Christian West has always had a fascination with experimental music and his sister is the one who introduced him to Kate Bush, said the 18-year-old director, producer and co-choreographer of an upcoming dance tribute to the English singer.
The upcoming dance showcase, called “KB: Double Feature — A Tribute,” is this weekend at the Erickson Theater in Seattle. The show is held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25, and at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26.
West, a Renton teen and a student at Spotlight Dance, became a fan of Kate Bush when he was in middle school and says that he always wanted to do a dance show dedicated to her. It was Bush, after all, that inspired him to get out of tap dancing and into modern dance, he said.
“I became extremely fascinated with her,” West told The Reporter. “She’s bizarre and I find that really interesting because she was trained in mime and modern dance and that’s where the tribute came from.”
With his close friend and fellow Spotlight Dance student, Pilar Galdamez, 17, West came up with the idea for the tribute in 2021. Due to the showcase being performed during Thanksgiving weekend, the two decided that all proceeds would go towards Land Back, a movement and campaign that seeks to re-establish Indigenous sovereignty in North America, which would “bring Indigenous lands into Indigenous hands.”
“Land Back is a really great organization,” West said. “It really spoke to us and we want to bring light to the organization.”
According to LandBack.org, the movement is “the reclamation of everything stolen from the original peoples,” which includes land, language and governance.
West said that, due to him being part-Korean and Galdamez being part-Salvadorian, the two “felt an emotional connection to the organization” and the Bush’s music can be tied to Landback, particularly the singer’s 1982 song “The Dreaming,” a song about the destruction of Indigenous lands in Australia.
The dance tribute is in two parts: the first half will have choreography set to notable Bush songs like “Hammer Horror,” “Suspended in Gaffa,” “Wuthering Heights” and “Suspended in Gaffa,” which West says is his favorite. The first half also features “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” which made a resurgence in early 2022 in the United States thanks to the song’s prominence in the popular television show “Stranger Things.”
Of the song and Bush’s revitalized popularity, West said, “I’m so happy there’s a new generation to explore a talent like hers.”
The second half of the tribute will be the concept suite “The Ninth Wave,” the original B-Side to Bush’s 1985 album “Hounds of Love.” According to West, these seven songs “explore the concept of being lost at sea, death, rebirth and being thankful for the ones you love.”
The Erickson Theater is located at 1524 Harvard Avenue Seattle, Washington and tickets are on-sale now at Brown Paper for $19. Tickets can be purchased at the website https://m.bpt.me/event/5617857.
