INTERNATIONAL AERIALIST TO PERFORM AT ALlAN ALO arts FESTIVAL
Andrea Torress with the late Allan Alo in 2015 during the rehearsals for the
commonwealth games.
Photo By: Supplied
An international aerialist pioneer has joined local performers from
S.P.A.C.E Samoa Performing Arts Creative Excellence for the "Allan Alo Arts
Festival" that will start in the next 4 days. Andrea Torres, a
prestigious experienced performer and a good friend of the late Allan
Alo shares her journey and her excitement of being in Samoa once
again.
Owner and director of the Samadhi Hawaii aerial dancing institute in
Honolulu Hawaii , Andrea Torres has been in the world of performing arts
for many years. One of her start off aerial training in Canada
Montreal was an eye opener for her, where she worked together with the
largest contemporary circus in the world called "Cirque du Soleil."
Samadhi Hawaii aerial dancers during a photoshoot with Sergio Goes who was Andrea's late husband.
Photographer : Sergio Goes Photography
"I worked together with people from that company Cirque du Soleil, the
biggest in the world and when I was sent to Montreal , I did my
beginning training on aerial work".
"After that, I returned to Hawaii to perform at a show as an aerialist
where my debut started in 1999.''says Ms Torres where she performed as
a soloist and portrayed the role of Hina, a Moon Goddess for many
years.
After performing in that production for 8 years she then started
her own aerial school in Hawaii. This was when Hawaii aerial appearances were fairly new to Hawaii, and were just beginning to be introduced by Andrea Torres. Samadhi Hawaii began in 2005 and is still going strong up until now.
One of the recent shows that Samadhi Hawaii performed was called
"Walking On Air" and featured winning aerialists and students of her
institute in Hawaii with the theme "They drazzle their audiences from
the sky.”
She traveled to Fiji to teach and introduced aerial dancing in 2013 to the
Oceania Dance Theatre which was founded by Allan Alo and is also where
they met. Discussions were made about visiting Samoa between them, and
in 2015 she was in Samoa for the opening and closing of the
Commonwealth Youth Games.
School Children during Andrea Torres's visit for the Commonwealth games where she performed for primary schools around Samoa.
Photo : Supplied
She brought her team and two of her mentors and they trained fifteen
local boys where they became aerialists. She choreographed the
aerialist performers for the opening and closing while Allan Alo worked
on the manifold of college students who performed in 2015. She
highlighted that it was one of her favourite memories of working
together with Allan Alo and the people of Samoa.
She expressed how intelligent and unique Allan Alo was in her life as a
performer and also as a good friend. Ms Andrea Torres states she was
impressed with the work Allan has done and the impact he has left for
his country and the Pacific region.
"I was very inspired by Allan , he was a very sharp person and
passionate in his field of performance , artistically and humanly. I
was extremely impressed with his skills with a large number of people
, and how he taught them to perform and dance"says Andre Torres while
she remisinces on her memories with Allan Alo.
She mentions how excited she is with this three night prestigious show
as she will be performing as well. Ms Andre Torres acknowledges the
late Allan Alo with respect, dignity and will dedicate her performance
to her late friend's memory.
"He lives on in our work , he's definitely the layer to layer
foundation to all, in that space that he has created within his craft
as a choreographer. His spirit is very much alive ". she expressed.
When she was teaching in Fiji she also managed to meet Glenville Lord who is now the director of S.P.A.C.E with Valentino Maliko, who was also one of her aerial students.
The international aerialist encourages the people of Samoa and the
Pacific who want to pursue dancing or contemporary performance to
chase their dreams. She shared how her journey had encountered many
obstacles and challenges along the way but she prevailed despite the
odds.
The Allan Alo Arts Festival will start on November 3rd and will continue on the
fourth and fifth. Each of the nights will feature either Bollywood , Pollywood and Hollywood themes in different locations, together with performances by MATA Dance Crew and Samadhi Hawaii with the theme "Highlighting
Cultural Brilliance as a tribute to Samoa's ethnic diversity during
our 60th Independence Celebration".