Tags
Costumes, Dance, Fenua, Grass skirts, Heiva, Islands, Papeete, Polynesians, Tradition, tropics
by Whitt Birnie
One of life’s greatest pleasures is letting yourself get hypnotized. Adults do it all the time when they lose themselves in lovemaking, or experience a related feeling while sunbathing late in the afternoon on a quiet secluded beach, the warmth and rhythm of gentle waves lapping on the shore casting a spell. It happened for me again just the other evening while concentrating on the cascading undulations of light grass skirts and long dark hair while islanders performed an ancient ritual dance surely invented to hypnotize.
The small town of Papeete is more than a traditional tourist setting. Gathered outdoors under a starry sky, a warm breeze stirring the palms, the barefooted dance groups were entertaining their families, friends and a few curiously idle outsiders in the annual July fête, Tiurai, now called Heiva. Easy to get swept up in the enthusiasm for the refined ‘noble savage,’ very alive in the Fenua, their own natural habitat. Months of effort go into the festival preparations: handmade skirts with decorative headdress, scented leis and flowered tiaras, original choreography of traditional legends, new songs and old chants, all are set and recreated for just this occasion.
Whites of darting eyes gleaming, smiling faces with pearly teeth, slender scantily clad bodies decorated in vivid natural colours, raised arms and the universal hand gestures of primitive storytelling, it’s more than a healthy dose of exotic enchantment. I sensed my mind slipping away as I lost control to an overwhelming power in the native dance. The deep percussion of wooden instruments, blocks and drums, transmitted synchronized sounds at the deepest end of the audible range, the vibrating syncopated rhythms pleasingly loud, entering the body more through the skin than the ears. Only half aware of the others around me, out of the corner of my eye I could see that they were goners too.
And then, all of a sudden, a gentle sprinkling of rain began to fall. No one in the audience moved; we were all under a spell. The dancing female and male bodies, already wet and glistening from exertion, took on a slippery sheen as the cool refreshing droplets encouraged them to redouble their efforts. The dance floor became a shimmering mirror. We were all vibrating with the drumbeats, captivated, the dancers undulating their bodies, throwing wave after wave into their shining grass skirts. Wet, somewhere between warm and streaming, we passed over a bright line into a timeless oblivion. It passed through my mind that I might already be waiting at the pearly gates, these young adult dancers being just the angels I one day hope to see.
There seemed to be a long moment of silence at the end. I felt like Rip Van Winkle waking up after 250 years, thinking, is this what James Cook and his crew were talking about? Is this why the missionaries were so anxious to intervene? Isn’t this part of the Enlightenment’s idea of the ‘noble savage?’ The silence gave way to bedlam. People started stomping their feet on the bleachers, hollering for more, encore et encore. The dance troupe wore a single smiling and pleasurable expression of utter exhaustion; no one had the energy to move, let alone wiggle their hips.
So there, that’s what the Tahitians do for fun: they write their own songs, then make costumes and musical instruments from what nature grows and gives them. They are unique. They create dances from their Polynesian legends. The world beyond their shores is ignored. They spend months of evenings learning and practicing their art, socializing face to face, getting lots of exercise in all the right places, playfully joking and flirting while acting and dancing with their many close friends, happily laughing and singing and having the time of their lives.
That’s the truth, the whole truth, I tell you no lie. It was a brief glimpse of paradise; I saw angels, I felt an afterglow, I’d witnessed some of heaven’s chosen creatures dance.
RAB said:
A transcendent moment. Thanks for recreating it here!
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whitt88 said:
If you only knew how much your kind comment meant to me, RAB; sometimes we wanabees can even rise to the occasion. Thanks for going out on a limb and starting the comments. My lesson learned? – stick to the truth and keep it simple.
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shrewdbanana said:
Sounds truly amazing and wonderful! 🙂
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whitt88 said:
Performances are sometimes just for show, but this one truly had a life of its own. Backstage looked like a modern Typee valley, with lots of joy and laughter.
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elizabeth2560 said:
Brings back memories of a forgotten time and place and you are quite correct in regard to the hypnotizing effect.
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whitt88 said:
Yes, they recognize the blessings nature provides, pay honor to their ancestors and pass traditions to the young. Why we today are so intent on ‘improving’ our futures at the expense of the environment leaves lots of room for reflection.
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Madhu said:
Your words transported me there Whitt! They do sound like heaven’s chosen people!
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whitt88 said:
Well, that’s the first time anyone told me I was in the moving business. 🙂 Truth is, with ‘heaven’ a variable concept wide open to interpretation, the Polynesians were certainly given a ‘Garden of Eden.’ The rest is a long story.
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gabrielablandy said:
Stumbled across this blog, and what a great find! Exciting stuff, beautifully written 🙂 I look forward to returning.
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whitt88 said:
Regret not producing any excitement since; got stuck on the summit and lost perspective. I’ll try to raise sail and take you along for another sea adventure when I finally get down to work.
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Anne said:
Miss seeing you around, Whitt – I hope all is well with you 🙂
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whitt88 said:
Thanks, Anne, same to you. At sea, after the habits of everyday existence slip below the horizon, what’s left in memory are the meaningful bits and pieces of life ashore or in ‘the cloud’ 🙂 , its denizens, including those of you who’ve come to visit; your poems, musings, insights, pictures of your lives, the people and places you love, your reflections. The sea and skies above are so full of life, I get drawn into and lost in the wonder of it all. It is difficult to step back and forth between the two worlds without falling overboard. It’s similar to that “Midsummer” feeling you created. All’s well…
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katemcclafferty said:
Love reading your writing:)
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whitt88 said:
Feeling’s mutual. You have that warm Californian sunny character that makes us smile when we see your neat pics and read your far-flung adventures. Here’s to you and a happy 13.
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Iris said:
I couldn’t help but withhold my tears at the end of your post. It has left an afterglow, I was touched too. I really felt a kind of longing when I wondered how the Tahitian dancers spent their days throughout the year. They stood true to what they know and in the process had fun too. They appear at a sharp contrast to the entire world I know, including myself, which always wants to run after an elusive future. Oh, How GREAT would it be if we could stop just for a moment and make our own stories, dance collectively to our own tunes as opposed to other people’s!!!! How beautiful would it be to nurture our strengths and likes and hobbies! How wonderful would it be to dance in the rain like there’s no tomorrow, like you don’t care about the cold you’d catch, like there were no people looking at you weirdly!! I’m very happy to have hit on the exact post I’m in need of reading!
Lots of love,
~ XOXO, Iris
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whitt88 said:
You certainly do express strong emotions, which is fine, but be sure to keep an eye on them. 🙂
You’ve undoubtedly read Wordsworth’s “The World is Too Much With Us.” and Frost’s “The Path Not Taken.” They touched on this idea long ago, so for those of us who are driven away from what we consider oppressive societies, we are not without good company. I just followed my instincts, worked and explored until I found a small quiet spot where people seemed to better understand life. They may speak in foreign tongues, live on exotic shores and descend from distant cultures, but they are very wise in the ways of the world. I was idealistic like you, so instead of following the crowd and turning my back on the ideals, I tried to build on them to attain something more, and it was an immensely satisfying pursuit. Perhaps you can coordinate what’s in your mind’s eye with the multitude of choices life presents, and there you’ll find your real self and the happiness you deserve. Oh, tho you make me laugh, I’d appreciate your dropping the ‘Dr.’ – people who’ve earned the title may get ruffled feathers: you could always ‘call me wit’.
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Breadispain said:
What a beautiful post – I really enjoyed reading this. And oh my, did it make me wish I could travel back to Tahiti…truly a peaceful and magical place. Thanks for taking me back there!
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whitt88 said:
Your comment was so surprising that I couldn’t think of a comeback. To leave you stranded in a ‘peaceful and magical place’ seemed like a good idea at the time, but it wasn’t a polite way of expressing appreciation. It’s just that certain comments or ideas or places stand at the edge of the known world, like on the shore beside the sea, and this is one. Thank you for visiting — wishes do have a strange way of becoming reality.
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