How To Make a Ti-Leaf Skirt

What you need:

Jute Twine

Scissors

Knife

100 large green T-leafs (w/ the stems)

Towel

Trash bag

STEP 1: CLEANING & INCISION 

Take the leaves and wash the stems, they are usually dirty. Then pile them up nicely and flip them over having their bone facing you, making the process move faster. Using the knife, make an incision in the ti-leaf 4 inches up on the leaf from where the stem stops. Do it to all 100 leaves.

STEP 2: DE-BONING

The middle hard part of the ti-leaf (or stem) is known as the bone because it keeps the leaf standing straight. Bend the top half of the leaf back and where you made the incision the bone will pop out. Pull the bone away from the leaf making sure there is no stem all the way to the bottom. Do it to all 100 leaves.

STEP 3: CUT STRINGS

Once you have de-boned all the leaves you need to set up your strings to tie them all together. Using the jute twine measure out a piece of string that goes around your waist. Then add an extra 10 inches to the string so you have enough slack for you to tie it to your waist. Using the scissors cut 3 identical strings at this length. Then braid the 3 strings together. This is called your top string. 

holding up the braided top string, measure out another piece of jute twine 2x longer as the top string. This is your bottom string- you need two. Using the scissors cut 2 identical bottom strings. 

STEP 4: SETUP STRINGS

Tie the top and bottom sting an inch apart from each other on a soild post. Leave the bottom string tied only at one end. I usually use the railings outside my house. 

STEP 5: ADD LEAVES

Tie a knot in the bottom string and begin adding leaves. Take the stem of the leaf, and place it between the bottom strings. Then fold it over the top string and make a tie. over lap one on top of the other and continue this until all the leaves are used up. When finsihed make another knot on the bottom string.

STEP 6: CUTTING

Untie all the strings from the post and line the skirt up on a flat line. I use the line in our garage. Then with the scissors cut 2 inches of leaf off the bottom. 

STEP 7: KEEP MOSIT

Take the towel and spray it with a  hose until it is damp. Then lay the skirt on top of the towel and begin to fold to towel over the skirt.

STEP 8: ROLLING

Going with the grain being to roll your skirt as you would a sleeping bag. Place the skirt in the trash bag to keep the moisture in. Then using two pieces of jute twine tie two bows. one of the top and one of the bottom to keep it from unrolling.

STEP 9: Place in the refrigerator when not using to keep leaves greener longer.

And thats how your make and maintain a T-leaf skirt! :)

Just Another Day of Work

Nothing special really happened this week. Everyday at work has been the same for the most part- pre-show activities, smile for the cameras, take pictures with the guests, laughing and talking story in the dressing room with my girls, and show. Thursdays show, the Waikiki Starlight Luau at the Hilton Hawaiian, was probably the highlight of my week. There were a lot of special guests in the audience- VPs, hotel management, Tihati's own guests from Samoa, and a big group of Tahitians. Tahitian dance is not my forte. I'm a mediocre Tahitian dancer, not the best. Out of all of those special guests I was most worried about those Tahitians. So to help me boost my energy and self-esteem I bought me a Monster energy drink. The show turned out to be a success! I felt better, my dancing was better and I was able to shake it for those Tahitians. They all looked like they enjoyed the show. They were always smiling, applauding, and cheering so that made me feel a lot better. It always helps when the audience is responsive to the show. I love it when I see people in the audience smiling while we dance. It just makes us feel so much  better about our dancing and makes us happy because we know you enjoy it. Our M.C. always says, "the more noise you make, the better our dancing" and that is very true. So when you go to a luau, be responsive, cheer on the dancers, give them a chee-he here and there and you'll make their day.

Tahitian solo portraying Hina, the moon goddess.

51st Annual Merrie Monarch Festival

This past week at work, Merrie Monarch was all my co-workers and I would talk about! Because we dance at night, some of us weren't able to watch it live at home. It's a good thing I have DVR! I didn't get to watch everything because I've been pretty busy, but what I did watch that was my favorite was Halau Na Lei Kaumaka O Uka of Kula, Maui under the direction of Kumu hula Napua Greig. I only got to watch their kahiko performance, which was on Friday, and it was beautiful! They won 2nd place for the wahine kahiko. This is the same halau that Miss Aloha Hula 2013 is from- Manalani English. She is so sweet and such a beautiful dancer. Becoming Miss Aloha Hula one day is definitely one of my dreams. Miss Aloha Hula this year to me was pretty boring. There's usually a dancer that stands out from the rest, but there was none this year. But overall there's always a halau that wows the crowd and that halau is the Academy of Hawaiian Arts of Oakland, California udner the direction of Kumu hula Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu. He is always the crowds favorite because of his originality in his dances. Because he's not traditional he doesn't every win or place in the top 5, so he pretty much goes for the entertainment. It's always exciting when his halau performs. And in case you didn't know, Mark Ho'omalu is the guy that sings Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride in Lilo & Stitch! (Click on the following link to watch his halau perform: Academy of Hawaiian Arts).

Halau Na Lei Kaumaka O Uka: 2nd place wahine kahiko

Here's a throwback to 49th Merrie Monarch in 2012 when I (right) competed with Ilima Hula Studio. This is our kahiko.

Ilima Hula Studio auana 2012 (me far left).

Dancing in Merrie Monarch is definitely an honor and a privilege. Being able to dance on that stage where thousands of people have set foot to give it their all is a powerful feeling. It was definitely a memorable moment for me and I hope to go back and compete again.

Rockin' Hawaiian Rainbow Revue

You may know that every Friday in Waikiki there's the firework show. What you may not know is that with the firework show, there's a Polynesian show. It's at the pool of the Hilton Hawaiian Village called the Rockin' Hawaiian Rainbow Revue. There is paid seating around the pool, but honestly you can just watch it from outside and the view is just as good. I haven't done this show in a while because I've been in Maui dancing, but this past Friday I finally got to dance here. This is show is probably one of my favorites just because it's at a pool and the fireworks. It's very different from our other shows. The dances we do are very playful and we even bring up people from the audience to dance Tahitian with us. What's really cool is that for our final dance, which is Tahitian, we have to time the end perfectly so that when we motion up the fireworks will go off as if we set it off. This is my favorite part of the show! A lot of people like to come to Waikiki just to watch the fireworks and that's good too. They just park behind the Hilton Hawaiian by the lagoon, which is very hard to find parking, and watch it on the beach. In case you and your family wanted to watch the fireworks, they start at around 730.

Ka Wa'a: Legends of the Sea

Man, has the past few months have been so crazy with rehearsals. Tihati has opened another new show in Ko'olina, the first time Tihati has had a show on the west side- my side! Now I don't have to drive all the way to Waikiki through all that traffic for once. Too bad it's only twice a week.

This new show at the Marriott Koolina Beachclub Hotel is called Ka Wa'a: Legends of the Sea. It's similar to the other shows we have in Waikiki. What I like about it is that since it's on the west side, we do hula (kahiko and auana) that talk about the west side Ewa area. Since I'm from the west side, these dances are very special to me.

Every Mondays on the great lawn of the hotel, we have a teaser show to promote the Tuesday Ka Wa'a show. It's just three numbers- we do hula kahiko, Tahitian aparima, and hula auana with uli'uli (feather rattling gourd). Mondays show are free and open to the public. You just come to the great lawn, sit down and relax as the hotels activity coordinators talk story with you and we dance for you.

Tuesdays is a luau style show that is also on the great lawn. As guests come in they are greeted with a lei and have the option of taking a photo with our dancers. Before the show starts we have activities for everyone, including getting Polynesian tattoos (with a sharpie), lei making, kapa printing, ukulele lessons, hula lessons, and we also have vendors where you can buy Polynesian crafts. This show is probably the most interactive show we have on Oahu.

My favorite thing about this show is the sunset!

Kahiko costume for Tuesdays Ka Wa'a show.

Kahiko costume for Mondays

Pre Spring Break Vacay, But Not Really

This past week my family rented a beach house in La'ie because my brothers had spring break and they didn't care that I had school (just kidding). It was really nice. I love that side of the island. It's the real Hawai'i- away from the city and traffic, surrounded by greenery and the ocean. It was a bummer not being able to enjoy it as much as I wanted to. The whole week there, I'd wake up early to study,  go to school, then go to work, and by the time I got back to the house it's almost midnight. It was really hard to focus when the beach was right there calling my name and my family all around having a good time. It was probably a bad idea to go. But I did appreciate the little time I did have to spend with my family and at the beach.

 Work flow!

 What I was missing out on this past week! :(

Maui Nui Rain

This past Friday me and three other dancers from Oahu went to Maui to cast assist at Tihati's Sheraton Maui Nui Luau show. I've been going every Friday for the past month because there hasn't been enough dancers in Maui on Fridays because Tihati has three production shows going on. And every single time I've gone, it rains! Even the Maui crew says that we bring the rain with us. It kind of sucks, but it's good at the same time. If it doesn't rain then we do the whole show and we usually don't leave till almost 9pm, so we get onto the 1054 flight back home and arrive at almost 1130pm. But when it rains, which it has been for the past month, we only do certain dances of the show and end early so we get to go home early. And it helps because I have class the next morning. Ugh! I know, who goes to school on a Saturday?! And to end the week, I'm now sick probably from dancing in the rain.

The girls and I soaking wet after our aparima number, which is a Tahitian and Cook island dance that focuses on the hand motions more so than the hip shaking. At this part of the show, it started to pour on us! It was pretty of fun!