The Maui Arts & Cultural Center is the place where musicians and theater troupes perform on Maui. And it’s in walking distance of my school. Yesterday we went on a field trip to see a group of dancers and storytellers share some Hawaiian mythology with us. It was called Kulanihako‘i: Living Waters. They spoke, sang chanted, and danced. It was my first experience with authentic Hawaiian song and hula dance. I was very excited.
The chanting was interesting. It consisted mostly of alternating notes that were a minor third apart. I kept thinking back to my music classes in college where I learned that a descending minor third is a universal element in music across cultures. It seems to be written into human brains somehow.
The dancing was interesting too. Very fluid. It looked simple, but I’m sure it would be very hard to replicate. There was a lot of going up on toes. I think the dancers must have strong calves.
I was amazed, but the students told me they have seen this kind of thing a bunch of times. We get so easily jaded, don’t we? The intensely interesting stuff that surrounds us daily becomes mundane. It is my hope from now on to stay intensely interested.
Stay interested! That’s a great motto for life. Let’s cross-stitch that on some stuff.
What a cool experience! I would have enjoyed watching it, too. The amount of interesting things so close to you is mind-boggling. “There just happens to be a cultural center in walking distance, and we’re across the street from a stadium. Oh, and I’m a five-minute walk from the beach.”
Very cool. Sounds like quite the enjoyable educational experience. When you return to the mainland, you’ll have many more arrows in your teacher’s quiver.
…and everything Lauren said goes double for me.
[Wonder what natives of the Polynesian island groups would think of, say, Honfest here…hmmm…]
What? No Tahitian dancers????? That keeps EVERYBODY interested.