look out, or anyone passing by to look in. In theatre settings such as this we are used to concealing the artists and audience within, but what happens when the space within is revealed? The question then becomes who is performing. If you place the audience in a watchful gaze they too become the performers. 

Naive was composed of over thirty sections. The diversity in the movement quality kept me curious. Each dancer had strengths that Kao did a great job at highlighting. Quijano danced a contemporary ballet infused solo that showcased her flexibility and balance as she teetered right on the edge of the music. Each section differed in length, some offering a simple motif and some repeating a phrase from a previous section. There were few moments of stillness, but the constant motion was not chaotic or messy. Each move held its purpose in the grand scheme of the work. I was always left wondering what came next because what came before was unexpected and playful. The sections were like chapters in a book; each one helps to develop a character or establish scenery necessary to carry the overarching story along. Watching this was like reading a really good book. 

Offering dance in this barebones black box theatre allowed the audience to experience a “behind the scenes.” As part of the performance, Kao brought out her notebook once more and gave notes to her dancers. The dancers grabbed their water, started stretching, and listened attentively. I found this to be a comment about how the work is never complete and can always be improved while offering us an inside scoop into that process. Kao and her dancers gave us a chance to dive deeper into what it really means to be naive and to act on our impulses. 

I had the opportunity to study under Kao during my BFA dance undergraduate program at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. While in my undergraduate program, I appreciated that Pei-Ling always kept me motivated to keep dancing and continue being curious about my own abilities as an artist. I was incredibly honored that she offered me the opportunity to write about her show, especially considering I was originally just helping out as one of her ushers. Since graduating I have found it difficult to continue training in dance and stay connected to the dance community. However, I am happy that Pei-Ling has offered to bridge that gap for me so that I can still be involved. I am grateful for this chance to write my first review of a dance show and hope to continue writing about dance. 

Anneliese Wirsching is a dance artist from Hayward, California. Since moving to Hawaiʻi she has continued her training at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and just graduated in Spring 2025 with her BFA in dance.