So that show was at Brookhaven National Lab, and it was for their Asian and Pacific Heritage celebration. It was three of our halau, the teacher from a halau out west (who threw us the Kahiko and Tahitian sections of this job because she didn't want them--she's very sweet and generous tha that way,) and this fabulous Japanese festival drumming group, who really owned the entire night. Oddly, while most of the people in attendance were Asian and a few Pacific Islanders (like maybe two,) most of the performers were white. So that was very odd. It was nice in a way, though, like, "we're not you, but we humbly honor your heritage, and thank you for sharing your culture with us."
My real stress--aside from that I had already blanked on two of the Hulas during run-through--was getting there and back. Way the hell out to Islip, then to Centerreach WalMart with Halau so we could pick out some material for our pa'u sets, and we were really fortunate in the material we found (red! For Pele!) then on to Smithtown to hang with one of the girls at her house till it was time to leave. Then aaaaaaalll the way back out to Brookhaven, then back home. (This was easily over a hundred miles, more like 120. And my car--my 8 cylinder T Rex of a '94 Sedan DeVille--did this all on five gallons. Which is why I love my car. I make out with it.) Well, I really stress about directions and getting lost, so everytime I would manage to get from oen place to another, I would mentally check off one less thing I had to worry about.
The guy who made the relativistic heavy ion collider was in attendance. O_O;; Look it up, google it (I'm funny about linking them, who knows who's keeping records of where links come from?) Good god, they're making their own Big Bangs there, I felt like I was dancing for ShinRa. But I squealed like a fangirl when the announcer said his name. The relativistic heavy ion collider. The other dancers looked at me like I was nuts, but I've been fascinated by this for years. Part of me is terrified of this lab ("follow the glow" my friends at work said, when I asked if anyone knew an easy way to get there,) but part of me is in love with it.
As for the show itself, it was all good. ^_^ We had some technical difficulties, though. In other words, the people on the sound system didn't know our set and didn't get the step-by-step write up they should have gotten. (Totally not their fault.) So our entrance music didn't start, and we had to go walking out there without it. Then it started, and I went along with it and chanted along as if it's what we were supposed to be doing. Then after a long pause (and we were on our knees here, because it's Hula Noho) as we were at the ready with our pu'ili for the first Hula, they played the entrance music again. (The chant was my choice: an invocation of Laka, the Goddess of the Hula. It was like Laka said, "Once more, with feeling." ;D ) Then, finally, the first Hula, and we did really well on that. And then the started the music too soon for our second Hula, and cut it off just as we were starting to dance. The third Hula I did by myself, and on this one, they got totally lost and started playing someone else's music, then went back to the entrance music, and then back to the second Hula. It's hard to stand up there alone, under the spotlight, while these kinds of things are going on. I always cheese out and start joking about it as I'm standing there shaking. "Uhh, okay, if you guys want to hear it again, I'll do it again! Heehee!" And the audience laughs good-naturedly along with you. ^_^;;
But the dances themselves went really well, and our Tahitian set cleaned up. Which is surprising, because we just put one of the numbers together this afternoon (it's Tahitian, so we're allowed to make our own choreography.) It's a good number called Te Manu Pukarua, and we used the version by a band called Poi Dog Pondering, and it just freaking owned.
During the intermission we went out for some soda, and we got a lot of nice comments. It's so childish, but I need to hear things like that. I have to know these things. Did you enjoy it? Was it fun? Were you moved? This woman pulled me aside and told me that she used to dance Hula too, years ago. She said, "When you do Kahiko, you really know what it's about, don't you?" I told her yeah, I study the meanings of the songs. She said, "I mean, you know what it's about. When you danced Kahiko, I felt Hawai'i." And that was better than getting paid.
Getting paid was good, though. ^_^
Coming home is good, too, and taking a shower and sitting down and then going to bed. I might complain about being stressful and getting nervous before shows, but this dance owns me and I guess I really would do it every week if I could.
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