The Little Prince lands in Juneau

Theatre in the Rough stages classic novella

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Seeing ourselves through the eyes of a child can give us a fresh perspective on our behavior. "Le Petit Prince," or "The Little Prince," a novella written by French author Antoine de Saint Exupéry in 1943, does just this.

Theatre in the Rough producers Katie Jensen and Aaron Elmore picked the adapted play as this year's winter performance more than two years ago because they thought the message of "The Little Prince" could benefit people in these uncertain times.

"The world is changing so much right now for everyone. We are all on a journey to find out what love means," Jensen said.

"The essential point the book points out is that, 'We cannot see well except with the heart, the essential is invisible to the eyes,'" Jensen said, quoting a poignant line spoken by the fox, played by Donnie Gott. Jensen directs the production and plays the role of the snake.

Though Jensen and Elmore picked up this book at different times in their lives, the messages had been simmering inside them for years. The book re-surfaced when the two were faced with a personal crisis and both turned to the book for guidance.

Jensen, who was initially lulled to sleep by her mother reading the book in French, was 8 when she read it for herself.

"I thought it was exotic; the concept of something being written in another language was amazing to me. The book was a touchstone for me through my adolescent years because it is not a children's book," Jensen explained.

Elmore agreed, saying some of the concepts in the book made his head hurt when he was an adolescent.

"It made me feel a little dizzy. The book was touching on things that were too big for my 19-year-old head," he said.

He says he never forgot another message from the book: "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."

The story of "The Little Prince" has held up in the 65 years since it was published, and it resonates with people of all ages. Leaving his very small planet that has three volcanoes, some trees and a rose, the prince embarks on a journey of understanding of the world around him. First he encounters the "men of planets," all played by Dan Reaume. The men of planets - the king who pretends to control the universe, the conceited man who only hears compliments, the drunkard who drinks because he is ashamed that he drinks, the businessman consumed with counting his money, the lamplighter who can never sleep because he has to work every minute and the geographer who never goes anywhere because he is not an explorer - all show reflective aspects of life and human nature.

The prince, played by 14-year-old Ian Andrews, meets the aviator, played by Elmore, after his plane crashes in the desert. He asks the aviator questions but doesn't answer any himself, instead demanding that the aviator draw him pictures.

Saint Exupéry drew on personal experience in writing the book: He and a navigator crashed in the Sahara in 1935 and were rescued four days later after they'd reached the point of dehydration and hallucination. And the author's own death in a plane crash in 1944, just one year after "The Little Prince" was published, was seemingly prophesized at the end of the book when the prince allows himself to be bitten by a snake, saying his body is too heavy to take back to his planet with him.

"Saint Exupéry wrote the original story in 1943, just one year before he disappeared after leaving an airbase on Corsica while flying recognizance missions for the French," Jensen said, adding that she likes that the author was a soldier and an artist, an unusual combination of opposing forces.

Although written during drastically different times, Jensen noted the striking similarities to current world events. The duration and spacing of the wars in the Middle East parallel the duration and spacing of World War I and World War II, Jensen said, in between which the book was written.

With an adapted play, Elmore and Jensen faced challenges in bringing the theatrical elements together. Elmore created a mystical set and the costumes have a certain fantasy element evocative of the story's other planets. Stage lighting was directed by Todd Hunt.

Jensen said the best part of the production for her has been working with the seasoned cast, and she mentioned that the original music composed by Bob Banghart and Patrick Murphy makes the piece extra special.

Jensen and Elmore hope audiences will come away from the performance realizing that the story is alive and just as relevant as it was 65 years ago, and that they will ask themselves essential questions.

"I want this to be the audience's journey," Jensen said.

TAKIN' A STROLL DOWN Soul Street

Hip-hop troupe uses eclectic music, humor and power moves to entertain

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Hip-hop dancing to Beethoven? This Saturday night, the innovative Soul Street dancers will make that combination seem natural.

The dance troupe from Houston, will be in town to perform its energetic hip-hop and break dancing on Saturday, Nov. 22, at the Juneau-Douglas High School auditorium.

Pairing hip-hop with seemingly opposing music such as classical makes their style of dance unique, said co-founder Javier Garcia, adding that their performances are enjoyed by people of all ages.

"We use our crazy movements - breakin' and hip-hop, spinning on our hands and heads - and we do it to all types of music, ranging from past schools to old-school funk, breakin' to classical music, Earth Wind and Fire, Nat King Cole. And we are funny as well," Garcia said in a phone interview from his Texas home.

Soul Street is a new company, but the dancers have performed together for more than 10 years with the Fly Dance Company, which recently dissolved because owner Kathy Wood wanted to retire.

"She wanted to retire and the dancers wanted to keep dancing," Garcia said.

They decided to start a new dance troupe and needed a name. One night, as they were standing on a street in downtown Houston before a dance show looking at street signs, they realized that what they do is street dance from their souls, thus Soul Street was born.

Dancers Jesse "Germ" Garcia and Chris Cortez are now under the artistic direction of co-founders and fellow dancers Rock Williams and Javier Garcia. Williams specializes in "poppin' n' lockin'," Jesse Garcia is known for being musically moved, and Cortez is known for his power moves.

An article in the July 2004 issue of Dance Magazine described a performance by the Fly Dance Company: "Fly's concerts are a swift-moving mix of teamwork and solos. ... They build formations that require incredible strength and feed off each other's high energy."

The group's talents allow them to travel the world and dance together. In addition to touring, they dance for the Houston Rockets and take part in community outreach programs.

"I love it. What's better than getting paid to do what I love: travel the world with my friends," the 26-year-old Garcia said.

Of all the places he's traveled, Garcia said Alaska is his favorite. Three years ago, the dancers performed all over Alaska's Interior for a month.

"Alaska is different because of the big beautiful mountains, water, trees and northern lights, and it's an amazing place to see. The people show a lot of love. ... We showed each other our cultures; it was a beautiful thing. There was love everywhere we went."

The dancers will perform this weekend in Juneau, and then they will be back in January to tour the whole state for four weeks.

Garcia took up dancing at 15, after being influenced by friends who were dancers. He learned from them and over the next nine years layered these teachings with his own original moves and tricks, ultimately developing his own aggressive and progressive style. He has since performed with many hip-hop groups, including The Roots.

The dancers are self-taught, but supplement their dance with martial arts and gymnastics training. They aren't strictly opposed to taking more classical dance classes, but Garcia believes it would take away some of the rawness of their dance and risk making them more like everybody else.

Garcia said he is living his dream right now.

"I just want to continue doing concerts and tours and doing our one-of-a-kind outreach programs across the nation," he said.

The dancers relate to many of the same problems, he said, which makes Soul Street very effective at inspiring people considered "at risk," as these dancers once were.

"Some of us were brought up in pretty rough neighborhoods and have identity problems as well, so we use what we went through, and we show the kids if we can make it where we are now, then you can do the same thing."

In some of the programs, the dancers exhibit how the human body accomplishes amazing feats through a network of bones, joints, muscles and the brain. The dancers use props and high-energy dance pieces to show how signals from the brain tell muscles to react to control our bodies.

But Garcia says the main thing they want their dances to do is entertain.

"We just want people to laugh and have fun at the same time while enjoying an athletic dance form to all types of music. We don't get too deep with our material, we just want people to have fun. Laughing is good for the soul."

• Courtney Nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net.

'The Beast' was unleashed at Roughhouse Friday

Klawock's Roberts, weighing in at 300 pounds, wins second career fight against Feleti 'The Islander' Maka to stay perfect

By Courtney Nelson | For the JUNEAU EMPIRE

Eight tough bouts were fought at Marlintini's Lounge at Roughhouse Friday, with plenty of upsets and knock outs. Feleti "The Islander" Maka called in his Samoan dancers before his bout but it wasn't enough to stop James "The Beast" Roberts Jr. of Klawock in one of the best fights of the night. Roberts, weighing in at 300 pounds, won his second career fight to keep his record undefeated by following direction from his corner man.

"He told me to get Maka in a corner and tire him out so that's what I did" said the soft spoken boxer as his grandmother put a jacket around him so he wouldn't get a chill. Roberts, who seemed unphased by the hard shots Maka delivered, got his nickname "the Beast" from pinning the most guys in high school wrestling. When asked about his current training Roberts said, "I punched a punching bag but I ripped it open so I couldn't use it anymore."

Even though the Beast got the best of Alaska Airlines employee Maka, his three male relatives doing a traditional Samoa Haka dance to bring him in were a hit with the crowd.

Anthony Manacio, 26, defeated the 2007 lightweight division Southeast Showdown champion, and formerly undefeated Aaron "Red Baron" Tucker, 19, in an exciting bout that left Tucker shaking his head in disbelief. The fight was even after the first two rounds with Manacio, a former amateur boxer, pumped up and swinging his Popeye arms at the quick Tucker landing a hard right. Tucker tagged Manacio hard in round three and he answered with a left hook that dazed Tucker and ultimately earned Manacio the win.

The main event featured a rematch with a surprising win by 50-year-old Taku Fisheries employee Nestor Manuel Pinango against the much younger 20-year-old Norman "Thunderpunch" Flood III. Pinango had several falls and three standing-eight-counts by the middle of round two when the dominant Flood unexpectedly offered his chin to Pinango. Pinango accepted the invitation delivering about 20 hard shots directly to Flood's face to end the fight.

Al "Mean Machine" Valentine, 48, defeated "Crown" Royal Hudson, 18, via TKO 48 seconds into round three in another exciting bout. Valentine talked about his strategy before the fight saying he was going to try and take the control away from Hudson early. "He's going to come straight at me like he did last time and I'm just going to trade punches with him right off the bat and try and slow him down because he's real strong and I don't want him to accidentally feel like he's in control," he said. "I'm going to look for an opening and make him go backwards; whoever makes the other go backwards is probably going to win," said the experienced boxer. Valentine knocked Hudson down in the first round with a right upper cut and knocked him down again with a roundhouse left near the end of the third round. Hudson popped back up both times but retired after the second knock down.

Brian Lauth, 18, defeated the U.S. Air Force's Ryan "Team Swagger" Carrillo, 23, in a close bout pairing height against might. The tall Lauth had a considerable reach on the adrenaline-filled Carillo who was shorter and quick. Carillo's corner yelled "hit that body baby, hit that body" as Carillo attacked Lauth's middle with powerful punches in between quick upper cuts to the jaw. Carillo took round two with his quickness and landed head blows so it was anybody's fight going into the third round. Lauth and Carrillo traded blows but Lauth won by close decision and the audience booed their disapproval.

First-time-fighter Fred Grant Jr., 26, of Metlakatla jumped into boxing with both feet by fighting twice in one night, defeating fellow first-time-fighter Will "Diddy" Kinser of Arizona and then losing his bout to 22-year-old Cameron Mitchell. In the first bout Grant dominated from the bell getting Kinser in a corner and pummeling him until Kinser was delivered a standing-eight count. Kinser came back strong landing some head blows and dodging most punches. Round two Kinser found an opening and tagged Grant with a right hook that dazed him. Round three both boxers tired then Grant landed a huge right delivering a second standing-eight count to Kinser to earn the win.

Grant went on to fight the fast Cameron Mitchell who got the win by delivering multiple upward jabs with his weight forward. He sealed the win when he got Grant against the ropes after tagging him with repeated headshots in round three.

Archie Hunt defeated first-time-fighter James "Old #7" Lewis who had only sparred with his dad in the yard before. "It was a really different experience, being in the spotlight," said Lewis who wants to fight again.

The next roughhouse boxing will be On Dec. 12.

"Grease" is the word

By Courtney Nelson | For the Juneau Empire

Singing, dancing, a large cast, live music, vibrant costumes and professional coaches make for a theater production as well-oiled as "Greased Lightning."

Juneau audiences will have a chance to see these elements in action this weekend, when Northern Lights Junior Theatre presents the musical "Grease" in three shows at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center.

When co-producers Cinnamon Simpson and J. Althea picked the play for their fall performance, it was partly due to peer pressure. Althea and Simpson wanted a musical with a meaty topic that related to things children experience today. Peer pressure hasn't changed much since 1959, the year "Grease" is set, so the message holds up; children today still belong to different groups with stereotypes attached. In "Grease" there are the Pink Ladies and greasers, cheerleaders and honor roll kids, but Althea points out that the musical breaks those stereotypes by showing the same behavior on both sides.

"The honor-roll kids, which are the goody-two-shoe types, aren't really all that nice and can say mean things, like the character Patty Simcox," Althea said. "Rizzo turns out to be nice in the end and even offers to buy everyone ice cream." Though the greasers steal hubcaps, some express doubt about stealing.

"It's about social politics," Althea said, adding that the play "shows opposite ends of the spectrum and we see good and bad in both groups so who is to judge who?"

With 37 child actors in grades three through 12, the cast is the largest group the theater has ever had. Working with large groups of children can be chaotic, but Simpson and Althea have effective techniques to calm people down. During the dress rehearsal, lead characters Sandy Olsson, played by Aria Moore, and Danny Zuko, played by Jahbril Cook, were practicing the drive-in scene and, to everyone's amusement, one cast member's pants fell down. Althea counted down from 20 until everyone was focused again.

Alyssa Fischer, who plays Rizzo, the "bad" girl of the school, said she has really enjoyed the experience of working with Simpson and Althea.

"They are a yin and yang combination that balance each other out in a very good way" Fischer said.

Fischer said she had always been very shy but working with the directors helped her get past it.

"It gave me confidence to step out of my comfort zone and realize that I could sing and act."

Tinaya Harris, who plays Kenickie, Rizzo's boyfriend, had an added challenge of playing the opposite gender.

"I really enjoyed stepping out of myself for awhile," Harris said, and "being more guyish."

Aaron Abella, a big fan of both Althea, his first acting coach, and Simpson, said he has been challenged by multiple costume changes in playing Vince Fontaine, Teen Angel and three other roles. He said he dreams of performing on Broadway someday.

Moore, who makes her lead debut playing Sandy, also has fast costume changes and has loved the musical experience, saying she was reunited with old friends and met new ones.

Simpson met Althea when she began taking piano lessons from Althea 20 years ago and the duo have worked together many times since. "Grease" is Simpson's first co-director role and Althea's swan song for Juneau theater. Althea now works in children's theater in California and loves working with kids.

"I love seeing their growth and giving them something meaningful to do in their youth. The great job the kids did stacked up and even exceeded the plays I have worked on down south," Althea said of the Juneau performers.

Simpson said one of the greatest challenges she faced was recreating the look and feel of 1959. She said since she and the children weren't around then, it was difficult for them to imagine what life was like. The costumes, designed by Shelly Wright and then brought to life with the help of dedicated parents, helped to create an authentic '50s feeling.

Stage manager and acting coach intern Sarah Everett, a student at University of Alaska Southeast, said she has enjoyed the experience of working with the kids.

"They are a wonderful group of children to work with," she said.

Everett said she didn't see the original movie because her parents didn't approve of the adult content. Althea and Simpson dealt with the adult material by using a children's version of the musical, but still had to cut additional inappropriate content.

Opening night will be on Halloween, and people who come dressed in '50s attire could get a door prize.

• Courtney Nelson can be reached at nelsonfamily@acsalaska.net