Arotonga

[?]e Biggest Cruise Ship [?]r 25 years

Real Hula

Welcome From

Arotonga

From Gordon Russell For two weeks or more drums d throbbed in the villages at ;ht as teams of dancers polished

their items for the big day—

s day the Norwegian cruise ship

rgensfjord arrived.

IE was the first substantial cruise ship to visit here for some 25 years. look Islanders excel at putting on show, and they were now ripe present the big entertainment gramme planned with the local imber of Commerce, jnong the first to board the iptuous Bergensfjord was a wel ling party of teacher-trainees ler the leadership of Raitia luretu. His traditional challenge, 1 their song and dance, went m well as an after-breakfast etiser. .arotonga roadstead can be an fholesome spot and for days past local officials had been quietly ying for a break. The night )re had been boisterous but n broke with promise, y 9 a.m. about 340 tourists, ch was most of them, plus the v. had been brought ashore in ship’s launches. umerous “covered waggons” al trucks with palm leaf can !Si each with a teacher-trainee hiide, were lined up to take the sts to the dancing arena 'at 1 beach.

Dancing of the hula variety is common to central Polynesia, Samoa and Hawaii, and is now much debased in form as a result of European influence, lecherous and otherwise. But it can still be seen to great effect on rare occasions, and it is likely that Rarotonga offers the best chance of glimpses of something like the real thing.

Certainly the technique of the accompanying drummers is as virile as anywhere, comparing favourably with any recordings available from more sophisticated centres.

Hosts for the day were the Takitumu tribe, and on this, their territory, five Rarotongan district teams competed for acclaim, by ballot, as the winners of the contest.

The items that followed were an eye-opener even to blase local residents, satiated with hula. In contrast to the usual hula skirt of dress or shorts, headdresses and costumes were in most cases ingeniously contrived from local materials.

As for the tourists, they were a seasoned group (average age 65 years), rather blase perhaps, but the dancing brought a genuine response and pleasure at the sight of so much unsophisticated charm.

Only one thing rocked them; the prices asked by some curio dealers sustained by fantastic dreams of falling beneath a shower of American dollars.

Rugged Colonials

Perhaps the most notable feature of this visit was the demeanour and bearing of the Norwegian crew, in such contrast to that of the rag, tag and bobtail that seem to blot the togbooks of most cruise ships seen in Pacific waters these days Commodore Olaf Bjornstad, the rotund and cheerful master of the Pergensfjord, was very proud of them. It was not uncommon to see blonde young Norwegians bowing from the waist before rugged colonials, whose great grandfathers had run away from such old world lavender and lace.

the "Bergensfiord" anchored in the rough [?]rotonga roadstead. —Stuart Kingon.