2017’s Extravaganza Brings Everyone Together

This year’s Extravaganza shows the dedication that Chaminade students have in putting out a wonderful and diverse performance.

This year had seven different groups of performers, all with their own unique styles, each one of them telling the stories off their people. These seven clubs are the Hawaiian, Samoan, Micronesian, Indigo Lotus, Tahitian, and Filipino. All of the clubs have been practicing months to perfect their performances and it paid off in a huge way.

Once the dancers got going, the energy flowing through the night was explosive. As the dancers arms and legs moved in tandem with the music, the crowd’s cheers got louder and louder.

“It was a lot of fun!” said Shannon Aeirs, a freshman at Chaminade University. “I originally came just to cheer on one of my friends that was dancing, but I’m glad I stayed for the whole thing.”

Learning an extensive dance can be very difficult, but all of the club turn it up a notch by preforming 3 to 4 different dances each. While each of the clubs’ first dances were very traditional, they all added their own flair to each performance by mixing current songs with traditional dances. One of the more stand out examples of this is when the Filipino Club danced the Tinikling, a dance using bamboo poles, to Chance the Rapper’s popular song “No Problem.”

Before the event began, local style food and drinks were provided to all attendees and performers. There was a big selection of food ranging from fresh cooked ahi poke, to coconut-flavored tarts. It really helped get people in the mindset of what was to come.

In-between some of the dances were short intermissions. At these times, audience members were asked to participate in short games. The games varied from having a balloon tied to your leg and trying to pop other peoples, to trying to run in a strait line while wearing drunk goggles. These fun games gave the dancers time to get everything ready for their next performance while also keeping the audience interested.

Extravaganza started off with a special performance by the Hawaiian’s Club seniors and ended with a sendoff too all of the seniors that participated in the event. Over twenty seniors performed. Members of the OSAL called up and gave a lei each one of them.

This annual performance put on by the students of Chaminade always brings many different cultures together and never fails to put a smile on everyone’s face. Families and friends continue to watch and enjoy the performances and will continue too for many more years to come.