Silk Road Dance Hall started as a place for exercise, modeled after the Hopi Indian semi-underground temple Kiva. Currently, it is used for concerts, dance, and as a small theater hall. In the future, we hope to become a place closer to a garden for performing arts.
In 1981, a red wood-framed, glass-walled dance hall that could be seen into from the street opened in a corner of Chinatown. As the streetscape, lifestyle, and people passing by changed, the hall was forced to close in 1993, but was reopened in April 2001 next to the old dance hall.
The new dance hall, built on the first basement floor, is modeled after a Native American sacred place called a kiva. Local Native Americans stay in the semi-underground kiva, which is accessed through the roof, and embrace the earth. They write lyrics for festivals, 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, and a space for creativity. I would like to think about the activities of the Silk Road Dance Hall with the idea that it takes a long journey of 10 or 20 years for a single thought to sprout, bloom, and bear seeds.
