School brings Africa to Kalihi
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
If anything could compete with the torrential rain hammering on the roof and thunder echoing through the valley, it was the pounding of African drums and the 320 children of Kalihi Elementary School roaring their approval.
Kalihi Elementary students learn dance moves from local African dance group Sewa Fare at the school's first-ever Black History Month program.
Yesterday was the school's first full-scale observance of Black History Month, a rare multicultural tribute to Africa in Hawai'i.
The school cafeteria looked a bit like May Day, with children of Pacific Basin ancestry portraying the African royals fanned with construction-paper palm fronds. The cafeteria was festooned with pictures of lions, giraffes, maps of Africa and hangings of kente cloth, the African version of kapa.
On stage were members of the African dance troupe Sewa Fare, themselves an ethnic mix resplendent in blue batik adorned with shells and beads. Among them: Kalihi Elementary
special-education teacher Marcia Howard, who organized the school's Black History Month curriculum to share her African-American heritage with children who knew little about it.
"I'm from Brooklyn, and my parents were born in Liberia," Howard said, "so I guess I really am African-American."
At the helm of the dance company stood Howard's teacher, Starr Anastasio, who runs weekly classes at the Atherton YMCA. Anastasio, who is proficient in several types of dance but most passionate about African, hails from Kentucky and happens to be Caucasian.
"That's Marcia's joke: 'I had to come from Brooklyn to Hawai'i to learn African dancing from a white woman from Kentucky,' " Anastasio said with a laugh.
This is perhaps par for the course in Hawai'i, where performers and their roles don't always match up ethnically. In fact, Kalihi's students took to the African curriculum without batting an eye, said principal Kevin Mann.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
"All through February we've been doing black history appreciation," he said. "For the morning announcement, we'd give some information about African-Americans."
Queen Ericka Sanchez is fanned by Mayumi Esha as students play the roles of African royalty and their servants.
It helped that Howard enjoyed drawing parallels between African culture and more familiar icons. The dance is similar to hula, she said, in its descriptive movements.
"In hula and African dance, we tell a story," she told the children. "You can tell what's going on by the actions of the dance.
"And what's this?" she asked, holding up a familiar gourd.
"An ipu!" everyone shouted back.
"In Africa, we use the same kind of calabashes, but it's called a shakere," she said, indicating a gourd draped with beads.
She then pointed to her skirt. "Here, this is called a lavalava; in Liberia, it's a lapa."
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
The event became most raucous during the audience participation segments, when Anastasio taught a joli, a rhythmic song from Guinea, where she once lived, adapted for the crowd.
Kalihi Elementary special-education teacher Marcia Howard, who organized the black history program, shows students how to dance African style.
Yallah many fang
Yallah many fang
Nyiree dana
Kalihi many fang
Which means:
There's a place I know
That's very good
It's called Kalihi
Later, the company invited members of the audience — dragged, in the case of some parents — up to dance. Rea Fox went willingly; she's one of Anastasio's students, and when teacher asks you ...
"You don't say no," she said with a grin.
The students' enthusiasm was pretty infectious, and they seemed quite clear on the concepts, Fox added.
"Well, it's rhythm and song," she said. "The kids will always get that. It's amazing what they will learn when you teach with rhythm and song."
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
