The Hawaii Events Feature

[urbanguy]

IAORANA! (Basically means Hello in Tahitian) I decided to start a thread about certain events etc that going on in this state of course i wont feature all of them because theres always something going, so i will just a select group of them and will update them every now and then.

This weekend in Honolulu its:

Heiva I Honolulu 2004 - A Tahitian Celebration and Dance Competition March 11-13! Mmm me love them Tahitian girls, anyhow here's an article about it and a couple pics!

Nonosina, the overall winner in last year's competition, is returning to defend its title at this year's combination dance competition and cultural exhibition.

The narrow, pareu-wrapped hips of the tiny dancer, a girl not much taller than a Tahitian drum, blurred in motion as they matched that drum's rhythm, beat for beat. Her older "sisters," also rehearsing their solo pieces, worked up a head of steam, some of it condensing as perspiration across their brow.

"Put your iraro in the front!" Debra "Auntie Pola" Teriipaia called out to the dancers scattered across the Wahiawa Recreation Center floor. It was all that could be heard above the sound of the drum, but those who know hula terms might make out the word "iraro" as the Tahitian version of "ilalo," referring to a descending sway. The languages are related, after all.

Like its Hawaiian cousin did 30 years ago, Tahitian dance is enjoying a renaissance here and across the Mainland. The organizers of the second annual Heiva I Honolulu competition that opens tomorrow are hopeful that its popularity can usher in greater familiarity with other Tahitian cultural facets as well.

The Hawai'i-born Teriipaia directs Manutahi, one of 30 Tahitian schools entered in the three-day event. She remembers when Island dance studios of the '60s taught students a full curriculum of hula as well as Tahitian and Maori dance.

"I think what happened was the renaissance of Hawaiian hula, and the studios really got into depth in that," she said. "They put Tahitian on the side."

But the drums, she said, kept beating and summoned the faithful back to the fold.

"I just gravitated to it," Teriipaia said. "My grandmother was a musician, and she really wanted me to do Hawaiian hula. Her mother used to dance for the queen. And here I go off on my own, to Tahiti!"

The interest in Tahitian has blossomed enough that Teriipaia has expanded her teaching from Wahiawa to Makakilo. Merehau Kamai, another teacher entering the competition from Orem, Utah, has witnessed the same flowering nationwide; Kamai is organizing a competition in Utah in June.

In Honolulu, Rose Perreira and the other organizers of Heiva (meaning "celebration") also have seen that wave beginning to crest. The dance has been embraced by every ethnicity; Tahitian performed by a native Tahitian dancer is the exception to the rule, said Etua Tahauri, president of the Heiva board.

"In a group of dancers, maybe one of them is a Tahitian," he said with a laugh.

Everyone, from the Tahitian government on down, has been delighted to see how the art is thriving, Perreira said, but the Heiva board believes the time is ripe for Tahitians to bring their own culture into the spotlight. That's why the first event was staged a year ago, she said, becoming one of the few competitions outside Tahiti to be run by Tahitians.

"I think the objective was to educate people about our culture," Perreira said. "There's so much richness; it's not only about the dance. It's about who we are, about our heritage, our Polynesian identity."

In addition to 16 group entries and 311 solo dancers (to be winnowed over the course of three days to single male and female winners in various age groups), Heiva will feature exhibitions of other Tahitian arts.

Raymond Mariteragi, board vice president, said this year's event will introduce the audience to ute, a humorous form of song; and to himene taraua, or ancient chant.

"A lot of people don't even know we have this," he said.

There's also weaving, coconut husking and "fruit racing," an athletic competition that derives from the days when men would heft 150 pounds of produce from the valley out to their families in the coastal village.

However, the main attraction remains the dance, and Perreira said the contemporary version of the art form has evolved over recent decades. Heiva celebrates innovation, she said, but within certain parameters.

For example, the rules set out that dances must include a set number of traditional rhythms and certain steps; artistic exploration beyond that in a group's eight-minute program is welcome.

Afterward, the eight judges

[urbanguy]

Sorry i've been slacking on the updates anyhow along with Xentopia this week we will also have the Portuguese Festa

In the kitchen of Agnes Portuguese Bake Shop, Non DeMello cooks up dozens of malassadas. He's known for the malassadas with the puka in the center, allowing the heavy batter to cook quickly and evenly.

Just about every Portuguese family in Hawaii has their own recipe for Shrove Tuesday (a k a Malassada Day) when, traditionally, good Catholics consumed cupboard surpluses in preparation for Lent, the 40 days prior to Easter, when abstinence is de rigueur.

The rest of us can surely take one day off to be naughty Saturday, when we can enjoy the sugary treats at "Festa," a celebration of Portuguese heritage in Hawaii, presented by the Hawaii Council on Portuguese Heritage.

Pronounced "FESH-tah" and meaning "festival," Festa will feature Hawaii's favorite Portuguese foods, entertainment, products and crafts for sale, cultural displays, multi-ethnic genealogical research, and the music and dance of Portugal.

In addition to malassadas cooked up by Non DeMello of Agnes' Portuguese Bake Shop in Kailua, attendees will be able to try, for nominal fees, Portuguese bean soup, Portuguese sausage (linguica) hot dogs on sweet bread (pao doce) buns, a marinated pork (vinha a d'alhos) plate, and Portuguese tostitos (tostinhos).

Comedian Frank De Lima, singer Glen Medeiros, musician Jessie Rivera and the visiting dance troupe, Alma Ribatejana, will perform.

Those interested in their family roots will be able to do research, organized by the Portuguese Genealogy Society of Hawaii, and including several other genealogy organization data bases.

In addition, Festa will feature a historic paniola (Hawaiian cowboy) display highlighting those of Portuguese heritage, plus other displays and demonstration subjects such as the immigration story of Luso-Americans; Portuguese exploration around the world; the history of the ferno (Portuguese stone oven) and instruments like the braginha, the grandfather of the ukulele.

[Wendell FOX]

What are "malassadas"?

I can't even tell if it's bread or meat from the pic!

[urbanguy]

^Its basically a Portuguese donut its really good and popular here and best eaten while its still hot/warm haha.

[Wendell FOX]

What does it taste like - is it more of a bread-type or cake type dough, does it have fillings, etc.?

[urbanguy]

It tastes very similar to Pao Doce (Portuguese Sweet Bread) but with sugar over the outside i think its really good the traditional forms of it does not have any filling inside however in Hawaii you can find them with filling inside as many different ethnic dishes have a twist to it as part of the two different forms of local cuisines one would be the casual "Plate Lunch" cuisine which is a pacific rim mixture of food blended together and the other would be the "Pacific Regional Cuisine" which is the more fancy type (Pacific Island, European, Asian, Latin cuisines mixed) which is really gaining a lot of popularity outside of Hawaii and i think will become a bigger hit in the near future as more people discover the tastes and creativity. Anyhow you can find some Malassadas here with filled with "lilikoi" or Passion fruit in English or like the creamy stuff you'd fine in eclairs etc