Reunion draws performers from across Pacific

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

The Polynesian Cultural Center 40th anniversary celebration ended in a thundering crescendo last night as hundreds of former employees came back for a one-night-only performance at the center's amphitheater.

Mele Haunga, 28, rehearsed for the Polynesian Cultural Center's 40th anniversary performance yesterday. Her grandfather, a Tongan chief, worked at PCC for 15 years. Jeff WIdener • The Honolulu Advertiser

"Some just flew in last night. Some flew in this morning. The ones who came here from the Mainland, they want to do all the numbers. They say, 'I don't care if my leg is sore. I don't care if I'm tired, if my foot was broken, that's OK — I'm getting on that stage!'"

In truth, there were more than a few knee braces and Ace bandages visible under the lava-lavas, but every face wore a smile.

The event was billed as an alumni gathering, a homecoming of sorts. But it was more like a family reunion.

Mele Haunga was excited to have four generations of her family on stage at once. She is the granddaughter

of the late Tongan chief Alamoti Taumoepeau, who worked at PCC for 15 years. "Some of his choreography is in the show," Haunga said.

Her grandmother, who worked as a seamstress for the center, joined the alumni cast, and her mother came in from California for the big night.

"My mother couldn't take off much time from work, so she got on the red-eye from San Francisco last night and got here at 1 in the morning. That's how important this is to us," Haunga said.

She made a costume for her 3-year-old daughter and taught her the dances so she could be on stage, too.

In the Mo'o family, three generations worked at the Polynesian Cultural Center while attending Brigham Young University-Hawai'i.

Mahana Mo'o Pulotu was the first in her family to come to Hawai'i from Hikueru atoll. She has been working at the center for 35 years. Her sister, Merehau Mo'o Kamai, came from Utah for the celebration. Brothers, in-laws, children, cousins and grandchildren who all had worked at the center came from far corners of the Pacific for the celebration.

"We're Tahitian, and I married Tongan, my sister married Hawaiian, the other sister married Samoan, and my brother's wife is from New Zealand," says Mo'o Pulotu. "We can make our own Polynesian Cultural Center!"

Don Sibbett first saw the land of his ancestors when he came to college. He worked seven years at PCC. Jeff WIdener • The Honolulu Advertiser

The sisters and sister-in-law recall the days when the PCC was "half the size in land" and "we would have fun, fun, fun."

"There were times when it would rain and the electricity would go out," says Marseilles Mo'o. "There would be more dancers onstage than people in the audience, so we used to finish up our dances and then run out there on our breaks and scream and cheer. It was the best time of our lives."

"My son practically grew up here in the Tahitian village," says Mo'o Pulotu. "When he went away to college in Oregon, he saw there was a Hawai'i club, so he went to a meeting. They had a presentation, and wouldn't you know, the first picture they showed up on the screen about 'This is Hawai'i' was a picture of him as a child. There he was with his little lava-lava at PCC, wearing my father's hat, all smiles."

For Don Sibbett, the Polynesian Cultural Center was a first connection with his heritage. Sibbett is one-quarter Hawaiian, born and raised on a farm in Idaho.

"My grandfather was a missionary in Hawai'i from 1904 to 1908 and he married my grandmother, Milimili Kapaki from Maui," he explains.

Sibbett first came to Hawai'i for college in 1971. He remembers sitting on the airplane and catching his first sight of Maui.

"I burst into tears, and the flight attendant — I still remember that her name was Moana — she came up to me and gave me a tissue and I said, 'Please excuse me, it's just that, that's where my grandmother was from.'" Sibbett still tears up when he tells the story. "She told me, 'That's OK, I understand. I'm from Maui, too.' "

Sibbett worked at the PCC for seven years, and though he is a musician and composer at heart, he gamely made it through several dances.

Beth Hunt, 57, came from Australia to attend Church College of Hawai'i (the predecessor to BYUH) and PCC when she was 17 years old. She came by boat from Sydney, an eight-day journey. She recalls being shocked at not being able to understand English as spoken in Hawai'i.

"One girl came up to me and said, 'You all pau your class?' and

I said, 'What?' and she rephrased it as, 'Your class pau now?'"

Employees old and new rehearsed for the Polynesian Cultural Center's 40th anniversary shows last night, which featured hundreds of alumni, many of whom came from the Mainland and across the Pacific. Jeff WIdener • The Honolulu Advertiser

She married George Hunt, a student from Samoa, and moved back to Western Samoa with him after he got his teaching degree.

"I was born in Australia and I've been Samoan for 30 years, but when I'm back here, I'm Maori."

The alumni did two shows last night, a later event featuring an all-alumni cast and an earlier show with current employees that was a special presentation for the visiting president of the Church of Latter-day Saints, Gordon Hinkley.

At dress rehearsal, there was lots of joking around.

"Smile, Regina, smile!"

"No, your OTHER left hand!"

"Sing, but sing the right words!"

But where the nighttime performances were concerned, it was all reverence and honor.

"This is home to all of us," said Hunt. "I used to dream of this place. This is who we are."

Reach Lee Cataluna at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.