12th annual Te Mahana Hiro’a Tumu O Tahiti Tahitian Dance Competition
...was turned into a two-day special event on July 1 & 2, 2011. The first evening was pure magic as gentle trade winds wafted over the guests who gathered under the stars in the Tahitian village to watch the senior division competition: Each of the contestants, who had previously won the title or equivalent of “best Tahitian solo dancer” in a major heiva or dance competition held in Hawaii or on the U.S. mainland, appeared by invitation only. In a word, they were fantastic.
The PCC’s heiva started as a children’s-only event, but we opened it to senior dancers ages 19-and-up for the first time in 2010 and, based on the audience’s reception, we morphed it into the invitation-only format.
The next morning tamarii and taure’are’a — children and youth — came together in the PCC’s Pacific Theater for the exciting and colorful solo competitions according to their respective age and gender classifications. The little ones were so cute, and all the rest were amazing.
The Cultural Center's Tahitian celebration is held each year about the same time as the Heiva, which traditionally was the French Polynesian observance of France's Bastille Day. Since French Polynesia obtained autonomie from France on June 29, 1974, the Heiva festival has become much more a grand celebration of Tahitian culture . . . much like the one you can enjoy at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Please plan to join us for one of our most colorful special events. Maururu (thanks).
...was turned into a two-day special event on July 1 & 2, 2011. The first evening was pure magic as gentle trade winds wafted over the guests who gathered under the stars in the Tahitian village to watch the senior division competition: Each of the contestants, who had previously won the title or equivalent of “best Tahitian solo dancer” in a major heiva or dance competition held in Hawaii or on the U.S. mainland, appeared by invitation only. In a word, they were fantastic.
