NAN SANDERS POKERWINSKI
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HeartWood
A blog about cultivating
creativity, connection and contentment
wherever you are

Aloha, HeartWood!

3/15/2017

9 Comments

 
I'm traveling this week, so I thought you deserved a getaway, too. Unfortunately, I can't take all of you with me to Tucson; instead, I'm sending you to the exotic island of . . . Big Rapids! 
Oh. Big Rapids isn't an island? Or exotic?  Well, it sure seemed like it a few weeks ago when the Polynesian dance troupe Aloha Chicago (I know--Aloha Chicago?!!?) came to town as part of the annual Big Rapids Festival of the Arts.
That evening transported me back to my Samoa days, when friends and classmates used to perform some of the same dances I saw on stage. Just the sound of the drums made me feel like a teenager again in the "land of frangipani and Fanta."

If only I could reproduce those sounds here! I guess you'll have to use your imagination, inspired by the pictures below. Bon voyage!
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The hip-shaking, Tahitian ʻōteʻa dance
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Backfields in motion
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It's not all about shaking -- graceful hand motions are also part of the dance
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And expressive faces!
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Lovely hula hands
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Dancing to Elvis Presley's "Rock-a-hula Baby"
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"The way she moves her hips to her fingertips . . .
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. . . I feel I'm heaven bound."
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Audience participation: girls learn a hula.
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Only in Michigan: hula girls in galoshes
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Hula hilarity
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The drummer's facial expressions were as fun to watch as the dancers
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More audience participation. It's the guys' turn to tackle Tahitian dancing.
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9 Comments
Susan Stec link
3/15/2017 08:48:48 am

Wow! What amazing pictures!

Reply
Nan
3/15/2017 10:40:32 am

Thanks, Susan! It was my self-assigned shutter speed lesson.

Reply
Sally Pobojewski
3/15/2017 09:42:09 am

So beautiful!!

Reply
Nan
3/15/2017 10:43:36 am

Fa'afetai tele lava!

Reply
Cindi McDonald
3/15/2017 12:11:04 pm

Stunning pics! Thank you for sharing. Once again my memory fails me. Did you show us the native dances, when you returned?
I'm sure you did, but I just can't recall. Can you still do some of them? That was such an amazing opportunity for you, the time in Samoa. I do remember missing you!!

Reply
Nan
3/16/2017 08:16:02 am

Thanks, Cindi. Yes, I'm sure I did the hula and the Samoan siva siva for friends when I came back. I never mastered the Tahitian dances, though. How could I? I had no hips back then!

I missed you terribly, too, while I was away.

Reply
Emily Everett
3/16/2017 04:02:58 pm

Thanks for the getaway! I needed that. I looked for you or Ray on stage for the audience participation. You must have been out of camera range 😉

Reply
Nan
3/17/2017 07:32:32 am

The female audience participation was really supposed to be for young girls, so I didn't think I qualified. Ray slunk down in his chair when they were recruiting guys, but later he said he wished he'd volunteered. So I gave him a hula lesson at home.

Reply
That One Guy without a Mustache link
9/20/2023 03:34:07 am

Veryy nice post

Reply



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    Nan Sanders Pokerwinski, a former journalist, writes memoir and personal essays, makes collages and likes to play outside. She lives in West Michigan with her husband, Ray.

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