LIHU‘E — “Everybody but me,” wailed Carol Yotsuda as she tried to master the art of poiball twirling following the Saturday-morning workshop at the Kaua‘i Polynesian Festival. Yotsuda explained that there were about 50 people, mostly youngsters, who took advantage
LIHU‘E — “Everybody but me,” wailed Carol Yotsuda as she tried to master the art of poiball twirling following the Saturday-morning workshop at the Kaua‘i Polynesian Festival.
Yotsuda explained that there were about 50 people, mostly youngsters, who took advantage of visiting guest instructors to learn various cultural points from them. She said she was the oldest in the group, and everyone else simply mastered the art, but she kept hitting herself on the head and everywhere else.
To compensate for this, Yotsuda returned in the afternoon armed with omiyage to present to the visiting instructor to try and learn the art that she said is used to tell stories much the way hands are used in hula.
Leaders of the Kamanawa Foundation opened their Fifth Annual Kaua‘i Polynesian Festival on Thursday with a lavish lu‘au at the Radisson Kauai Beach Resort, before moving to the Kukui Grove Center park and pavilion site on Friday, where visiting vendors joined local crafters under the huge craft tent offering a variety of Polynesian attire, jewelry, and dance accessories.
A variety of food is also available in a separate food-booth section, with all activity centering around a large stage which offered up fashion shows, protocol ceremonies, competitive dance, and special exhibition numbers.
Entertainment varies between Tahitian, Maori, Samoan, and Hawaiian presentations, interspersed with competition numbers.
The four-day event will wrap up today, Sunday, May 29, with the presentation of competition awards. The entertainment agenda includes special performances by visiting Halau Hula Olana under the direction of kumu hula Olana A‘i; a Tahitian otea exhibition by Te Vai Ura Nui, as well as from Kaua‘i halau Rohotu under the direction of kumu hula Wallis and Shana Punua.
Also on the agenda are the ori Tahiti competition, the Tahitian drumming competition, followed by the awards ceremony.
The event is sponsored by leaders of B&B Pearls, the County of Kaua‘i, Hawaiian Airlines, the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the Hawai‘i Visitors & Convention Bureau, Hilo Hattie, Kukui Grove Center, Lomi Records, the Polynesian Cultural Center, Radisson Kauai Beach Resort, the “JK Show,” and “Wala‘au.”
Established in 1994, the Kamanawa Foundation is a Kaua‘i-based, nonprofit organization that aims to preserve, promote, and perpetuate the Native Hawaiian culture, including the language, social values, arts, crafts, and music, through the study of hula.
Leaders of the Kamanawa Foundation host three annual events that highlight hula and Polynesian performing arts including this festival. Other events on the calendar include the Holiday Hula Celebration in December, and the Kaua‘i Hula Exhibition.
- Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@pulitzer.net.
