"Our mission is to continue that, perpetuate it so that our children can practice their ancestral dances and songs."
That's what Nalini and Manarii Gauthier, founders of Tahiti ManaDancing, are hoping to do in their first year as residents of the University of Hawai'i at M'noa.
The two are the first resident artists in the school's Moananui'kea Artists-in-Residency program, which aims to address the "educational diversity gap of embodied knowledge for the people of Moananui'kea," Lorenzo Perillo, an assistant professor in the school's Theatre and Dance Department, tells the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
The Gauthiers, who were the first residents of Moananui'kea artists at UH M'noa, have been sharing their Tahitian dance and drumming with students, faculty, and the community since spring.
"Our mission is to continue that, perpetuate it so that our children can practice their ancestral dances and songs," Nalini Gauthier says.
Her husband, a native of Tahiti, adds: "We just want to be able to stay connected to our ancestors by sharing what we are, our culture, to the people who want to know."
The Gauth
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