DANCING FOR THE QUEEN

Last Friday Tonga celebrated the Queen's 85^th birthday. The public highlight was a gathering of most of the school children on Tongatapu at the big stadium here for a morning of singing and dancing.  

Her Majesty Queen Halaevalu Mata'aho is the mother of King George Tupou V, Tonga's current King since 2006. He succeeded his father, the Queen's husband, King George Tupou IV who had been king for almost 40 years. She is well loved by her people as demonstrated by the tremendous outpouring of love we witnessed that morning. 

Everybody sang happy birthday as six bands played.  

For a great description of the day and other events of the weekend, please visit Elena and Mark's blog here: MK Squared






Video clips of the dancing are here:   

https://picasaweb.google.com/robthbeck/QueenSBirthdayDances?authkey=Gv1sRgCPu_lZ_Z74adkgE#

Herewith some background on the dances. (Thank you to the Tonga Visitors Bureau website for the descriptions of the dances.)

The Ma’ulu’ulu was performed by the Tonga Teacher's Institute and was led by Princess Frederika, the King's niece.

“The ma’ulu’ulu is a traditional Tongan dance, performed by a group of seated men and women; the dance form is a direct successor of the ancient Tongan ‘otuhaka. Performers sit down in a row on the ground with the right leg crossed over the left. If possible men and women alternate. On informal occasions the dance master may walk around, clapping his hands to keep up the rhythm and to encourage the performers. “

“For large performances of several hundred participants, dancers are placed in staggered rows. The most talented dancers and those of high social status are placed in the front row on the ground. Other rows are organised behind on benches of various height until the final standing row at the back.”

“Like the ‘otuhaka, the ma’ulu’ulu consists usually of alternating singing and instrumental sections. The dance starts with the beating of the nafa, a huge drum covered with a leather skin which is a remarkable spectacle in itself.”
“The second part conveys the poetry in song and movement.  Like all other Tongan dances, the gestures have a strong relationship with the words.  The lyrics of the song are usually written for the occasion. A ma’ulu’ulu takes around 15 minutes to complete but it may have taken the performers several months to learn the sequence.”

The Tau’olunga was performed by Queen Salote College, an all-girls Wesleyan high school.
“The tau’olunga is a solo dance although it is occasionally performed by groups of up to six dancers.  This is the greatest hour for the performer, body glistening with coconut oil, hair flowing free and dressed in elaborate costume.  Only the prettiest and most skilled girls perform this dance.  The tau’olunga is always performed according to the words of the song, thus if one observes closely, one can see when the dancer is depicting a sunrise, flowers worn in the ear or a lover departing.”
“While the dance is being performed, a young man can act as a contrast to the soloist by mimicking her movements in an exaggerated and clownish way. The caricature is supposed to draw attention to the beauty and skills of the performer.”

“A tau’olunga girl is usually clothed in a wrap dress. The dress can be made from tapa with traditional designs or a mat of handwoven pandanus leaves. Some girls wear a piece of cloth covered with green leaves, fragrant flowers, shells or sometimes a grass skirt. The dress is strapless and reaches to the knees, leaving the dancer’s arms and legs bare. As long skirts are the traditional apparel for Tongan girls, this is an occasion for performers to show off their shapely legs. Around her waist the dancer wears a belt (sisi) usually made from leaves and flowers. Bracelets and anklets may be worn, ranging from simple bands of cloth or tapa to beautifully elaborate. Performers wear a black ribbon with a white cowrie shell around the neck and no girl dances without her shell. A little crown (tekiteki) of feathers or grass is worn to enhance head movements during the dance. Costumes made entirely of natural materials are the most valued but unfortunately synthetic and plastic are making inroads in modern costume design.”

The Kailao was performed by Tonga College, an all-boys high school. Several of my clips were taken toward the end of the dance, and you'll notice the elaborate costumes are beginning to disintegrate, a result of the very high level of movement required.

“Kailao is a dance of foreign origin from ‘Uvea – Wallis Island and is a standing dance usually performed by men only.”

“The dancers, of which there can be any number, wear fanciful costumes and decorated hats.  The men, bearing stylized clubs (pate kailao), dance in a fierce manner that emulates fighting. Unlike most Tongan dances, the kailao is performed without singing. Instead, the performance is set to the accompaniment of a slit drum or a tin box which sets the tempo. This dance allows Tongan men to display discipline, obedience and skill with their weapons.”

(Go here for more information about the Kingdom of Tonga: http://www.tongaholiday.com/)

Fall is Here: Random Thoughts

It's finally cooling down some here in the Kingdom, and that's a good thing. It's been hot this year!

Fulfill that Fantasy: At the Saturday market a vendor had official “2010 NCAA Champion: Butler” T-shirts, brand new, never been worn. So if you are mourning Butler's losses in the last two championship games, you can alter your personal reality by just letting me know and I'll get you one of these shirts. And now you now what happens to those pre-printed shirts made up for the losers: they somehow wind up in places like Tonga where nobody cares.

Critical Thinking: My favorite class to teach this year at my little university is our new Critical Thinking course, required for all new students and all who wish to graduate. Therefore it is the class with the largest enrollment, and even though it's the first class of the day (starting at 9 am.) I regularly have 9 or 10 students attending. On Wednesday a major assignment was due, their first cut at doing a critical analysis of an important problem in their life. However, at 9 am., no students. At about 9:30 one student arrived, but needed to access a printer to print out his assignment. By 10:30 (when the class usually ends) I had seen another 3 or 4 students, all of whom were seeking a computer and/or printer to complete their work (one of the requirements of this assignment was for the the assignment to be written using a computer word processor so that it can be more easily revised, and most students do not regularly use a computer for their school work, although most seem to be fairly adept with Facebook and Bebo). I shouldn't have been surprised; this is completely normal behavior for our students; planning ahead is not a mastered skill, and seems to defy any instructor’s attempts to teach it.

Bicycle Adventures: Recently my beautiful little Schwinn mountain bike was stolen from the front porch in the middle of the night while I slept. (That same night another volunteer home in my neighborhood was invaded and computers stolen, also while they slept.) Home invasion burglaries are rampant in the Kingdom, and palangi volunteers seem to be particularly susceptible. Anyway, I became acutely aware of how dependent I had become on bicycle transportation, and no matter how I kept repeating the idea that walking is the ideal exercise, I felt severely hampered in my ability to get around. Nuku'alofa isn't that big, but it's still a city of 35,000 and spread out.

But a few weeks later I was talking to a volunteer from Australia about my mobility problems, and she promptly offered to loan me her bicycle, which she brought with her but has barely ridden. Deterred by the cavernous potholes, the bike chasing dogs, and the roaming pigs, and because unlike Peace Corps volunteers Aussies can drive cars, she had lost all interest in riding. So my mobility has returned, and while I remain hopeful my bicycle will come back to me (this is a small island after all) I now have a pretty good ride and will be forever grateful to my Aussie angel! (And the bike is now part of the décor in my front room whenever I'm home.)

Diving in Vava'u: I spent the school break week last month in Vava'u, the Northern group of Tongan islands that is a favorite haunt of yachties from all over the world, thanks to its protected deep-water harbor. These island are much hillier than Tongatapu (where I live) and Ha'apai (where we trained) and are the best tourist destination in Tonga from the perspective of scenic beauty. I had a good time scuba diving with some Peace Corps buddies and generally just hanging out.

The big news in Vava'u was that the next season of “Survivor” was going to be set here, but last minute demands from the major hotel owner nixed that deal, so Survivor will be going back to Fiji instead. It's a big blow to the tourist industry in Vava'u and Tonga, as the kind of exposure from being a Survivor locale is priceless (had you ever heard of Vanuatu before Survivor went there?). The irony, of course, is that the operation that will be hardest hit will be the hotel owner's who scotched the deal; his big hotel was completely empty the week I was there (which is normal this time of year) and Survivor would have booked his entire facility for several months. Needless to say no one is very happy with him these days.

I'll leave you with the typical daily sunset over Vava'u's Port of Refuge.