At the Sullivan Family Library Lawn, Chaminade University of Honolulu held its annual International Extravaganza on Friday night. One of the clubs that participated was the Hawaiian Club, a group dedicated to preserving and showcasing the rich heritage of their ancestors through song and dance.

Every year, Extravaganza brings together students to show others their heritage and culture. The clubs perform dances that highlight its culture in front of students and faculty. Besides Hawaiian Club, other clubs that participated was TaoTao Marianas Club, The Filipino Club, and Lumana’i O Samoa. And this year, the Hawaiian Club was determined to make a lasting impression.

“Being a part of Chaminade’s Hawaiian Club is a way for me to be a part of my own culture,” said Cade Garcia, a third-year Data Science major.

As Extravaganza was about to start, anticipation was in the air as many were excited for Extravaganza. Hawaiian Club was first to go up, with the men having a solo performance to begin. The theme for the club was the Queen’s Mele (a song composed by Queen Lili’uokalani) . The club decided to go with this theme because the queen was a very key figure in perpetuating Hawaiian culture. The queen also had a wide variety of songs that she composed throughout her lifetime, so the club wanted to showcase that as well. For the performance, the men wore sashes and the women wore purple dresses.

The four men, all of Hawaiian descent, started things off for the club. Their movements matched the lyrics of the song “Ka Wai Māpuna,” which helped to convey the story that the song was trying to tell. 

Unlike previous years, this year the men were given the opportunity to create their own choreography for Extravaganza. The men worked hard over the semester and finalized the choreography three weeks before the performance. Since there are only four members in the club, each person was in charge of a specific verse. They would each create specific choreography to match the lyrics of the verse. Although challenging at first, Garcia noted that once they had everything figured out, it was just a matter of having fun with it.

“The whole experience was fun,” Garcia said. “I enjoyed making moves based on what the translation was.”

After the men finished, the women took the stage. When the time came for their performance, they stepped onto the stage with quiet confidence, and danced to the “Queen’s Jubilee”. The dance told the story of their ancestors, through their movements and facial expressions. 

For the final part of the performance, the men and women came together as one and performed “Ka Wiliwili Wai”. The choreography the club chose to do matched the song well. Each movement had a purpose and correlated directly with the lyrics. For example, when the lyrics Ua nihinihi came up, which means “sending out sprays like rain”, the members put their hands to the sky and slowly put them down.

“I’m very proud of what we were able to do and that we were able to show our culture through these performances here at Extravaganza,” said Noelani Tugaoen, the club’s Secretary. “I hope that people enjoyed it and had fun.”