We did it!

After five weeks of two hour practices, four times a week, we finally had our dance performance today! And it was SO MUCH FUN!
First came the costumes. We spent four hours yesterday making beautiful braided belts made of leaves. We took long strips of dried Pandanus leaves (which are very solid and used to make roofs) and braided a bit of these, then began to incorporate strips of Outi. Leaves were incorporated every stitch, so we ended up with a very dense belt of bright green leaves pointing out in every direction. Next we tied beautiful yellow and white flowers onto headbands, about a third of the way around, and we were done! Somehow this took four hours.
After the costume making, some of us went to Maria's last volleyball game, which was a lot of fun: the local kids decided to imitate our loud cheering, which was hilarious, and Maria's team won every game! Interesting also that we saw a few of what we refer to as "she-men." Apparently it is a Tahitian custom for families to occasionally raise boys as girls, although I am not sure why. These men dress like women and are very accepted by everyone. Anyway, back from the volleyball game, the guys decided to get accustomed to their costumes, which consisted of leaves tied onto a belt...and nothing more besides little leaf cuffs on arms, legs, and head. Once we got over the initial giggling of seeing the appropriately termed "side butt" (gaps are left in the skirt on both sides to allow crouching), they did their dance. It looked great besides the fact that we occasionally saw of these guys than we ever wanted to. While the guys were dancing, all the girls wet their hair and braided it as instructed, so that everyone would have wavy hair in the morning. I was specifically told NOT to do anything...
This morning we awoke at 6:30 and met with Hiriate and Iriate, our two dance teachers (with confusingly similar names), to get dressed. Girls were given two brown or red pareos depending on standing position These we tied around our hips as skirts, and tied another, smaller one as a top. We then added the leaf belt we had made the day before, our flower headbands, and a flower lei, and we were good to go! To their dismay, the guys were told that they had to wear underwear underneath their leaves to avoid flashing the president, so all that practice the night before had been in vain.
We all walked over to the Atitia center, leaves rustling. We really lucked out: it's been raining the last few days, but today the sun was shining and there was virtually no wind (but oh so hot). We lined up and sang a round of the Atitia song, then made our way up to the amphitheater where we were to perform. The show was great: the guys opened with the Haka, a traditional Maori dance designed to scare the enemy, as we well as some Marquesian dancing. Then we did our three dances. The first was the Otea, a fast-moving, hip-shaking dance with occasional screams of 'ia orana, Maeva, and Kura Ora ("welcome" in three different Polynesian languages). Next we did an Aparima, a slower-moving dance in which we also sang the Atitia song, which was written specifically for the event. We ended the show with another Otea, fast-moving and featuring Sam the drummer's prouesse, and then we were done! The whole performance was so much fun -- Tahitian dancers are always supposed to smile widely, and I was worried it'd be forced, but it ended up being so much fun that I didn't even have to think about it. After our performance, we were congratulated by Polynesians and American millionaires (who came to see the station and consider donating) alike, and then we all shared a huge Polynesian feast, or Ma'a tahiti, consisting of traditional starches, roast pig, poisson cru, and much more. The president, Oscar Temaru, then made an appearance, and the guys danced a special Haka just for him.
It was really such a great experience: the teachers were so proud of us, and everyone was so impressed with our dancing...and of course we all had so much fun doing it! Hopefully we'll be receiving a DVD of the performance soon...
And now to figure out what to do with all of our extra time! Work perhaps?