26 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY APRIL 11-17, 2024 www.montereycountyweekly.com CULTURE When a half-dozen performing arts groups take the stage as part of the first-ever Moonflower Festival at Palenke Arts in Seaside, it will be a celebration of the rich heritage of various Asian and Pacific Islander cultures. But the idea of the festival emerged from a much darker time for Asian Americans, during the pandemic, when hate speech and hate crimes were on the rise in the United States. The same was true locally. Mitsuru Mendenhall, who is Japanese, was living in Pacific Grove in 2020, and people shouted at her in public places, like on her way into the grocery store. She was teaching piano for Palenke Arts at the time, but she was so unsettled by the hatred she experienced that she and her husband relocated to Japan. The insults she endured led Palenke’s executive director, Juan Sánchez, to brainstorm a way to elevate the artistic traditions of Asian cultures. “It’s crucial that we are not just working in isolation, but bringing in people that are from these communities to tell their stories,” Sánchez says. The nonprofit provides both arts education as well as hosts concerts for the community. Featuring the dance and music traditions of Asian American and Pacific Islander cultures on stage for the public at large at the Moonflower Festival is one way Sánchez is inviting people to share their stories—and hopefully promote understanding and diminish hatred. Two groups are coming from San Jose: Kulintang Dialect, performing Kulintang gong music indigenous to the Philippines, and the Vietnamese American dance group Viet Steps. Several groups are local, such as the dance ensemble Seaside Hilltop Tongan Youth, taiko drummers Shinsho Mugen Daiko and Marinabased Hawaiian and Tahitian dancers with Ná Haumána. Ná Haumána director and hula instructor Louella Sumler first teamed up with Palenke Arts last year to host a benefit for survivors of the devastating Maui wildfire. Each group discovered they could advance their mission by partnering. “Culture has really taken a step forward as far as preserving and perpetuating it,” Sumler says. Sumler herself is Filipino, which just adds to the feeling of inclusivity at an event like this: “There is so much culture in our communities,” she says. Moonflower Festival takes place 11am-2pm Saturday, April 13. Palenke Arts (outdoors), 1713 Broadway Ave., Seaside. Free. 899-9909, palenkearts.org. COURTESY VIET STEPS Full Flower A new arts festival celebrates Asian and Pacific Islander cultures through performance. By Sara Rubin Young dancers from the group Viet Steps are one of a half-dozen groups that bring traditional dance and music to the stage at the first-ever Moonflower Festival. APRIL 20 I 7:30 PM APRIL 21 I 3:00 PM Pre-Concert Lecture 6:30 - 7:00 PM Pre-Concert Lecture 2:00 - 2:30 PM LOMA PR ETA MUSIC DIRECTOR, JAYCE OGREN SUNSET CENTER, CARMEL montereysymphony.org (831) 646-8511 SEAN PANIKKAR, TENOR DANIEL NEBEL, HORN
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