PORT ANGELES — When they watch seven dancers fly, humans often are moved to tears, said Melecio Estrella.
He’s artistic director and performer with BANDALOOP, the ensemble to give three free performances Saturday, on — and off of — the north wall of Field Arts & Events Hall.
BANDALOOP, a world-traveling dance company, is part of the hall’s grand opening celebration, along with jazz artist Diane Schuur on Friday and Saturday, the band Ranky Tanky on Saturday night and the Unit Souzou taiko drummers on Sunday.
A full schedule of events and tickets can be found at https://fieldhallevents.org.
At noon, 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, BANDALOOP will be ready. In choreography that intertwines dance and mountaineering, the seven will spring and soar. Their free performances will last 15 minutes each, with recorded music amplified by an outdoor sound system, said Field Hall Executive Director Steve Raider-Ginsburg.
Estrella, whose name happens to be the Spanish word for star, has been lifting off into the sky for two decades now. He began dancing with BANDALOOP when he was 23. In 2020, he became artistic director.
Estrella has learned that people sometimes weep at the sight of it all.
“The vision of a liberated body … the universal dream of flight” touches him as well, he said. BANDALOOP’s dance “also reveals the human body’s vulnerability and ephemerality,” especially with the backdrop of a relatively permanent structure, such as a cliff or a skyscraper.
Since the ensemble’s founding in 1991, its vertical dance “floors” have ranged from Seattle’s Space Needle to a 15th century Mexican cathedral to Yosemite’s granite walls.
BANDALOOP is defined, according to the ensemble’s website, as an art form that celebrates the human spirit and nature, “through dance that uses climbing technology to expand and challenge what is possible.”
Dancer and climber Amelia Rudolph founded BANDALOOP. She asked the questions: What if rock climbing was an art form? What happens when dance and climbing meet — and mesh?
There is a fine balance, Estrella added. Artistic expression coexists with “the fierce protectiveness of the safety mind.”
In the best moments, the climbing gear and the triple checks of it allow the dancers to put fear in the passenger seat.
“We like to say we befriend our fear … [it] keeps us safe, and reminds us,” said Estrella, “that we love our life.”
Port Angeles and Field Hall present an unusual environment. BANDALOOP is based in Oakland, Calif., and most of its performances are in crowded cities — Manhattan, New Delhi — with smog and traffic all around. Shortly after dancing here, the ensemble will travel to England, where its venue will be the exterior of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Dancing between the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Olympic Mountains, Estrella said, will be a vastly different feeling. It is artistically exciting, he said, and it will do “something different to our nervous systems.”
“I have a multigenerational company,” he added.
The dancers range in age from 24 to 59. They arrive on site three or four days beforehand, to explore the space and adapt their choreography to it.
“Is it glass? Are there ledges? These seem like obstacles; they turn into opportunities,” Estrella said.
The surface, the dance, the flight — all change according to the place and time. This art form, he said, is about “ the mystery of what grace can be.”
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Diane Urbani de la Paz is a freelance writer and photographer living in Port Townsend.
