“Pioneers to Prodigy” has a highly successful first event

The inaugural Pioneers to Prodigy – The Evolution of Dance in the Performing Arts was presented on Sunday, September 8, 2024 took place at the Daniel K. Inouye National Center for Democracy which is adjacent to the Japanese American National Museum. The program included three films, a panel discussion with original members of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway hit “Flower Drum Song” and a musical performance by singer Yuka Takara, who flew in from Japan to participate.

Part of the Democracy Center’s Mission statement reads “An enduring American democracy requires participation by all people, with each of us understanding our rights and responsibilities. The Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy (Democracy Center) explores the rights, freedoms, and fragility of democracy, helping to build bridges, and find common ground between people of diverse backgrounds and opinions.” By now, most Americans know what happened to the majority of Japanese Americans who were living on the west coast following the December 7, 1945 bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. About seven percent of the total Japanese American population were labeled traitors, rounded up and bused to so-called “relocation centers” or internment camps in some of the most desolate areas of the country. I was told by one of the Center’s Board members that the area between the Democracy Center and the Museum is where the Los Angeles Japanese families were loaded up on buses before leaving for the camps.

Michio Ito as ‘Hawk’ – photo by Alvin Coburn.

The history of how the Japanese were treated has filled books, but the Pioneers to Prodigy series highlights the large number of Japanese artists and performers who, until recently, never received adequate recognition. The program featured an amazing documentary film titled Michio Ito Pioneering Dancer-Choreographer by LA’s own dancer, choreographer, education, filmmaker and entrepreneur Bonnie Oda Homsey. The film is not only beautifully produced but it is filled with photos of Ito from his early years in Japan to just before his death in 1961. There are historically important clips of Ito dancing and of American dancers Risa Steinberg, Nancy Callahan, Janet Eilber, and Bonnie Oda Homsey performing solos choreographed by Ito.

Michio Ito with his partner Lindhal – photo by Alvin Coburn.

Through an interview with dance historian Mary Jean Cowell and others such as dancer Barbara Perry, whose mother owned the Perry Studios where many inspiring choreographers rented space to rehearse, the film informs us that Ito invented his own method of choreography and we see some of the charts that he drew notating his work. Also, dancers were taught that Lester Horton was the first to have an interracial dance company, but in fact it was Michio Ito. There is far more interesting detail in this documentary than I am presenting here.

Michio Ito’s Blue Danube at Hollywood Bowl – Photo by Toyo Miyatake.

The music for Michio Ito Pioneering Dancer-Choreographer was composed by Teiji Ito, nephew of Michio Ito. Teiji was the partner/spouse of filmmaking pioneer Maya Deren, and he also composed music for Jerome Robbins ballet, “Watermill.”

“I was honored to get permission by Teiji’s daughter to use his music throughout my film,” Homsey said.

Michio Ito’s dancers Hazel Wright (wife), Dorothy Wagner, Georgia Graham – photography by Bushnell.

It is beyond despicable that our country almost succeeded in erasing the extraordinary talent and works produced by this genius artist, Michio Ito. Thank goodness organizations such as the Japanese American National Museum, historians and filmmakers are working to correct that horrendous cruelty.

Young George Lee performing in Shanghai – Photo courtesy of Jennifer Lin.

Also as informative and eye-opening was Chinese American journalist and documentarian Jennifer Lin’s film Ten Times Better – George Lee. George Lee, whose last name was anglicized from Li, was born in Hong Kong in 1935 and began studying ballet with his mother, a solo dancer for the Warsaw Opera, Stanislawa Lee. His father was tragically killed in an accident before Lee and his mother were forced in 1949 to flee during the Chinese Civil war to camps in the Philippines where they stayed for two years. They were finally sponsored by a friend of Lee’s late father to relocate to New York where Lee was awarded a scholarship at the School of American Ballet (SAB).

George Lee in ballet class – Photo courtesy of Jennifer Lin.

Lee’s mother instilled in him that he would be training and working with very talented white dancers, so in order to be accepted he has to do everything ten times better. Hence Lin’s title. Lee took those words to heart and while training at SAB he became the original Chinese dancer in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. Where he gained his notoriety, however, was performing on Broadway in musicals such as Flower Drum Song, and others.

George Lee and two dancers in Flower Drum Song – Photo courtesy of Jennifer Lin.

Lin’s film includes wonderful interviews with other original dancers in Flower Drum Song.  There are wonderful film shots of Lee dancing and interviews with him during his life after dance when he ended up becoming a blackjack dealer at the Four Queens Resort & Casino in Los Vegas for over 40 years.

George Lee in Las Vegas – Screenshot courtesy of Jennifer Lin.

Ten Times Better was produced by Jon Funabiki, Jennifer Lin, and Cory Stieg; Co-produced by Bill Stieg; Edited by Rachel Sophia Stewart; Director of Photography was Paul Van Haute; Original Music by Andrew Yee with additional music by Josu Gallastegui; and Animation by Jacob Rivkin.

Both Homsey’s and Lin’s films are historical treasures and must be seen in every college and university dance department as well as kept in libraries around the country.

The third film was a performance film clip of the incredible Japanese American dancer and the 2015 Music Center Spotlight Award Winner Lex Ishimoto who also was a winner on the TV show  “So You Think You Can Dance”.

At the Pioneers to Prodigy event on Sunday, there was also a slide show of other Japanese American artists who have fought discrimination to work in America.  I look forward to the next series at the Daniel K. Inouye National Center for Democracy and the Japanese American National Museum.

I highly recommend that one visit both the Center for Democracy and the Museum. You owe it to yourself to become more informed about this nation’s history of discrimination against Japanese Americans.

For more information about the Daniel K. Inouye National Center for Democracy, please visit their website.

For more information about the Japanese American National Museum, please visit their website.

Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.

Featured image: (L-R) Michio Ito, George Lee – Photo of Ito by Toyo Miyatake. Photo of Lee courtesy of Jennifer Lin.