Photo by Gretchen Andsager
Alumni Park will be undergoing an exotic transformation as the Pepperdine Hawaii club is preparing to host its 14th annual luau on Saturday.
This year’s theme is Nā Mele Makamae O Hawai’i, which luau coordinator Catherine Kern translated as, “‘Hawaii’s greatest hits’, so it’s going to be a lot of somewhat famous Hawaiian dances.”
The luau will be offering all-you-can-eat Hawaiian food, a fire dancer, hula dancing and authentic Hawaiian music.
Students involved in the club will perform the hula dancing. Jeremy Ueki, the President of the Hawaii Club and Hawaiian native, explained the unique history of hula dancing in Hawaii. Hula “started out [with] only men being allowed to dance that, but we have this impression that women are the ones that dance hula,” Ueki said.
The dance itself takes the form of an interpretive dance. “It’s a unique way of expressing yourself. All the words from the songs are how we interpret the dances… whether it’s showing off the stars or flowers with your hands or waves,” Ueki said.
Hawaii Club member Kacy Anderson echoed Ueki’s thoughts. “That’s what I love about Hula… the dance means something and every hand motion and every foot motion is basically a word or a sentence… telling a story.”
Although the event will be sure to entertain, Kern hopes that the luau will educate attendees.
“I hope people go to watch their friends, but then they get a little educated on what [Hawaiian] people wear, what the dances mean… that they are actually stories told through movement and it’s beautiful. It’s not just entertainment.”
All of the proceeds from the luau will be going toward the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s Worldwide Voyage Mission. Ueki said that the Polynesian Voyaging Society, “[builds] a ship and this year they are going to navigate it across the whole world. They do everything by a natural navigation system.”
A natural navigation system uses resources such as the stars, sun or moon to steer the ship to locations without the assistance of modern technology, according to Ueki.
The natural navigation system “is a really cool traditional ancient Hawaiian experience… we [heard] about it in school [in Hawaii] …but this year they are actually doing something bigger than what they usually do,” Ueki said.
Kern agrees. “It’s a good way of reviving ancient traditions and keeping that alive since tourism and colonialism has taken away from that.”
The Worldwide Voyage is currently under way and is set to be completed in 2017, according to the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s website.
Tickets for the luau are $10 for Pepperdine students, $12 for faculty members, $15 for general admission and kids under twelve are free.
The event takes place March 22 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
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