Presence in the Human Body: The Story and Spirit of IONA Contemporary Dance Theatre
Cheryl Flaherty, Founder and Artistic Director
December 2025

By Sarah Hodges

You may be familiar with a group of dancers in Hawai’i who move slowly and deliberately, who gaze purposefully into the eyes of the audience and carry a transportive effect, expressing a sense of transcendence. These dancers train to become witnesses of their bodies and movements. This practice, called Butoh, blends dance with meditation, guiding movers toward emptying, releasing, and learning the art of acceptance in the body. 

I’ve had the joy of learning this dance with IONA Contemporary Dance Theatre under the visionary guidance of director Cheryl Flaherty, off and on, over the past 8 years. I was honored to perform the role of Pele in the 2023 production Oh My Goddess! – Ola Ko’u Akua Wahine!

Dancing with IONA is like entering through a doorway, straight into a flow-state. With nothing else have I so easily found the route to this state. Cheryl expertly guides her dancers on how to let go and be moved. In her beginnings, however, she did not have a vocabulary to teach this method. She had to discover it step by step, learning alongside her students. 

Cheryl traces her roots in Butoh to New York City in the eighties, where she trained with Hisatoshi “Poppo” Shiraishi. Because Poppo spoke little English, she recalls learning “through osmosis”. After evening rehearsals, she and the other dancers would often gather at a nearby pub, overwhelmed by the difficulty of understanding how to “get it right”. 

One day, after months of frustration, she stepped forward in class for her solo and thought, “I just don’t care what happens”. That act of surrender allowed her to enter the state Poppo sought to teach. He praised her solo, and soon after, she became one of the principle dancers in his company. As she continued training, she also helped fellow dancers interpret his guidance, forming the earliest version of the vocabulary she later evolved with her own dancers.

After five years of study with Poppo, Cheryl returned to Hawai‘i. She founded her own dance company in 1990 under the name Iona Pear, later changing it to IONA Contemporary Dance Theatre. Here, she created her own framework and introduced the concept of the witness, which asks dancers to see themselves from the outside and inhabit their bodies with intention. Over the decades, she has taught dozens of dancers, learning as she observed the transformation within them. Her work evolved.

Cheryl says, “Anyone who has ever looked directly into the eyes of an IONA dancer during a performance knows the shift. Something in the viewer softens.” That moment begins a journey toward inner peace.

“Peace becomes possible when people respect one another, coexist without violence, and recognize their shared relationship with nature,” says Cheryl about her artistic vision. Her dance productions play with themes of women’s rights, environmental stewardship, and cultural diversity. These themes call for interconnection and collective well-being. While holding a serious intention, we also poke a lot of fun. Through dance, Cheryl responds to a society that often encourages judgment and fragmentation. Her dance offers another option, which I love.

IONA integrates Butoh (butō), the Japanese avant-garde movement practice, with Western contemporary dance and theatre. Dancers practice this art form regardless of age or movement ability. In the most recent show, IONA’s performers spanned from age 25 to late 60s. Each of our bodies expressed the present moment in our own unique way, unplanned, raw.

This year, IONA Contemporary Dance Theatre celebrated 35 years of performance in Hawai‘i and abroad. To mark the occasion, Cheryl curated a special retrospective at the Hawai‘i State Art Museum, transforming its galleries and courtyard into a living, breathing installation. More than thirty of us dancers, ranging from newer members to long-time artists, inhabited the space with otherworldly characters and imaginative vignettes.

The often outrageous and always stunning costumes that Cheryl architecturally builds play a central role in our creative process. Cheryl designed archetypal characters such as trees and earth spirits, and later expanded into more complex figures like angels. Later, playful characters entered the repertoire. In the most recent show, I performed a serious piece first, being buried under a pile of burnt sticks to represent the bombings of Hiroshima. Then, at the end of the evening, I was dancing around in a larger-than-life purple octopus costume with a one-foot beehive hair-do and oversized cat eye glasses!

This anniversary year opens a new chapter for us in IONA. Cheryl is launching collaborative pop-up performances. We’re expanding an ‘Ohana Development Program to welcome more dancers, volunteers, and supporters into IONA’s circle. Despite the challenges of working on an island where resources can be limited, Cheryl continues to build IONA’s offerings across Hawai‘i and give our audiences more access points into the work.

Through every evolution, Cheryl roots us, her dancers, with the foundation of moving from our center, becoming witnesses of our bodies and the space around us, and expanding our reach of consciousness. We share a message to guide people back to a deeper sense of wholeness within ourselves and with one another.

Learn more about IONA Contemporary Dance Theatre