Arts & Entertainment
Altadena's Island Culture
Polynesian dance instruction is coming to Altadena - put on your grass skirt and come give it a try!
In the 1950's and 60's, Tiki Culture was everywhere: in movies (think Gidget and Elvis) in nightclubs like The Tikis in Monterey Park and in restaurants like Hollywood's Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills.
But for the many immigrants from Hawaii, Samoa and other South Sea Islands who live in the Los Angeles area, Polynesian culture is not kitsch, it's how they grew up. Long after the fad faded away, that culture continues to thrive in southern California, continuously handed down to a new generation by the elders who know it best.
Dance instructor Liz Espinoza fell in love with Polynesian culture when she was a girl--a Mexican girl--growing up in El Sereno, and now she is bringing her talents to teach students in Altadena.
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Though she wasn't born into the Polynesian culture Espinoza wanted to take in all she could. She found an elder to teacher her, the aptly-named Tiki Unger, whom Liz calls "wonderfully abrasive," adding quickly that "she had a big heart."
Unger became Liz's great influence, her "lifelong teacher." From Tiki, Liz learned the culture, especially dance--from the slow, graceful Hawaiian hula to the faster-paced Tahitian style. Liz studied other movement traditions along the way: Samoan Fire Knife Dancing and her favorite, the New Zealand Fire Poi. As she grew up, the culture of the Pacific Islands became her own.
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It's not surprising that Liz became a teacher, handing down her learned culture to a new generation. For five years she's been teaching Hawaiian and Tahitian dance to neighborhood kids at the Hathaway-Sycamores Family Resource Center in Highland Park. (She was at the Eagle Rock Recreation Center for 13 years before that.)
Paid classes are available at Hathaway-Sycamores, but some classes are free because the neighborhood needs them, and because giving is part of what Liz does. Her dance troupe, made up of her students, is called Keiki O Ka'Aina. Espinoza says it roughly translates as "Children of the Land." They've performed at scores of community events such as the Glendale Multi Cultural Festival, the Highland Park Peace Walk, the Pasadena Chalk Festival (Espinoza is also a chalk artist) and Children's Hospital L.A. They also perform at private parties like weddings and birthdays.
Now Liz Espinoza is bringing Keiki O Ka'Aina and her dance classes to Altadena's Sue B. Dance Studio.
"The idea," says Espinoza, "is to bring something that's not already here."
It's perfect for Liz for a couple of reasons: one) she lives in Altadena; and two) her 17-year-old daughter, Maritza, will be at her side.
Like her mother, Maritza has grown up embracing Polynesian culture as her own. An accomplished performer, Maritza has danced in festivals with Keiki O Ka'Aina, at the Coffee Gallery Backstage with slack-key guitarist Jim Kimo West (best known for his work with "Weird Al" Yankovic) and even alongside the Dole Company float (Living Well in Paradise) in this year's Tournament of Roses Parade.
Maritza has danced in her mother's footsteps in another way: though still studying at John Muir High School, she's already a teacher.
At Sue B. Studio, Maritza will teach Tahitian Dance for teens and young adults. She'll also teach Samoan Fire Knife Dancing. This form, which began its history with Samoan warriors, has morphed into modern performance and competition. Practitioners take a large knife called a nifo'oti, wrap it at each end with flammable material, dip the ends in flammable liquid and light them on fire. Then they dance while twirling their flaming nifo'otis. Not for amateurs.
Maritza picked up her first nifo'oti at age nine and she's been twirling fire ever since. Few other women practice Samoan Fire Knife Dancing, but that doesn't stop Maritza. She participates in annual competitions in Anaheim, where this year she expects once again to be the only woman competing with about thirty men.
"Some of them are amazing," she says, and the competition is tough. She adds that the men are supportive of her and of each other.
The state of Hawaii has a girls' division in Samoan Knife Dancing (one hopes Samoa does, too), and Maritza wants to have a girls' division here in southern California as well. The best way to make that happen, she figures, is to start teaching girls. Boys are also welcome in her classes.
Asked if she feels like the culture of the Pacific Islands is her own or something she's taken on only because her mother taught her, she says, "Oh, it's my thing." She could have said it because her mother was listening, but she could not have manufactured the way her face lit up.
A new generation comes from all backgrounds to study dance with Liz and Maritza. Their reasons for learning are varied. Some come for the exercise, some for fun. Some come to explore their own culture or to learn a new one.
It seems that Liz and Maritza are passing on a thing of greater value than the sum of its parts. Of her students, Liz says, "If they can learn to celebrate one group, they can learn to celebrate all groups." An intangible benefit, perhaps, but maybe the best one of all.
