Silk Road Dance Hall started out as an exercise space modeled after a kiva, a semi-underground temple of the Hopi Indians. Currently, it is used for concerts, dance performances, and as a small theater hall. In the future, we hope to make it closer to a garden of performing arts.
In 1981, a redwood-trimmed, glass-walled dance hall that could be seen from the street opened in a corner of Chinatown. As the streetscape, lifestyles, and people passing by changed, the hall was forced to close in 1993, but reopened in April 2001 next door to the old dance hall.
The new dance hall, located on the basement floor, is modeled after a Native American kiva, a sacred place. Local Native Americans retreat to the semi-underground kiva, accessed through the roof, where they are embraced by the earth and write ritual lyrics, sing songs, learn dances, listen to stories, weave cloth, meditate, and purify their bodies. In other words, it is a place where new souls are reborn, a space for creativity. It takes a long journey, 10 or even 20 years, for a single idea to sprout, blossom, and bear seeds, and I would like to consider the activities of the Silk Road Dance Hall with this in mind.
