Best of the City 2009

The Global Edition

Edited by Jessica VoelkerWith contribution from Eric Scigliano, Kathryn Robinson, Karen Quinn, Matthew Halverson, Alex Girma, James Ross Gardner, Kelley Frodel, Laura Cassidy, and Steve Wiecking

Photo: Courtesy Rex Tranter

Performers at Kirkland’s International Ballet Theatre.

International Ballet Company

Nearly 20 years ago admirers of Vera Altunina invited the St. Petersburg ballet master to direct a musical in Portland. She moved to Seattle shortly afterward, teaching and choreographing as a guest artist and finally establishing Kirkland’s INTERNATIONAL BALLET THEATRE in 2001. Altunina emphasizes traditional expressiveness in works like Giselle or Coppelia, and performances feature dancers from major Russian companies. International Ballet Theatre, 507 Sixth St S, Kirkland, 425-822-7694; www.interballettheatre.org

Polish Film Festivals

You know you’re living the cosmopolitan good life when your city sustains two separate events devoted exclusively to Polish film. Spring’s SPRING POLISH FILM FESTIVAL was cofounded by local dentist Dr. Michal Friedrich, an avid cinephile who immigrated from Poland in 1987 speaking scant English. (Today he chatters fluently about movies while poking away at your teeth.) Though that first festival continues, Friedrich left it to open a Seattle office of the POLISH FILM FESTIVAL IN AMERICA (which also holds screenings in Chicago, Los Angeles, and other cities). Seattle Polish Film Festival, SIFF Cinema, 321 Mercer St, Seattle Center, www.polishfilms.org. Polish Film Festival in America, Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave, Downtown, 206-257-8010; www.pffaseattle.org

Bollywood Movie Theater

“Even in Bangladesh or Pakistan or Africa—everyone watches Bollywood films,” says Arif Azhar Amaani, a Bangladeshi who moved here in the 1980s. Unable to find the movies in Seattle, in the 1990s Azhar started screening them himself at rented spaces around town. TOTEM LAKE CINEMAS, his permanent Bolly venue, doubles as a sort of social hub for the Eastside’s Indian expat community. A typical film (most have English subtitles) lasts three hours and includes intense action, wrenching heartbreak, campy comedy, and unabashedly over-the-top musical numbers. Totem Lake Cinemas, 12232 NE Totem Lake Way, Kirkland, 425-820-5929; www.roxycinema.com

Asian American Play

It started with a casual sex chat among friends. “Our parents, first-generation immigrants, had never had ‘the talk’ with us,” recalls local actor Kathy Hsieh. “Most of what we learned was from television, which never dealt with Asians.” That conversation inspired the romantic tribulations of the cheerfully frank stage sitcom SEX IN SEATTLE. Its four Asian American leading ladies quickly found fans: “We get international students here for school or work,” says Hsieh. “They come to our show because they get to see people who look like them dealing with everyday life.” Episode 17 “airs” this fall. Sex in Seattle, Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, Capitol Hill, 206-323-9443; www.sexinseattle.org

Nordic History Project

Among the people that make up NORDIC AMERICAN VOICES: a 93-year-old Federal Way man who took part in the Shetland Bus—a Resistance operation that shuttled refugees and supplies between Scotland and Norway via small fishing boats. “We have a quickly aging population of Scandinavian people with memories of World War II,” says Janet Rauscher, chief curator of Ballard’s Nordic Heritage Museum. To preserve those memories, the museum hopes to record 150 to 200 oral histories by project’s end. If you know someone whose story should be heard, nominate them for the project online or at the museum. Nordic American Voices, Nordic Heritage Museum, 3014 NW 67th St, Ballard, 206-789-5707; www.nordicmuseum.org

African-Rooted Exhibit

There’s a quote from Maya Angelou in THE JOURNEY GALLERY AT THE NORTHWEST AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM: “No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at this present place.” The walls of the gallery’s narrow corridor detail an array of arrival stories: Marcus Lopez, whose 1788 exploration of our coast aboard the Lady Washington made him the first person of African descent in the Northwest; George Washington Bush, who headed west from Missouri on the Oregon Trail to settle outside Olympia in 1846; the many workers on Pullman train cars; and Waynigus “Wayne” Debeb, who left Ethiopia in 1969, then built his still successful Seattle business as a general contractor. The Journey Gallery at the Northwest African American Museum, 2300 S Massachusetts St, Judkins Park, 206-518-6000; www.naamnw.org

Global Arts Outreach

The UW WORLD SERIES COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS program, says director of education Elizabeth Duffell, teaches young Seattleites “global citizenship through the arts.” The series invites a stellar roster of international performers into Meany Hall, and Community Connections sends them out into the schools. Compagnie La Calebasse, an electrifying dance troupe led by the Cameroon-­born Merlin Nyakam, made its U.S. debut for the series this spring, then showed off its blend of European and African movement to Seattle students in gymnasiums and classrooms. Seventy-five similar in-school residencies are scheduled for next year, plus six free student matinees. UW World Series’ community connections, Meany Hall, 4001 University Way NE, University District, 206-543-4880; www.uwworldseries.org

Japanese Celebration

For 102 years, Seattle’s Betsuin Buddhist Temple has welcomed souls from the Pure Land (heaven) to the Emerald City with music, food, dances, and cultural exhibits. Called BON ODORI, the Buddhist celebration is based on the story of Mokuren, who danced for joy upon seeing his deceased mother relieved of all suffering. “Think of it as a spiritual homecoming,” says chairperson Ron Hamakawa. “You remember those who have passed away and appreciate the sacrifices they made that allow us to enjoy our lives.” It’s made all the more enjoyable by teriyaki chicken, soba, and beef and rice bowls—prepared with care by meticulous temple elders. Bon Odori, Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple, 1427 S Main St, First Hill, 206-329-0800; www.seattlebetsuin.com