Sound of the holidays

For the past six years, the holiday season has been a time for Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School students in the band, choir and Polynesian dance programs to come together on one night and showcase their collective talents.  

And this year, Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School band director Sarah Tochiki said, won’t be any different. 

“We want the audience to see just how much students can grow from participating in the arts, and it doesn’t really matter what the medium is — whether it’s singing, playing an instrument, or dancing, they can learn and grow from the experience,” Tochiki said. “The students who are in multiple programs are really expanding themselves, and the ones who are just focusing on one are expanding themselves as well — that’s what we want the audience to go away with.” 

The 90-minute concert, featuring about 300 students from the middle school’s three performing arts programs, will kick off at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School’s Kilohana Playcourt .

Each school program, Tochiki said, will conduct their own performances throughout the evening before coming together, at the end of the concert, for a final performance called, “Mele Kalikimaka.”  

“We don’t charge anything because we want everybody who wants to come to come,” Tochiki said. “They can see that their daughter, son, grandchild, niece, nephew, or neighbor is doing something that they can’t do except for in these mediums — they’re not going to have that same collective experience in a math class or an English class, so this is something kind of special.”

Donations, however, will be collected to benefit the Chiefess Kamakahelei band, choir and Polynesian dance programs.

Tochiki said about 800 people attended last year’s concert, which was also organized by Gayle Thompson from the school’s Polynesian dance program and choir director Ann Reed. 

For more information, contact Tochiki at sarah.tochiki@gmail.com.