Fighting an onshore wind from the Golden Gate, Alleluia Panis anoints members of a 200-person crowd gathered on September 7 for the final weekend of the World Arts West Dance Festival in the Presidio’s Tunnel Tops Park with sacred coconut water. Panis, the executive director of KULARTS, the country’s leading preserver of Pilipino Arts since 1985, asked the attendees to be grateful for the performances they were about to witness—performances the current federal administration is showing little interest in supporting.
In May, the World Arts West Dance lost a $60,000 National Endowment of the Arts grant, part of the millions of dollars of funding cut from the NEA that forms part of the generational assault on the endowment summed up by the Cato Institute in April: “The NEA’s modest grant budget substitutes individuals’ preferences for those of committees, crowding out private provision, politicizing art, and violating freedom of conscience.”
(In light of conservative attacks on the efficacy of vaccines, this response from Cato was surprising: “Unlike education or vaccination, where the social benefits are widely shared and measurable, the supposed positive externalities of the arts are highly subjective and diffuse.”)
But, as World Arts West executive director Anne Huang explained by phone in response to the cuts, art does what it has always done: be creative, adapt and continue.
“We’ve had steady NEA funding for 40 years before this,” Huang said. “So we scaled down the festival, from 200 plus artists to 30-40. Many audience members come to our shows and are introduced to a new culture for the first time in their lives.”
With the audience blessed and prepped by Panis, seven dancers in colorful skirts and headbands begin the “Lakbai Diwa,” a Filipino diasporic spirit cultural ceremony. The slow, meditative piece includes Spirit Boats with offerings of food, flowers, herbs, and power objects festooned with prayer flags.
It seems impossible to mistake the poise, dignity, and skill of the dancers for anything other than poise, dignity, and skill—values worth preserving and promoting in any culture or tradition. Rich Tang from Oakland applauds the performance for these reasons. He’s been to many World Arts West Dance festivals and has noticed the changes. “This year is much smaller. The experience is very different,” he reflects.
Tang shrugs off any questions on whether federal tax dollars should support today’s performances. “My money going to something like this? I have absolutely no problem with that.” As far as more controversial art, Tang says, “Art is very subjective. A lot of art can be controversial. But, over time, when you look back, it’s not that big of a deal.”
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The next group of performers heat the cold Pacific breeze into a hot Caribbean trade wind. Five members of Dimensions Dance Theater decked out in white begin the Haitian dance of Yanvalou, known as the Serpent Dance. The steady and infectious drumming is what raises the energy, getting inside the crowd and wiggling out through feet, hands, and hips. The drums beat smiles and laughter from the crowd, strangers connecting to each other through the music, a social effect that requires more of a “feel tank” than a “think tank” to evaluate.
Decades ago, Haitian drums changed the course of Dr. Huang’s life. “I was working as a dentist when I passed by 24rth and Mission and heard drums,” Huang said. Those drums came from Miss Blanche Browns’ Afro-Haitian dance class. Huang was hooked. “Drumming is the heartbeat.”
During a break, Sean Myers rests his hands on his drum. Myers discovered Haitian drumming while earning his graduate degree in music at the University of New Orleans, and he tours with Leyla McCalla, a Haitian American Grammy-winning musician and songwriter. He’s extremely grateful not just for the gig, but that the festival overcame the cuts.
“I love working with Dimensions,” Myers said. “It’s not my first time working with them. I really appreciate what they do, and they’ve been doing it for a long time. It’s cool there’s still support for this despite the cuts.”
The third wall breaks down completely for the final performance when the audience is invited to dance, including two very game Park Rangers in full uniforms. Laurie Fleurentin leads the Haitian dance workshop with verve, style, and one clear mandate: “Please be wavy with your body.”
By the end of the performance, the arguments around art remain as subjective and wavy as ever. One can only hope the arguments—and the dancing—will continue.
