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!

Te Moana Nui: Tales of the Pacific

Tihati has opened up a new "luau" show (although it's not luau style- it's in doors and they serve ono Hawaiian food!) at the Grand Ballroom of the Pacific Beach Hotel. It's a great production show and I highly encourage everyone to see it!

 Before you enter the showroom you'll be greeted with a lei, followed by a photo with two of our dancers. Inside the showroom we have interactive booths including, kapa printing for you to take home, Polynesian tattoos done by our male dancers (who are very artistic), and lei making. There are also people selling Polynesian goods such as tiki carvings, Polynesian jewelry, hula implements, poi balls, lauhala woven products, etc. As guests are coming they're entertained by the Tihati Serenaders and a hula dancer for about an hour until you are excused to go and eat the delicious Hawaiian and  local food including Kalua pig and cabbage, lomi salmon, chicken long rice, sweet potato, haupia, Portuguese bean soup, pipikaula, and much more. Dinner is then followed by our spectacular show, which is about an hour. We have dances coming from Hawaii, Tonga (only show in Waikiki that has a female Tongan number), Tahiti, Fiji, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and Samoa, including the crowds favorite- the fire knife dance, done by a four time champion of the fire knife competition. It may be a little pricey, but I think it's worth it.

After the closure of our long time running show, Creation: A Polynesian Journey, at the Sheraton Princess Ka'iulani Hotel we quickly and efficiently got our company together and worked very hard for weeks straight to create this new, amazing show. Of all the production shows we have throughout the state, including outer island, I personally think that Te Moana Nui is the best show we have.

If you are interested or know anyone that would be interested in watching the show then you can call to make reservations at (808) 735-0292 or you can go to our website for more information about our company and see what other shows we have at www.tihati.com.

Photos taken by Tesia Melani Worley

Spreading the Aloha Spirit to the World

I just got back from an amazing trip across the South Pacific with my job! Five of us boarded on the Costa Deliziosa cruise ship and sailed to American Samoa and Fiji in 6 days. It was just me, another dancer, and three talented musicians that got to dance hula for the guests on the ship. The guests were all Europeans from France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Austria. And most of them old retired people. I met so much people from all over the world, it was definitely an eye opener to see how different they interact.

Since they spend so much time out at sea there's lots of activities for guests to do. I got to go to a few dance lessons (samba, bachata) and it was amazing to hear the instructors having to explain in five different languages! Almost everyone on the ship is bilingual because English has become an international language. I just wondered how long it took them to learn a second language, and where they use it because I know from taking Hawaiian language in high school that it's not easy to pick up another language. Anyways, while at these dance lessons I had no idea what they were saying, but just had to follow their foot work and hand motions. Long story short, I've made it my goal to learn French.

Talking to a lot of the guests who couldn't speak English very well was also interesting. A lot of hand motions and facial expressions, even drawings were involved when communicating with them. Usually, you talk to babies like that for them to understand so it was a different experience talking to an older human being like that.

Nighttime always consisted of dancing! And everyone danced! Even the old people. I was shocked...and amused! Seeing everyone dancing and just letting loose on the dance floor and doing just that with them was a great feeling. I wasn't worried about what others thought of me because I knew everyone else around me didn't either. It was definitely a different vibe. It made me realize that the way we act sometimes, we do it so we don't get judged by others. The people on the ship however, do exactly the opposite. They even had contests (for I have no idea what because they were speaking in a different language) where they had to dance "sexy" and the old people were just going for it. They were very entertaining! I had many good laughs on this trip.