BYU–Hawaii’s Tonga Club unites onlookers across all cultures by telling a story of community and responsibility at Culture Night
The crowd at the Cannon Activities Center erupted in applause as the Tonga Club, fitted in matching vibrant red, performed their powerful and fast-paced choreography. Tonga Club’s vice president Kailani Tupou said they successfully showcased unity and community, adding that they performed as one family and one home.
Performing in unison, the Tonga Club told a story of family identity and responsibility. The dance was split into two distinct parts: the first focused on men and their responsibilities, while the second brought both the men and women together to show how everyone is able to unite and work together.
Although the dance relied upon a male dominated first half, the ideas were bigger than man and woman, and were designed to highlight everyone growing closer together, explained Tupou, who with his wife orchestrated the choreography. “We mixed together, men and women, to showcase our unity and our responsibility as men, as a family, as a brother and as a sister–while combining everything together in dance,” he said.
Part of growing united included an underlying reverence and respect for the opportunity to represent Tonga, shared Tupou. “To us it is very important that people focus their minds and their thoughts on our little island where we are from, in order for us to connect together we always have to remember the route where we come from,” he explained.
Tonga Club entered the activities center with one phrase in mind “Si’ipe Kae Ha” or “small but significant,” said Tupou. In the end, they were able to turn their small three minute performance into a significant beacon of togetherness–completing their self-fulfilling prophecy of Si’ipe Kae Ha, he shared.
