Watching lū’au illustrates a very different perspective than participating in the production and being behind the scenes. Being apart of the show and being on stage is a different experience than sitting in the bleachers or in the front row chairs.
The Nā Haumāna O Hawai’i club put on a great show on April 11, but they forgot to include those who really did help influence what NHOH is today and fell short in emphasizing their theme, “A’ohe Hana Nui Ke Alu ‘Ia, No Task Is Too Big When Done Together.”
This 55th annual lū’au, like the rest of shows held at Pacific, was awesome. Despite the technical difficulties in the beginning of the show, most other things went smoothly.
The band sounded great and the singers hit their notes. The dancers put on their 1,000 watt smiles, and from their performances, it was clear that they were dancing from the heart and were really trying to exemplify that aloha spirit with us, their audience. The emcees, senior Eddie Carrillo, junior Charisse Pudiquet and alumna Donna Ramos, did a fantastic job coordinating the show and getting the audience involved.
Every year parents fly in from Hawai’i a week before the show and continuously work alongside one another helping to make lū’au night possible and the best in the West.
Being from Hawai’i and part Hawaiian, there is a sense of pride and honor sharing my Hawaiian culture with anyone. Since Pacific is considered to have the best lū’au show on the west coast, that makes being from Hawai’i that much better when attending the university.
Since this year was the 55th annual show, NHOH brought back alumni to emphasize their theme, but they only brought back recent alumni as far back as the 2008 graduates.
The idea in bringing back NHOH alumni was great and coincided with the theme, but they should have brought back older alumni. Those older alumni include students who started NHOH, who put together the first lū’au or those that had a major influence on NHOH.
“No Task Is Too Big When Done Together” should have also incorporated what the parents did to help make each lū’au show the best one yet or the volunteers that served food during dinner or worked at the concession stand. Lū’au is more than just what the current NHOH students do to put the show together. It really is the entire NHOH ‘ohana (family) from way back when everything first started.
I do not think they fully made a great impact on us, as the audience, by bringing back lū’au court with more than half the alumni from the most recent graduating class of 2014. Having them represent Pacific University as a school was a great idea but it only portrayed a partial aspect of NHOH.
From the side conversations between the parents of the students who were apart of the lū’au court, they were proud to have their students recognized for their hard work and dedication to NHOH. Yet those older NHOH alumni never got that same chance.
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