Polynesian Cultural Center turns 40

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 6, 2003 | by Ray GrassDeseret News staff writer

The man wore a shell necklace draped over his bare chest, a band of brightly patterned cloth around his waist. And off to his side he held a fierce-looking wooden spear with a carved, serrated tip.

His face and upper body were a canvas of eclectic patterns. Tattoos in early times; stenciled art today. Each swirl, line and dot, he said, told of his genealogy, his valor in war and his accomplishments. An ancient Polynesian resume.

The woman wore a grass skirt, red sarong wrapped above the waist, a headdress of bright flowers and a simple pattern of swirls and lines stenciled under her chin.

It signifies her status within the village, she said. As she matured and her skills improved, there would be more artwork on her body.

Having said this, she moved forward and placed a shell necklace around the necks of each visitor to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Aloha . . . Welcome back in time to ancient Polynesia. A time when men trained for war, fished in the open ocean in hand-carved boats and climbed trees for the daily staple -- coconuts. A time where women wove baskets from banana leaves, kept thatch-roofed homes in repair and depicted history through graceful, sometimes lively dances.

This is Hawaii as people like to think of it . . . grass skirts, shaking hips, pounding drums and colorful dress in a backdrop of grass shacks and tropical foliage.

But it's not the picture you get of Hawaii today . . . multi- story hotels, crowded beaches, busy streets and hundreds of shops hawking everything from carved coconuts to brightly printed Hawaiian shirts to golf balls with pineapple logos.

The overview of historical island cultures at the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu has made it the island's No. 1 paid tourist attraction since 1977. The main reason for this attention is that the center reflects what visitors want Hawaii to be.

This year, during its 40th anniversary, it's estimated it will welcome its 30 millionth visitor.

The idea behind the center was to help fund the education of students attending the Church College of Hawaii, which is now Brigham Young University-Hawaii.

Skeptics at the time predicted early failure. The site for the center, in the small community of La'ie on Oahu's northern shore, was too far -- an hour's drive-- from the hub of visitor activities in Waikiki, they said.

More than 100 labor missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from various Polynesian cultures moved to Hawaii to help build the center's 39 original structures on 12 acres of ground in La'ie.

The six original villages represented cultures from Hawaii, Fiji, Maori New Zealand, the Marquesas Islands, Samoa, Tahiti and Tonga. This year, an exhibit depicting the stone sculptures on Easter Island was introduced.

It was not easy luring visitors, recalled Mahona (Moo) Pulatu, one of the early dancers from Tahiti. She remembered days when there were more people on stage than there were paying customers. Dancers stood along the roadside to draw attention to the center, and employees parked cars in the lot to suggest the center was a popular attraction.

"When it was slow, we'd perform and then rush out into the audience, sit with the guests and applaud oh so loudly to give encouragement to the other dancers," she remembered with a deep smile. "Those were really wonderful times."

Within two years, however, the center had gained a reputation for elegance and artistry, and lines began to form each afternoon at the entrance. Guest appearances by dancers on the "Ed Sullivan Show," a promotional appearance in the Hollywood Bowl by the cast of Polynesian dancers and the filming of Elvis Presley's film, "Paradise, Hawaiian Style," at the center helped draw attention to it.

In ensuing years, the center would be expanded to cover 42 acres and would see the addition of many new features, including the Ali'I Luau, a sit-down meal of traditional Hawaiian food and entertainment, which is constantly being recognized as Hawaii's best luau. The meal includes the baking in an underground "imu" oven of a luau pig, fresh pineapple and poi, a staple of Hawaiian dining.

The heart of the center has been, and still is, the evening show - - "Horizons, Where the Sea Meets the Sky." More than 100 performers, trained in Polynesian dances, employ 58 different costume designs to portray life in early Polynesia.

These include dances like the Hawaiian "Ke Alaula," a contemporary hula that compares the dawning of light with peace that comes with the break of day; the Fijian "Vakarorogo Noda Turaga," that tells of warriors who have encountered the enemy and will be courageous in defense of their people; and the Samoan "Lumana'i," which encourages youths to work toward the future by working hard for a better life.

Dances are presented throughout the day at the various cultural villages and also each afternoon during the new canoe pageant, "Rainbows of Polynesia," where men and women present traditional dances on large, flat canoes while floating about the man-made lagoon in the middle of the complex.