My hobby, the POLYNESIAN DANCING

I'm fascinated about the Polynesian dances. The most of all I enjoy the drum dances (ote'a) from Tahiti and (ura pa'u) from Cook Islands, and the old style dances (hula kahiko) from Hawaii. The drum beats, chanting and the aloha philosophy inspires me.

Origin and meaning

Polynesian dances come from the islands of the Pacific Ocean, such as Hawaii, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand etc. The dances have strong connection to the islands' culture and therefore it's essential to understand their ethnic nature.

In the pre-colonial times, the dances were used in religious rituals, social events and also to spread history and genealogies. The dancing was prohibited in many islands after the missionaries arrived, but luckily, it started to revive again in the late 19th century.

The dances convey stories about the nature, mythology and events from daily life. They are connected to the Polynesian people's cultural identity, artistic expression and spiritual beliefs.

My story

I started to learn Tahitian and Hawaiian dances in Mexico in 1994, under the instruction of Maria Esther "Kuquis" Flores, who had her own gym in a small city called Ocotlán. Later I was also attending dance classes in the local Cultural House.

After I returned to Finland a year later, I sadly could not find any place where I could continue dancing. So in order to keep on dancing, I started to give classes by myself and to share what I had learned. Thus, I introduced Polynesian dancing to Finland. Since then I have been an active dance instructor and performer.

Nowadays I'm a member of the Taurua dance group and occationally giving introductory dance workshops of Tahitian dance (Ori Tahiti) and Hawaiian hula. Before (2001-2005), I founded and coordinated the Mana 'O Laka dance group with two friends.

Visiting the islands

I visited Cook Islands, New Zealand and Tahiti in 2005. During my study trip I interviewed few native dance teachers and dance group leaders about the theme "Appreciated or depreciated - native's views on foreigners doing Polynesian dancing".

Please read the individual interviews below: