The Pacific island life sways its way to USU
Break out your Hawaiian shirt, stick some flowers in your hair and get ready for some dancing. It’s luau time.
This Saturday Utah State Univeristy will have a little bit of an island flair. The Polynesian Student Union will be hosting its annual luau.
The night will be one of food, dancing and other aspects of Polynesian culture. In total, six island nations will be represented with traditional dancing and costumes.
“It’s fun, a lot of great food,” Suzanne Thrope, a staff assistant for the USU Multiculture Student Office, said, “Very energetic music that makes you want to get up and dance.”
The last three luaus have all sold out before the event and organizers expect to sell all 700 tickets for the dinner and show with another 100 for only the show.
The dinner will consist of traditional food including chop suey, Kalua pork and guava cake for desert.
More than 40 volunteer dancers will perform dances from Tonga, Somoa, Fiji, Tahiti, Hawaii and New Zealand. They were trained by instructors from Salt Lake City. Practice for the show began in October with preformers meeting up to four times a week to rehearse.
PSU president Susiane Siulua, a senior majoring in social work, said that USU is known for having the best luau in Utah.
“All the other schools have them but ours and BYU’s are always the most popular ones. I think ours is the best,” she said.
Tickets for this Saturday’s luau are on sale in the Taggart Student Center ticket office and are $13 for the combined dinner and show and $7 for just the preformance. Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. with dancing starting at 7.
-steveshinney@cc.usu.edu