Burning!!!

We are getting back to basics today! Dancing to a 5 minute song, fast, kapa, omi, box - repeated until your legs are burning!!!

And of course practicing Tahitian and Hula choreography that my 7 year niece will perform with the performing group.

I'm tired!

Two a days

Second hula practice today with my niece. That's #9 since Thursday. She's a trooper!

Sunday morning hula

What a great way to start a beautiful Sunday morning! Hula with my niece. She's amazing! We are still working on learning the Lili'u E choreography. She's doing great.
Now off the Church, then we will meet up again tonight. I need to dance tonight!

2 sessions today

I had the privilege of practicing hula with my nieces twice today! Perfect day!

We focused both sessions on learning the new choreography for Lili'u E. luckily I have a video of it. So we took small segments and repeated over and over and over until we got it perfect - focusing on both choreography and technique.

Only a few more days to master it, before rehearsal on Wednesday. We can do it!

Nieces 'Ote'a

The kids have the day off of school today, so we slept in and then danced! My sister and 4 kids came over. My niece and I really worked on the 'Ote'a choreography for a hour. Our teacher altered the choreography for the kids, so we worked on memorizing it. And we really worked on the technique for the kapa. Over and over and over! T niece and I are going to practice twice a day for the three day weekend. Hope the have that and the Lili'U E mastered by Wednesday! Lots to do!

Boot camp style class

WOW - class was very hard tonight!  I have never sweated more in my life.  Our teacher was amazing - just kept us moving.  It was like a boot camp, workout, and Tahitian dance all in one.  Our teacher is very talented at playing the ipu, so she tends to use that more in class than recorded music.  The sound of the ipu is very pretty, and motivating - and the strong beat makes it easy to follow.  We worked legs and arms, over and over and over.

Before our class is the kids class, that two of my nieces take.  I bring my nieces to class, and it is a real joy to stay and watch them dance.  They spent almost the entire class working on the 'Ote'a choreography.   By the time the class was over, the 11 girls really had it down!  During class it is fun to visit with the other moms, you get a real sense of belonging.  But hearing the music makes me want to run in & dance with the kids!

Earlier in the day, my seven year old niece and I spent about 1/2 hour on hula together.  We worked on fine tuning the technique for the kapa and omi moves.  Then we watched 8 youtube videos of our dance instructors group.  I realized that my niece has never been to a luau, or watched Polynesian performance, so I'm hoping the youtube videos will help her catch the vision!

Overall, about 1.5 hours of actual exercise for me today, but 3 hours on hula!  Great day!!!