Pele Bauch | 2023 Native Launchpad Associate Artist

Tribal Affiliation: Kanaka Maoli/Native Hawaiian

Artistic Discipline: Dance; multidisciplinary

Location: New York, NY

Pele Bauch is an interdisciplinary choreographer who weaves dance, theater, and installation design into unique performances. Bauch’s work has been selected for presentation at many New York venues. She has received residencies from The Joyce Theater Foundation; Dance Theater Workshop; Chocolate Factory; and 92Y Harkness Dance Center. Funders include the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; Brooklyn Arts Council; and Harkness Foundation for Dance. Trained as a modern dancer, Bauch draws from additional studies in fine arts, Oli (Hawaiian Chant), and Hula, as well as from her Hapa Haole Kanaka Maoli (multi-racial Native Hawaiian) heritage.

Her evening-length solo, A.K.A. Ka Inoa, premiered at La MaMa (2022) and was performed again in the EstroGenius Festival (2023). This work delves into the weight she bears being named after one of Hawai‘i’s most significant and beloved deities. It grapples with 300 feet of rope and a heiau (temple) of paper bags along with questions of identity, self-reclamation, and belonging. Funded in part by LMCC, workshops of this piece appeared at New York Live Arts; International Human Rights Arts Festival; and Movement Research at the Judson Church

Commissioned by Women in Motion, The Distance Process / Dear Kanaloa is a collaboration with Kealoha Ferreira. Drawing from their Native Hawaiian experiences in diaspora and the navigation of connection, Bauch and Ferreira live stream in New York City and St. Paul for in-person audiences in each city.

Commissioned by the Chocolate Factory, H to Oh utilized copious amounts of laundry and a kiddie pool to create a dreamscape of surrealist vignettes. The iDanz Critix Corner stated: “The strength of [H to Oh] is its ability to engulf the audience in the atmosphere; you completely forget you’re sitting in a theater.” H to Oh was conceived at White Oak where Bauch led a group residency for The Field, and was developed in a year-long residency from the Joyce Theater Foundation.

Pele’s choreography has also appeared at Joyce SoHo; HERE; Brooklyn Museum; and Danspace Project, among other venues. Pele resides in the unceded land of the Lenape people, New York City.