Annual luau hosted by Polynesian Student Union
The Taggart Student Center was transformed into the islands of Polynesia with the help of the Utah State University Polynesian Student Union. The club held their annual luau on Wednesday, April 18. This year’s luau was unique: it was the first time there has been a fire dancer in the TSC.
The night began out on the patio with food provided by the Pauni Island Grill food truck. Students feasted on traditional island foods like kalua pork, sukha chicken, rice and ‘otai. The party then moved to the TSC ballroom where the performances took place.
Holley Stringham Dances for the Polynesian Student Union on April 17, 2019.
“Basically, there is not one island that everyone is from in PSU,” Hopkins said. “We come from all the different islands of Polynesia. We want to bring everyone together to share our culture.”
The PSU members performed many traditional dances, including the warrior dances of Fiji and the hip-shaking dances of Tahiti.
Ruby Wahinehookae, PSU secretary, said, “I love the Hawaiian [dance] because I am Hawaiian, so I connected with that one more.”
Members of PSU explained that have a lot more male dancers than female this year. Jaynee Taufoou, PSU vice president said, “This year, they are pulling a lot of the weight. The boys are dancing more than the girls this year, and it is really great.” Even some members of the USU football team were on stage sharing their culture.
The grand finale of the night was the fire knife dance. The lights were turned off in the ballroom and the TSC was lit by the glow of the spinning fire. PSU’s fire dancer is a former world champion of fire dancing, and his talents brought the audience to a standing ovation.
PSU hoped that the luau helped people learn more about Polynesian culture and feel the spirit of unity.
“The big thing of Polynesian culture is love and family, and we want everyone to be a part of that family and know what it is like to be a part of our family,” said Hopkins.
—shelby.black@aggiemail.usu.edu
@shelbsterblack