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April 02, 2002

Merrie Monarch 2002

Well, I'm sure most of us will have to watch on TV, but someday! In case anyone feels lucky, here's a page with ticket prices and the seating chart. (Why doesn't the festival have an Official site of its own?!?)

Anyone ever been lucky enough to see it live?

Posted by Linkmeister at April 02, 2002 02:02 PM

Comments

 
Posted by Ryan on April 2, 2002 2:06 PM:

Man, getting tickets to this thing is harder than getting tickets to "The Producers" on Broadway. Oft told is the story of how the Merrie Monarch festival is sold out the day after the previous year's show.

And my dad's going. With four friends. With tickets he got only a few days ago, from a friend who happened to have access but didn't need them. Ho da lucky!

(My cousin goes every year for free, but it's because he's a KITV cameraman.)

I love it, though. Beautiful. I don't know a thing about hula, and yet, it enchants me. And now I'm haunted by unrealistic fantasies of my daughter becoming a hula dancer herself...

 
Posted by Linkmeister on April 2, 2002 7:53 PM:

Reason I asked, my Mom is equally fascinated. Of course, that may be because for 17 years she was head librarian at Bishop Museum, and thus exposed to so much Hawaiiana :) Anyway, it's a darn good thing that it doesn't start till Thursday night, because she'd really be ticked if it conflicted with West Wing!

 
Posted by ali on April 2, 2002 10:56 PM:

I've seen it live a few times. The time that most stands out is the one year that there was lightning and thunder during the kahiko performances. The power went out and many of the dancers were trembling and crying in fear. At least one halau decided not to compete that evening and there may have been others. Talk about chicken skin! It was eerie.

The TV view is much better than in the tennis stadium and parking is no problem at home. Hmmmm. On the other hand (are different fingers) there's no substitute for the energy that swirls around in crowd or the fragance of the many fresh flower leis (and the big kine flowers that the aunties wear in their hair) or the entertainment of watching the TV crew run around frantically trying to set things up while the rest of the world views a commercial at home.

 
Posted by Stella on April 2, 2002 11:22 PM:

Never watched it live; always watched it on TV - and, Ali, I have to agree that the view is much better.

This just reminded me of this Merrie Monarch season, when it coincided with the controversial tuition rallies at UH Manoa. This was during the time when Pi`ilani Smith was president of ASUH - and, naturally, one of the more prominently televised fixtures of the UH protest movement.

So KITV then does this feature story on Pi`ilani, and - surprise! - they include old footage of her competing and winning the Miss Aloha Hula title at Merrie Monarch. No surprise, since her family is very prominent in the hula community.

But I was watching this story alongside a bunch of guys who knew Ms. Smith only from the rallies in school, including my friend Del (from the Mainland) who somehow developed this crush on Pi`i at around this time. And all of the guys were watching this with their mouth wide open, and Del screams out, "Damn, girl!... Damn, woman!... Daaaaaammnn!"

And then, the footage of the young, smiling, dancing Ms. Smith cuts to the latter-day Pi`ilani unleashing her wrath at Dr. Mortimer...

 
Posted by honukai on April 3, 2002 9:02 AM:

Well, my only opportunity to dance at Merrie Monarch also happened to be the same weekend I was getting married:( I don't think I will *ever* get over that one!

Needless to say, I will be watching with a critic's eye. Hell, if I can't be there, then I need to "justify" my position on the couch:)

 
Posted by Ryan on April 10, 2002 8:19 PM:

Though this thread is long since retired, I figured I'd add this for posterity's (and search engines') sake:

Start planning for Merrie Monarch '03

For information, send a Self-Addressed, Stamped Envelope to:

Merrie Monarch Festival 2003
Hawai'i Naniloa Hotel
Room 234
93 Banyan St.
Hilo, HI 96720

Gettin' my envelope now!

 
Posted by Tita on November 22, 2002 5:40 PM:

Well, I was a dancer at the Merrie Monarch 2002. It is so different being the one dancing. I always used to watch it either live or on tv, but its a whole different prspective when you are dancing on the stage, because there are a lot of people watching ou, and you have to make sure you are doing okay, and you also have to please the judges.
It is well worth dancing at Merrie Monarch! If you are going 2003, then ill see you there.

 
Posted by Sasha Bush-Wilson on September 9, 2003 11:06 AM:

Please,can you see if you can send either the footage of the Merrie Monarch from mainly last year and the years before okay cause I'm in Kansas Honolulu born but My husband is in the military and he is overseas and he really wants me to get footage of it so my daughter can see her heritage not only through dance but you know what I mean
Mahalo Nui Loa

 
Posted by Linkmeister on September 9, 2003 11:18 AM:

Sasha, do a search for "merrie monarch videos" and you'll get lots of options for purchase. Here's one.

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