I’ve mentioned before that I’m more of a fan of football than baseball or basketball. I grew up not even knowing what March Madness was. (I looked that up in Wikipedia to see when the term originated and discovered only that it came into use in the 20th century, not really the precise information that I was hoping for.)
Daddy was more of a football fan, too, I think, attending those games but not basketball games. Being a Waco girl, Baylor’s sports were what I heard more about, and they didn’t go to a NCAA tournament in all my growing up years, so I wasn’t aware of all the frenzy caused by an invitation to the BIG DANCE. (In Europe “The Big Dance” refers to a nine day biennial festival of dance in the United Kingdom. Wikipedia is such an interesting place.) I understand it now, given that both Baylor’s Women’s AND Men’s teams have advanced to the Sweet Sixteen this year.
When I was a senior in college, my school had a good basketball team. The previous year, they’d been to the NIT tournament, but in 1972, OMG (even though no one said or wrote “OMG” at the time), they got an invitation to the NCAA Basketball Tournament!!!!!!! (They’ve been three more times, in ’94, ’01, and ’02.)
I do still remember, clearly, that we played Weber State University, in Pocatello, Idaho. I was so clueless about the whole thing, that I thought Weber State University was in Pocatello, Idaho. (It’s in Ogden, Utah.) I also clearly recall that we lost, 91-64. Weber State lost in the next round to UCLA, who eventually won the tournament. They also played in this year’s event (their fifteenth time), being paired in the first round with number 1 seed Arizona, a game that ended the way you might have expected. Bless their hearts.
That 1972 game was televised, and I watched. And yes, we did lose, but let me tell you, we blew them away with our halftime show. Weber State went first, at halftime, with their pompom squad. They had on their cute pompom squad outfits, and cute pompom squad shoes, and cute pompom squad pompoms. I don’t know anything about pompom squad routines, but this one seemed very practiced, enthusiastic, and coordinated. They did a fine job and left the court to much applause.
Then our girls came out. The cheerleaders had changed from their cheerleading uniforms and let down their hair. They wore bikini tops and short sarong skirts and were barefoot. They did a lovely, slow hula, to the the song “Lahainaluna,” which was one of my most favorite songs, so I may have been a bit biased in thinking how marvelous they were. Then, they walked sinuously from the court and two other cheerleaders came on. They also had changed clothes and let down their hair. They had on bikini tops, headdresses, and hip-hugging grass skirts that reached the floor. They were accompanied by rhythmic drum music, and they did a Tahitian Fast Dance. (Yes, there are links to these things, at the end.)
This is the sort of thing that happens when you are a Rainbow Warrior from the University of Hawai’i.
I think it really was too bad that the Weber State boys weren’t back at courtside during our halftime show. Otherwise, I think they might have been useless in the second half of the game.
A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
Ecclesiastes 3:4 New King James Version (NKJV)
( I can imagine that you were expecting the Hawai’i Pidgen translation for this. But, I can find only New Testament translations for Hawai’i Pidgen. Sorry.)
If you’re going to go to The Big Dance, then there should be dancing.
Here is Kui Lee (who was always referred to as “The Late Great Kui Lee”) singing his composition Lahainaluna.
This is the best video of the Lahainaluna hula I could find. It looks like maybe a recital from a hula class at the Senior Center. So, it’s not exactly the same effect as young adult, skimpily clad dancers. But, really, you’re supposed to be watching the arms anyway.
Here’s a Tahitian Fast Dance. The introduction to this video is long, but things start at about 1:20. It’s amazing.
And if you’re interested in learning how to Tahitian Fast Dance, look here.
This was my most favorite video I found while doing all this research. On a beach on Maui, a Flash Mob Tahitian Dance!