Breaking Bread

As a journalist and critic, I am often privy to an artist’s process before viewing their work. This insight pays off as an audience member, offering new ways of allowing a piece to come to life before my eyes.

Performance

Dancers Unlimited: “Edible Tales: Ho’oulu”

Place

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, New York, NY, April 25, 2026

Words

Sophie Bress

Dancers Unlimited in “Edible Tales: Ho’oulu.” Photograph by Steven Pisano

I interviewed Dancers Unlimited co-artistic directors Linda Kuo and Candice “CRT” Taylor three years ago, when they were at the beginning of developing “Edible Tales: Ho’oulu.” This interview proved key in my viewing of the work, which was on at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club on April 25 and 26 as part of the La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival.

Based in NYC and Hawai’i, Dancers Unlimited blends contemporary and street dance with elements of hula and Hawaiian culture. Social justice and movement-based community outreach are also at the center of the DU mission. This unique fusion enables the company to speak to a variety of contemporary and historical themes, all of which have both deep cultural ties as well as relevance to humankind as a whole.

“Edible Tales: Ho’oulu” (Ho’oulu means growth in Hawaiian) is incredibly wide-ranging in scope. It presents a manifesto on our current systems and lives as humans. From our connection to the land to the stories we tell around the dinner table—everything in the work stems from the human relationship to food.

Watching the work, it’s clear that the three-and-a-half year creation process was incredibly generative. However, to an audience member without much knowledge of this process, the work might lack context. With the exception of a food-themed altar in the downstage right corner of the stage during the entire first act, the choreographic connection to food could, during certain movements, feel a bit tenuous.

Dancers Unlimited in “Edible Tales: Ho’oulu.” Photograph by Steven Pisano

Still, dance was most certainly the correct medium for this work, which spoke to so many themes and ideas. “Edible Tales: Ho’oulu” had an elusive quality, but when the movement didn’t always necessarily tell a story, it still conjured distinct, palpable feelings in the space. The dancers possessed a movement quality that was flowing but steady and sure, grounding the piece when cohesion of theme felt uncertain.

One of the most memorable moments of the evening came from a section of the work performed by the hula troupe Ka Pā Hula O La’akea, led by kumu hula ‘Auli’i Aweau. ‘Auli’i Aweau began each section—one channeled Kāne, the Hawaiian god of fresh water, growth, and abundance, and the other honored Kaiona, the goddess of the lost—by sitting in the corner of the stage and telling the audience about each deity. In this moment, context became clear and the audience was truly welcomed into the fold—we were all part of something special.

“Edible Tales: Ho’oulu” culminated with a movement titled Flavahz, a cypher in which the company dancers share their own food stories. One by one, each dancer grooves into the center of the circle to a soundtrack of their personal narrative about food. At the end of their dance, they adorn the food altar with an item that represents their contribution—both to the communal table and the communal story. Then, the dancers invited the audience onstage to dance, each of us sharing our stories, too.

Sophie Bress

Sophie Bress is an arts and culture journalist and dance critic. She regularly contributes to Dance Magazine and Fjord Review, and has also written for the New York Times, NPR, Observer, Pointe, and more.

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