{"id":71560,"date":"2025-03-25T12:38:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T19:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=71560"},"modified":"2025-03-25T15:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T22:45:14","slug":"if-these-walls-could-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=71560","title":{"rendered":"If These Walls Could Talk"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Peter Schurmann<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Oakland Ballet Artistic Director Graham Lustig during a March 22 performance on Angel Island. In the background are the original barracks where between 1910 and 1940 some 500,000 migrants, mostly from Asia, were detained for days, weeks and, in at least one case, nearly two years. (Credit: Peter Schurmann)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A new ballet inspired by the music of celebrated Chinese choreographer Huang Ruo \u2013 set to premier at the Oakland Ballet in May \u2013 tells the story of immigrants from across Asia who were imprisoned on Angel Island throughout much of the early 1900s. Many of them carved their experiences in the form of traditional Chinese poems into the walls of their wooden barracks. Their terse, often stirring words bring to mind headlines of immigrants detained today as part of the Trump Administration\u2019s mass deportation campaign. American Community Media Editor Peter Schurmann spoke with Oakland Ballet Artistic Director Graham Lustig about the performance and its significance at this moment.<\/em>\u00a0(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)<\/em><\/p>\n

How would you describe the Angel Island Project?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Composer\u00a0Huang Ruo<\/a>\u00a0took his inspiration from the poetry that\u2019s carved into the walls at Angel Island by detainees held for weeks, months, some for almost two years.\u00a0They were left there\u2026despondent in a netherworld between their homeland and this promised dream. The work takes us on a journey that begins with those people\u2026we speak about the hopes and the dreams\u2026with so many risks, and so much uncertainty and potential danger. We go through the war of interrogation, and how one woman was kept there for almost two years.\u00a0We come to dances that represent the spirit of humanity, of determination, of fortitude. And we come to a place which gives us a sense of spiritual peace, of arrival, of celebration, of knowing who we are, where we come from and why we came here together.<\/p>\n

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Over 150 poems have been identified at the Angel Island Immigration Station, many of them conveying the hope of a better future, as well as the fear, regret and anger over their prolonged detention, and the rampant discrimination migrants encountered upon arrival. (Credit: Peter Schurmann)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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A display inside the barracks at the Angel Island Immigration Station. Immigrants from Asia routinely experienced harsher treatment than did Europeans, including prolonged interrogation sessions. (Credit: Peter Schurmann)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

As a dancer yourself, how does one translate these poems into movement?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The reason the barracks at the immigration station on Angel Island are still standing today is because of those poems. They would have been torn down long ago if those poems weren\u2019t there.\u00a0These immigrants, they left us their voices.\u00a0Dance is a language in itself, one connected deep into our soul. Yes, there\u2019s technique, all these wonderful physical attributes, but what we create ultimately, is something that has a spiritual, soulful connection.\u00a0We have seven different Asian American Pacific Islander choreographers contributing to the 90 minute long oratorio. I\u2019m projecting that these choreographers have taken the spirit of those words, and are translating them in their own way through the bodies of the dancers.<\/p>\n

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Oakland Ballet dancers Lawrence Chen and Jazmine Quezada during a March 22 performance on Angel Island, in the exact location where a century earlier immigrants would have disembarked before being detained. (Credit: Peter Schurmann)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Dancers perform one of eight pieces based on the music of Huang Ruo and inspired by the poetry at Angel Island. (Credit: Peter Schurmann)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

This specific production originally premiered in 2020.\u00a0What\u2019s changed since then?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The composition was first performed on Angel Island with six poems. Huang Ruo has since added two more. So there are now eight different sections\u2026a fuller version.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve had a long career in dance. What makes this performance special for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The scale of it, it\u2019s very big. We have 16 choral members. We have a string quartet. We have a conductor. We have 12 artists on stage performing.\u00a0But the\u00a0Dancing Moons Festival<\/a>, of which this performance is a part, is the first program ever given by a ballet company that features Asian American Pacific Islander composers, choreographers, dancers and designers.\u00a0Ballet is not particularly known to be inclusive, and I\u2019ve always wanted to make sure that everybody feels welcome to our programming.\u00a0So the purpose of this program is to showcase our respect and appreciation for\u2026the talent of AAPI artists.<\/p>\n

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Artist Jiebin Chen plays the erhu, a traditional Chinese two-stringed instrument, during the March 22 performance on Angel Island. (Credit: Peter Schurmann)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

There are so many parallels between the poetry and the dance, and today\u2019s headlines about mass deportations. Do you see a through line?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a politician. The Oakland Ballet is not a political organization.\u00a0We\u2019re not trying to grind a political ax.\u00a0There is relevance, great relevance. There is symbolism.\u00a0I don\u2019t need to lecture anybody on what the value of the arts needs to be or can be.\u00a0You have to show up. You have to have an open heart, an open mind, and you\u2019ll see something.\u00a0So, I hope people will show up, and that we\u2019ll be able to show them something that is beautiful and transforming.<\/p>\n

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A view of Angel Island from inside the barracks used to detain migrants from across Asia and parts of Europe. (Credit: Peter Schurmann)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Speaking of the arts, Oakland made steep cuts to arts funding on the back of massive cuts by the Trump administration\u00a0targeting programs for underserved communities<\/a>. How is the company faring under all this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If we weren\u2019t in crisis because of the pandemic and the lack of recovery after the pandemic, we are getting double whammied now. Oakland City Council eviscerated all arts funding in December, so no one\u2019s getting anything. And since the pandemic, many of our most steadfast corporate supporters have \u2013 what they elegantly call \u2013 pivoted away from arts funding.\u00a0We\u2019re facing some very, very tough times.\u00a0What keeps me awake at night is just the sheer fear of where we\u2019re going and how I can make a difference to save the arts in Oakland \u2013 be that the Oakland Ballet or all of us together in the arts.<\/p>\n

The poetry is why the barracks on Angel Island are still standing.\u00a0There\u2019s a metaphor there about arts and our society, don\u2019t you think?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whilst we\u2019re still dancing, we still exist.<\/p>\n

The \u201cAngel Island Project\u201d is at 3 p.m. May 4 at the Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. For<\/em>\u00a0tickets<\/em><\/a>\u00a0($43-$86), visit\u00a0<\/em>oaklandballet.org.<\/em><\/a>\u00a0The Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation hosts a\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0where you can explore the barracks and find translations of the poems.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ByPeter Schurmann Mar 25, 2025 Oakland...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71560"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71568,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71560\/revisions\/71568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}