Original subtitles

Downloaded from YTS.MX

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

From the very beginning, I felt like I was going

to have some issues fitting in.

I thought I wouldn't fit in because of how

my life had been previously.

So growing up, I was too brown, too white.

A lot of things in between.

I can see everyone as big, Polynesian-looking.

And I'm here, a small Asian, skinny, Filipino-looking kid.

I'm going to see if they're going to take me,

and hopefully they do.

And if they do, I'm going to work

as hard as I can to really just make up

for the lack of the Polynesian body that I wish I had.

When the lights go on, the crowd is surprised.

I would say that's our biggest flex,

being girls doing this sport.

It's a male dominated sport, but for us to pull it off

on the big stage when we feel like we did really good,

I think we know it.

The neighborhood I grew up in is pretty rough.

My mom and dad got separated when I was in class five,

so basically she was the one that brought us all up.

The reason why I'm here is because of her.

Thanks for joining us.

Being the first in my family to attend a University that

really means a lot.

A lot of people see these big smiles,

they're like, she doesn't have a problem.

But I've been away from home for a little over four years,

and I really miss my parents, especially my dad.

Every day, that's all I need, is a dad's hug.

And how I'm homesick.

Shortly after high school, I had some plans

and I made some decisions that kind of ruined those plans.

But my mom did say that I have an uncle that was out here.

Then I can go stay with him for a little bit

to set things right with my life.

But after a good two months, he was kicking me out.

I was kind of lost on where to go.

All I wanted to do was to prove to my parents I'm not a failure.

Like thousands who came before them,

these students from Hawaii, the islands of the Pacific,

and from around the world are the real force

behind the Polynesian cultural center, which,

according to annual industry reports,

is Hawaii's top attraction.

These students from the adjacent Byu-Hawaii welcome each visitor

with "aloha" in the traditional spirit of Hawaii and as "ohana"

or family.

This year, the Polynesian Culture Center turned 60.

And today, just as they have done

with the 45 million visitors who preceded them,

they lead guests on a rich cultural journey.

Six island nations come to life as student performers

give visitors a taste of where they themselves come from.

As daylight wanes, Ha: Breath Of Life nightly show

is the culmination of the day's voyage

into the heart of Polynesia, again,

made possible by the dedication of the student

performers who become the lifeblood, the storytellers,

the cultural ambassadors of their heritage.

Although the center is celebrated,

for its cultural exhibitions and performances,

some express discomfort with what

they perceive as a commercialized representation

of Polynesian culture.

Others voiced concern that students are being exploited.

Are these concerns well-founded or misguided?

What drives students to share their culture

in the face of criticism?

These questions underscore the complexity

of showcasing living cultures in a way

that respects their origins, while simultaneously

entertaining visitors and supporting students

earnestly try to determine their own destiny.

What are the stories of resilience behind these vibrant

faces that greet each guest with a heartfelt "aloha"?

Great show.

Join us as we pull back the curtain and step backstage,

exploring their personal stories.

Witness the trials they braved to arrive in this place,

the day to day hurdles they surmount,

and the pivotal moments that are sculpting their destiny.

Hi, mom.

Hi, dad.

The new addition to our family.

This is an invitation to take a behind the scenes look

at the Polynesian Cultural Center

and into the lives of the students who bring it to life.

I'll give my all to the PCC today!

One ohana.

Sharing aloha!

Woo!

So when I got off the plane, I was so nervous and so scared

because this is my first time in a foreign country.

I was excited.

I knew I was going--

coming to BYU-Hawaii.

I had family members who came here

who told me stories about this place,

so I was excited to follow their footsteps.

I knew that coming here would be much more comfortable,

if that makes sense.

It's more me, and it's part of who I am.

I decided that BYU-Hawaii would be a cool opportunity.

I had family and friends that have already

come here and school here, and so I

thought this would be a good opportunity to--

yeah, go and try something new.

I thought it would be somewhat different from Fiji,

but then when I was looking around, I was like,

oh, this is kind of similar to Fiji.

Like the tropics and, like, the trees and the mountains,

it's kind of similar.

I was having a lot of memories going through my mind,

especially, like, my goals that I've set

and how I'm planning to achieve it.

But at the same time, I was kind of nervous and just trying

to get myself together.

We are finding students who are qualified academically

and prepared to come here and be successful in pursuing

a bachelor's degree, who have financial need, who really

couldn't pursue an education at a university in the United

States without support.

You don't have to come with $20,000 of tuition money.

You come here with a desire to be part of this community,

to build yourself up and prepare yourself

to go out and serve and support your family and your community.

Well, one of these new students come, everything is new

and everything is exciting.

But I can also see that it can, at times, be overwhelming.

So this is it.

My experience as a student was that I had roommates,

and I developed friendships with people

from all around the world, which would have never have happened

had I remained in my hometown.

And it's been really fun to see you arriving on campus,

to see your excitement.

We've asked you to make several commitments

to be part of this community, and you've

made the choice to accept those commitments and honor them.

Thank you for choosing to be here with us.

This is a small university.

It's very difficult to get accepted and to sit in this seat

that you're sitting in right now.

Regardless of where you're from, what your background is,

I want you to know that you belong here.

OK, ready?

One, two and 3.

Here's my ID.

Welcome, welcome.

Welcome.

Many of you will have the opportunity

to work at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

And what a gift it is to have that space be

a place where the world comes and sees you and learn from you.

These students are coming here and they

are proud of their heritage.

And they should be.

And they're coming to the Polynesian Cultural Center,

which has this incredible purpose

to allow them to work, fund their education while seeking

to celebrate and preserve their own cultures and the cultures

of their fellow students.

So tomorrow, please get a job at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

19 hours a week while school is in session.

From food servers, cooks and dishwashers

to maintenance workers, everyone finds

a job that suits their ambitions and their school schedule.

I got a tour guide-- tour guide job.

I got a job as carver.

I'll be working as a fruit cutter.

A kitchen support worker.

Sales associate from the retail shop.

For students who have dreamed of performing

their culture and their renowned night show Ha: Breath Of Life,

their big moment to audition has finally arrived.

It's a highly sought-after job, and this semester only

a few spots are available.

For the Hawaii students, when they come in and audition,

they don't know what's going to happen.

They don't know what's going to happen.

They come in and they're told that you need to find a job.

Here's PCC, you have this department

and you got to choose today.

Excited?

Come, come.

We decided to go first to night show

without thinking that we was going-- actually

going to get accepted.

They come with numbers and it's good

because we don't like names because sometimes you

might know the family.

We bring them backstage and we have about an hour,

and in that hour we will hold this large audition.

Good morning and welcome.

We're excited to have you here with us today.

It's definitely a nerve-racking process.

They're looking at each other.

They all got numbers.

They don't know what's going to happen.

I looked around and they were pretty much

feeling the same thing.

Like, I could just tell from the facial expressions

and everything.

Come, come on to the green.

You have to audition in front of everybody, your peers,

all of the choreographers who were there.

And it's-- I don't blame them for being nervous.

I know they're nervous.

So you try to make them feel comfortable.

Just take a deep breath and relax.

Just look at yourself in the mirror

and have fun while you're there.

All right?

Everyone up there that was auditioning them

was once in their shoes.

We went through the same thing.

I had to audition five times before I finally

got into the show.

And it's like a joke they tease me about.

Yeah.

One, two--

We teach them some basic fundamentals in a dance

and we ask them to do it.

Although they're not supposed to be perfect,

we don't expect them to be perfect,

we look for those that we think have

the coordination and the potential

to learn the show in 90 days.

One, two.

Beside me.

One, two--

This is not typical of a performer of this type.

You usually do your main role and then

you're an understudy to maybe one or two others.

That's it.

But not in this show.

You've got to be able to do almost everything.

We're going to meet real quickly while you guys relax.

We will huddle in the office real quick

and we get feedback from everyone.

Can you see them on stage in 90 days

at the standard that is close to what we currently have?

I mean, I want to hear from the student leaders who

are going to be working very closely with them,

with the supervisors and-- and then David and John,

and I have my opinion as well.

I thought maybe 14 with coordination.

He has a coordination.

I'm sure they're-- all the jitters are out

and the excitement is going on, and they're just making sure

they're anxious that they get it right and they hopefully get

chosen because if not, they got to-- they got to go look

for another job.

Thanks for being patient, students.

So just a heads up.

If you hear your number called, you're

just going to make your way to the table here.

And if you don't hear your number called,

we appreciate you for auditioning.

The first number will be 27.

If you can make your way up, please.

And next number, 85.

Can you make your way up there?

And number 14, if you can make your way up to the podium.

At that time, I was shocked because I'm not really

a good dancer.

I really find it exciting, getting to know other cultures.

Thank you, everyone.

Yeah, so I was disappointed that I didn't make the night show,

but I guess there's more jobs at PCC or even at school.

Yeah, I'm so excited.

I'm excited to get my first job.

I'm excited to portray the culture to everyone

and also get more good at dancing.

Two, and three.

In just eight hours, everyone has landed their first job.

Jason will start training immediately

for his first role at the night show.

Huala'i with her past experience in hula dancing,

landed her first job along with her roommate,

performing in the Hawaii village.

Monson is following in the footsteps

of his great grandfather, who worked for the Center

as a master carver over 50 years ago.

And Josephine, though being a dishwasher may not seem as fun

or as glamorous as the other jobs,

it comes with a pretty nice perk.

So at 6:30 this dinner at the Luau.

So we take a break from work, and then we go eat at the Luau.

So it's been so good.

The Polynesian Cultural Center is situated on 42 acres.

It's set up in six mini villages or islands.

There's the village of Samoa, then Aotearoa, New Zealand.

We have Fiji, we have Hawaii, we have Tahiti, and we have Tonga.

Each of them have their own employees

that we try to staff as much as possible

with individuals from those actual cultures.

Thanks for joining us.

So I work here at the Fiji village.

Our dances depict stories, our dances, our history.

And we also have, of course, the coconut oil presentation, one

of my favorites, where we show guests

how we make coconut oil back in Fiji.

It's amazing how you see their eyes light

up from the starting of husking the coconut.

Showing them the face.

the coconut--

Where they're like, hit it.

And then with a rock and it opens.

Grading the meat, squeezing out the milk

and explaining basically how you make coconut oil.

My friends would say I'm a funny guy, making jokes and all

of that, but when I'm on stage performing,

it's a different mentality altogether.

Currently, I'm in my third semester.

I'm majoring in political science

with minors in Pacific Islands studies and education.

four of you that got the right one.

Being the first in my family to attend a University,

that really means a lot.

Jimbo!

Hey!

Welcome home, Jimmy!

My mom and dad got separated when I was in class five.

Without a father figure in our house, my mom played both roles.

She was the one that brought us all up.

I'm so grateful for him.

He's done a lot.

I'm so proud of him.

Everything she sacrificed for us,

that's what I always remember.

And that's why-- what I do is because of her.

Last night you just sleep here, myself beside him, there.

Would sleep with me--

I said, get the mattress, bed mattress, everything,

he said, no, don't need the mattress.

We just lie on the mat.

The floor is better than the bed.

The bed is too soft.

Plus, we've been sleeping on the floor

ever since we were younger, so.

The neighborhood I grew up in is called Riwanga.

A lot of people fear this place because of what goes down here.

Not really safe, they say, but for us that live here,

this is home for us.

It's a humble beginning, so it's very good

to come back and really remember where I come from.

Like, I wouldn't change my upbringing.

My upbringing has brought me to where I am today.

My way out was through sports.

This is when he was in the Fiji team.

He played against Samoa.

This is at the Vodafone Arena.

There are some little medals here.

One for basketball.

So this is home for me.

This is where my mother would find me, whether it

be lunch, breakfast or dinner.

This is where I'll be at, playing basketball.

Basketball keeps us away from all the trouble.

All the scars that I have on my body is from falling right here.

Yeah.

Now, when I went to PCC, I learned more

about a traditional Fijian village,

what the huts meant, what traditions

had to take place before you build a hut,

a little stuff like that.

That really strengthened my knowledge

for the people of Fiji.

So I'm grateful.

Jimmy will be the ideal example for us.

He had little knowledge of who he was or his cultural identity.

He's gone to Hawaii.

He's picked it up in another foreign land,

and he's bringing it back with him.

I want the kids here in the neighborhood

to know that, you know, through education,

it can take you places.

Anything is possible.

And I hope he can influence other youths here

in the urban areas in Suva and influence them and tell

them there is another option for you.

And this is the option.

I've been through.

Dorm life is very different from the term dorm life back home.

It's very different from here.

Here it's like, you're living in a, I would say, a hotel.

The rooms, the toilets, bathrooms, all of that,

back home is very different.

We're fortunate to be in a dormitory like this.

Growing up, we sleep on the floor.

We did have beds at home, but usually, like,

the eldest sibling would sleep on the bed or the mom

and the dad sleep in the bed.

The kids sleep on the floor.

Me and my siblings, we would sleep on the floor in the living

room because at home it's not just us,

it's us and our extended family.

Full house, how we say it back home,

I can't see myself sleeping on the bed

if my mom's still sleeping on the floor.

The reason why I'm here is because of her.

So that's why I sleep on the floor,

because my mom sleeps on the floor.

Family is what pushes us.

Family is why I'm here.

I tell you, everyone in Hawaii has got a different opinion.

That is for sure.

In these days, hard not to get some naysayers.

You will get criticism no matter what you do,

when you try to express yourself or you're forward-facing,

you're facing out to the world.

We know that we're not going to please everybody

when they come here, and we'd be silly to think that everyone

is going to love what we do.

Though not widely believed, some critics

assert that student employees are being exploited.

A lot of people are worried about the center

as being exploitative of Polynesian students, when

in fact, it's just the opposite.

People say we're slave labor.

People say that we're selling our culture for money.

A lot of people--

a lot of people say a lot of things,

but it's funny because this is stuff

that we'd be doing ordinarily for free in our cultures.

When we hear comments like, you're exploiting them,

I don't see them as that.

I see them as talents that are here to be developed by us,

so that when they finish and they

leave the center, when they graduate,

they could become leaders.

To have an opportunity to go to school and work,

and the program covers for your housing, tuition, meal plans.

Where else in the world would you get that?

Now, that's an amazing deal that I

would have taken going into college

and that almost anyone would take going into college.

We've taken a look and said, what is your total compensation

for those 19 hours a week?

And what we found is that it's in excess of $50 an hour.

Come to college, work 19 hours a week,

have some money to play on the weekends,

and get a debt-free bachelor's degree.

It's a really exciting model, and I'm

grateful to be able to administer that and be

part of it.

Students enrolled here are the centerpiece

of a symbiotic relationship.

The Center and Brigham Young University-Hawaii

are intertwined, each sustaining the other.

One cannot flourish without the other,

and each student worker is mentored every step of the way

by more seasoned performers and cultural experts who were once

students themselves.

Kap Tafiti from Samoa is featured five times daily

in the Samoa village.

Kap graduated with his degree in 3D art,

sculpting and pottery and has been mentoring students

and entertaining guests for 37 years ago.

This is Samoa.

Everybody say Samoa.

Do you want some more?

Capturing an audience as a worldwide,

you have to use your language, not to make fun,

but to show there, I did my homework.

I know how to say this in your language.

Get a rock.

It was a rock.

Chinese sounds--

Japanese.

So comedy is an intricate part of it

because it brings attention.

In your homes you teach your children,

don't touch your knives.

Stay away from the fire.

In our homes, we put them together

and give it to the child.

You know, humour, when people are entertained and learn

something at the same time, I think they will remember it.

This is all you need.

We call it-- English

sharp stick.

It's part of our nature, the humor side, the fun part.

I think it's just naturally in us

to be happy, to always joke around.

There's always a time to play around and time to be serious.

But I think most of the time we are on the fun side of things.

He's a man of steel.

His feet made of steel.

I've never seen him walk around with shoes.

Take a picture.

It lasts longer.

And he climbs the tree.

Are you folks ready?

We have five, six shows a day, but I climb five times a day.

I mean, he's been doing it for 30 years, five times a day.

That's why he looks like that and I look like this.

When calculating, I climb, I don't know--

tens of thousands of times, 100,000 times.

If I miss a day or two, or sometimes I'm traveling,

I can feel when I come back.

So I'm hoping that I continue on to do it.

Climbing trees in my 70s, you know.

He's 54 and still climbing the tree.

And get this, he's a vegetarian.

How many Polynesian vegetarians do you have?

Only two, that I know of.

And I've met all the Polynesians in the world.

I believe my mission, or my purpose

is to entertain, educate, share really the true Aloha.

Not just laughing, but people leave

with something that's deeper.

Maafu Latu-Vaki from Tonga, has been on the staff at the Center

for about a decade and graduated with his degree

in Pacific Island studies.

Please, put your hands together to welcome the master

of the jump, the man,

When I first got hired to the Polynesian Culture Center,

I already knew how to play the drums.

I learned it from my father and grandfather.

My name is--

The show holds up to the cultural validity,

but still is one of the popular entertaining shows.

And if you look at it, break it down to its rarest form,

it's kind of what Tongans do anyways,

where we kind of tease and make fun of each other in general.

And so we're sharing that aspect of our humor

with the guests that come.

We don't tell the guests about that beats that.

That's all on them.

Let's try one more time.

Finish it.

Finish.

Yeah.

Finish the beat.

Here we go.

Ah!

It's going to be a long day.

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

Dun dun.

It's just a fun show to be a part of know.

So--

I believe the strength of PCC is that it strengthen your affinity

to your home countries.

The authenticity of what's in the Tonga village,

it's as authentic as it can be.

If you come just to go paddle a canoe

to have fun and get a picture with a big, large Polynesian man

that entertained you, you'll get that.

But if you want to delve more into the culture,

you'll learn that stuff like our canoe

is symbolic of a family, where the large part of the canoe,

the main body that's supposed to do all the work,

is representative of the father.

The outrigger, or the smaller piece that

balances out the humor, that's considered the mother.

The two pieces that connect the smaller and larger piece,

the kiato, those are said to symbolize the children.

And as long as the mother and father

are aligned in how they want the kids to be raised,

then the canoe or the family will

be able to weather any storm they should hit while

in the ocean.

And that's the way it is throughout the Polynesian

Culture Center.

Everything is here for a reason.

Everything has cultural meaning and purpose.

Ha.

Breath of Life is put on with students, amateurs.

They're the most professional bunch of amateurs in the world.

This Broadway-caliber production boasts a dedicated cast and crew

of over 100 individuals.

With 4,200 performances to date, observed by 5.5 million

spectators, it stands as the Hawaii's most acclaimed

theatrical spectacle, featuring 600 authentic Polynesian

costumes.

Each performance is illuminated by 1,000 lights.

The story is about Mana, his life journey from infancy

through adolescence to manhood, the struggles and joys

throughout his life.

As the story unfolds, audiences are

immersed in the diverse cultures of Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, Fiji,

Aotearoa of course, Hawaii.

Entertaining as the performances may be,

the show's success is even more astounding

because it is carried by full-time students.

The behind the scenes' magic that

makes this production possible draws fascination

with many recognizing that the show behind the show

rivals the onstage presentation in intrigue and significance.

Rachel.

And that's because behind the scenes,

there's an entirely different show going on.

First of all, a big hand for the whole cast for a great job.

These kids are very teachable.

They're humble and they're wanting to learn.

Just keep working on your Samoa, your hands for Samoa.

But I think it'll come.

The pressure on performers is very real

because there are measurable goals associated

with their performance based upon daily audience feedback.

Our goal is to hit a 93% excellent rating, which

means that 93% of those surveyed have to select a nine or a 10,

which is excellent.

As of now, here today, we are very blessed.

We are at 94.

Thank you.

Thanks all of you.

They all know the goal, and they all

know that we can't achieve those goals unless everybody

is working their hardest and they're pushing themselves.

Ha.

Breath of Life is only as good as its performers.

What is it that drives each student to take part

in such a demanding show?

All the men in my family do it.

We always went to my dad's shows, so as a baby,

I would always watch him spin.

Ever since I was a kid, fireknife dancing

was all I knew.

Kind of inspired me to start doing it.

Achilles came with such speed and power,

and when he goes from move to move, it's so fast.

Try to imagine the whole stage as a battlefield.

So when you come out, you're like, ready for war.

All the crowd's screaming and everything.

It's kind of, like, you ever watch Gladiator?

You win the crowd, you win your freedom.

Uncle David, he's a legend.

David himself is a three-time champion of the world fire knife

championships.

And we add boards on this side.

So I'm across and then you spin them.

Some of the moves that I do now.

Yeah, those are David's moves.

He really changed the game because back then it

was just the old-school style.

And then he brought in some new moves that everyone does now.

Growing up, I would watch my dad perform, my uncles and also

my Papa, and I just think I kind of grew to love it

because I was surrounded by it.

One day I saw her and her cousins, the twins, just playing

amongst each other, and they were spinning the knife.

I think he saw potential.

She started training.

So she has three world final titles.

Oh, Jeri, she's really good.

She beat me one year in the competition.

To be the first girl to have a solo performance

at the Polynesian Cultural Center is such an honor.

She has her cousins, the twins, all three of them together.

The triple threat.

Female fire knife dancers are very rare.

People don't expect to see women fire knife dancers.

They really were game changers for our show.

From night one, the whole audience just erupted.

It was one of those, chicken-skin moments.

And we said, that's it.

I would say that's our biggest flex,

being girls doing this sport.

It's a male dominated sport, but for us to pull it off

on the big stage when the lights go on, the crowd is surprised.

They do a really, really tough routine.

Their routine is harder than the men's routine.

When they spin, you can tell they're twins

because they're always in sync.

We're lucky to have them.

I think we're the only show on the island that

has three females that can twirl at that level.

My favorite part is just performing with everybody,

because we're all family, and especially the crowd.

When we hear them cheering and stuff,

it just makes us boost our energy even more.

Having the look on the crowd's face, knowing they're surprised

or they're happy, they enjoy the show, that makes me happy.

When we nail it or when we feel like we did really good,

I think we know it.

We look at each other and we're all happy.

We come off stage, we're like, oh, yeah, good job.

High five.

Good job, ladies!

The fact that we're all students and we're

all just community members working hard

to get the story out and just to dance and enjoy

what we're doing, that gives this show something that I think

not a lot of other shows have.

We have spirit and we have heart and we love each other.

And I feel like we've all grown and progressed in our work lives

and our community lives together,

and that's something that manifests on stage.

Mele is a senior and lead performer

originally from New Zealand.

If I'm sitting way up there in section one,

I have no idea what you just pulled up from there,

so you need to make sure it's seen as you're turning.

You're showing it from there.

So from there, open up.

Just because she's got the role of Lani doesn't mean,

OK, I've got it, I can relax.

No.

She continues to perfect her craft, perfect her skills.

I think about nights when she plays Lani, the lead role.

Mele has been playing that role for over two years.

She will have her headphones on and to the side of the theater,

and she will shake for about 15 minutes straight.

Practice practice, practice, practice.

She's been doing this for how long.

She has an intensity about her because of how much she works.

That amplifies my intensity when I perform with her.

When I perform with Mele, it's like spot on,

everything is just back and forth.

We're receiving each other.

There's a good connection.

We have great chemistry, and it just works.

So I'm majoring in political science and anthropology.

Double majoring.

Have you done something that has really

kind of showed an impact--

I think the thing that keeps me awake at night,

being a student and performer is just deadlines.

The times that we're dancing is the times

when everyone else is doing homework.

By the time we're home, everyone else is in bed or going out.

That's when we begin our study for the nights.

I know for me, that's like 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM and then knock

out, wake up the next day, class.

Same thing every single day.

I live off campus with my auntie and uncle

and they took me in when the pandemic happened.

I am good friends with her son.

He told them, and then they told me, hey, come live at our house.

I was, like, no, I'll be fine.

I'll figure it out.

My son asked.

Took us about 10 minutes to decide

she's going to be our family.

So she started off as a niece and she ended up as a daughter.

In the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

It's been such a blessing living with them

because they didn't have to bring me in and have me

as a part of their family.

But it's been going good.

They haven't kicked me out yet, so.

Mele has been just as much of a blessing to us

as we have been to her.

They have a dog.

She is my best friend.

The dog loves her a bit more than me.

She just takes time with her.

She takes her on bike rides.

She takes her on walks.

Her name is Koa.

She's a boxer.

And just every day we're hanging together,

we're chilling on the floor, we're going for walks.

We'll go out for a run.

I'll take her biking on the bike path.

I love going to the beach as well.

My alone time with my dog is my peak, peak, peak time.

It's funny because I came here to meet new people,

and then I found my dog.

And then that was it.

From the very beginning, I felt like I was going

to have some issues fitting in.

I thought I wouldn't fit in because of how

my life had been previously.

So growing up, I was too brown, two white.

A lot of things in between.

But in coming to the PCC and being involved with my culture

at BYU, I really got a sense of who I was.

I remember Mele when she came.

She was quiet.

She was really quiet.

I had a lot of fears before I came here

of just trying things, which is silly.

She didn't even talk.

We had to ask her questions to get her to talk.

And in fact--

Like, pulling teeth.

The very first Sunday that she was here,

we had to invite friends to come over

so we'd be able to have a conversation other

than with ourselves.

You know, God has a really funny joke

and giving me a job when I'm an introvert, that

requires me to be around a lot of people

and just entertain a bunch of people, I think.

You see her now on the stage?

It's-- for me, it's a miracle.

We're really proud of her when we see her.

I mean, we've had our children go through,

and we've enjoyed watching that show over and over,

but to have someone that we feel so close to being

in that lead spot and just be so good at it

and engage with the audience, yes, we're really proud.

Each performer in their own way is doing it for the guests.

They're doing it for every new person that

comes here every single night.

And I would know, I'm one of them.

And I talk to the many performers and my friends

back here every night.

They're putting their heart, their soul, their blood, sweat,

and tears out on stage.

Not just for work.

Work is one thing, but they know that it's a privilege

to perform every night.

Da, da, da.

And done.

OK, good job.

Hey!

My major is TESOL.

It's teaching English to speakers of other languages.

And how to do it for K-12 and also university students,

just generally how to teach English.

Another thing that I love doing is photography.

It's one of my passions, a passion that I grew actually

during COVID, during the lockdown when we couldn't really

do things anymore.

So I started to do photography out of sheer fun.

Atea was born in Tahiti, son of a Tahitian Chinese father

and a Filipino mother, and has three siblings.

During his audition, Atea struggled with his self-image.

My goal in coming here to BYU-Hawaii

was to come here to PCC and dance.

My father actually danced here.

And he told me about it and I was like, I want to do that.

When I found out that Atea wanted to dance, it--

it kind of surprised me and I felt like, wow, OK.

I-- in my head I was thinking, I hope

he can dance at least like me, or hopefully better.

His father, Antonio, and his mother, Lotus,

were both student employees of mine

when they were going to school here,

and it's so fun now seeing their children come here.

When I auditioned, it was right as the show was going on.

So you could see people running in and out,

and I can see everyone is nice and big Polynesian-looking,

and I'm here, a small Asian, skinny, Filipino-looking kid.

Even though I'm from Tahiti, I don't look anything

like I'm from Tahiti.

He came up to me once and says, dad, I--

I'm kind of shy to dance with no t-shirts on because of the way

I look.

And I told him, you couldn't look any worse than that.

Look to when-- when I started dancing, too, because I was just

as skinny as you are.

The difference is you dance better than me,

and so you're going to showcase your talent.

When I asked him to dance on the night show,

he almost seemed surprised that I would ask him,

and maybe he had in mind that night show dancers

need to be a certain way, like bigger.

And so I was just like, you know what?

I'm going to give what I got.

I'm going to see if they're going to take me.

And hopefully they do.

And if they do, I'm going to work

as hard as I can to really just make up

for the lack of the Polynesian body that I wish I had.

I don't think he realized that he had it in him.

I don't think he did.

Now he's in the front a lot.

For pretty much most of the cultures that he dances,

I think his confidence level has shot up.

He feels better about himself just because of--

well, he should, because out of all the guys on stage,

you're the front guy, you're the point guy.

So make sure that your words are nice and strong, yeah?

Make sure your actions firm.

And I just find it amazing the amount of trust

that they do put into me, and that they

saw progress in me when I couldn't really

at the beginning.

Atea is one of the few dancers that knows the whole show.

He knows all six sections and he knows them well.

He's a small guy, but I'll tell you,

his work ethic goes beyond everyone's bounds.

That guy will work his butt off to get on stage.

Your eyes will typically turn to him because he dances so hard

and he has so much charisma.

If you ever see him on stage, even though he's small,

his actions are huge.

I mean, he can dance Hawaii and Tonga better than, you know,

any other boys that I know that dance Hawaii and Tonga.

Imagine dancing six sections for 90 minutes solid, hard.

That's what Atea does.

They just have this passion for what they do and it shows up

on stage.

This is just natural.

But I think it is amazing that we pull off a show like this,

with kids who were just in the islands six months ago.

I'm studying TESOL education and social work as my major,

and minor in biology.

So those are seven areas that you can focus on--

Leilani from Tonga is an unmistakable personality here

at the Center.

During the audition, she kept talking

and I actually had to lean forward and point her out

and say, you, sh.

But do you know what?

She was good.

We still picked her up.

Leilani is very positive, very good attitude,

a life of the party.

She just loves life and just makes everybody feel happy

around her.

And she's gung ho to try anything and everything.

She loves, loves, loves her family and everybody around her.

And that's just the way she is, is the reason why she's beaming

and she's bright and she's sunny all the time.

I've been away from home for a little over four years.

A lot of people see this big smile and they're like,

she doesn't have a problem, you know.

But--

A lot of people don't know, but I come here to work

and some people don't see how I'm homesick.

With family support, Leilani left home in Tonga to serve

an 18-month volunteer mission for her church in Arizona.

But on her return flight home, she

became stranded in Fiji when her last connecting flight to Tonga

was canceled due to COVID forced border closures,

so she decided to stay in Fiji and extend

her missionary service an additional 16 months.

While serving, Leilani applied for the I Work scholarship

program at BYU-Hawaii and was accepted.

But with Tongan borders still closed,

she had to fly directly to Hawaii

to start the new semester.

At this point, Leilani had not been home in over three years.

I try to keep myself busy, do my schoolwork, go to the library,

study for exams and stuff like that,

so I can get myself busy so I don't think about home a lot.

Leilani is sister-in-law to Malcolm, who plays the leading

role as Mana in the night show.

I see how happy he is and how supportive my sister is

for him to work here in the night show,

and I was like, I want to try that.

And so I tried it and I loved it.

It's so fun working with him because when

I go out the tunnel, he's like, yes, sister.

And I'm like, yes, brother.

It's now about 60 minutes to showtime.

Who's going on first time in this group?

Pono!

OK, Pono going on first time tonight.

Please make your way to the lineup.

Two more minutes, please.

Thank you.

Every night we have what is called the lineup,

and they will line every single person in their spot.

They will run through transitions

so everybody knows where they're supposed to go.

Will, Bono, Ethan, James, and Kendall.

Ty and Aaron are walking on.

It's never the same lineup.

Every night it's a different lineup, different key role.

Front line is different.

Second back line.

Everybody has a turn and rotating.

Double check.

Where is she?

She's going to be on Hona's side.

Sometimes they're lineup issues.

Someone will turn up in the wrong spot.

Someone will remember a spot from three nights ago

and do it for that night.

And there's a lot of adjusting that has to happen.

It doesn't make so much for drama, but just

difficulties on stage.

We are only allowed to work our students 19 hours a week,

and so we have to be very creative in the way

that we manage them.

There's days when exams come up.

Some of them have the same class,

so we're missing a lot of kids, and I

have to make it work to get the numbers on stage.

Sometimes you have those kids that just show

up just in time for the show.

They missed the lineup.

Standing by.

Open the doors, please!

Whether there's a couple of people

or whether the whole place is full,

it's still equal amounts of scary.

double check your lineups.

I saw just a--

Good job.

The islands were born out of the fire of the Earth,

and life comes forth from the fire of love.

Backstage, people don't see what's really

going on behind the scenes.

Backstage, people are running around changing because you come

and dance, you go back, change real quick

because you're coming out on the second section

after that section.

Do your hair.

And for girls, it's harder because your hair,

you got to fix it to a certain way to match everyone else's.

You run from the other side to the other side,

and it's so crazy because everyone's

running around and changing, and then

you have to run out and put a smile on your face

because you're about to impress people and help them

with the show.

So it's pretty crazy back there.

Do you want some more?

We're going to give you some more.

Backstage, everybody is listening intently to the show

and making sure they are dressed in time.

There's only so much room in the locker rooms

to prepare your costumes, so you'll see costumes

all over the place backstage.

Costumes, accessories always going missing.

Somebody's already got someone else's.

Someone's borrowing someone's never put it back.

And that creates some tension backstage, because obviously,

to get on stage, we need to have all of our pieces.

There are a million quick changes in this show.

Some of us dance all six sections,

some just cross over in little ways,

and then there's just a lot going on at all times,

so you've got to be really onto it.

Two minutes, Mele.

Two minutes.

Everything's set up in the tunnels.

Yeah, 'cause they won't make the change if they go back

to the dressing room.

Let's go, let's go!

Come on, hurry up, hurry up!

A lot of us only make it through the show

because of the other dancers.

They'll stand out at the back and they'll

be waiting, ready with your costume, dress you, send you on.

Come back out, dress themselves, dress you, too.

So there's a lot of teamwork that goes on behind the scenes,

but it makes it work.

We also watch out for each other as dancers, so if something's

not working out, let each other know, hey,

we're all here just trying to help each other out.

One key philosophy at the night show

is that everyone benefits when students

dance the cultures of others in addition to their own.

There's been times when I talked to different guests

and they say that Samoan boy that was in front dancing

Samoan, he was really good.

And I realized, which one they point out,

I go, oh, he's not Samoan.

Half of the cultures that I'm portraying are not my own.

I definitely do feel a responsibility

to make sure that I portray the culture the way

that someone from that culture would want it to be portrayed.

Dancing in the night show, it brings you together

as one big family.

There's no Samoans, there's no Tongans.

And when I dance in the Samoan section, I am Samoan.

When I dance in the Tongan section, I am Tongan.

When I dance in the Fiji section, I am Fijian.

By learning and understanding somebody else's culture,

you learn to appreciate it.

And when you learn to appreciate somebody else's culture,

it creates understanding which leads to peace.

Some critics of the Center argue that its presentations

lean excessively toward contemporary interpretations

of culture, lacking a solid foundation

in historical traditions.

If culture isn't made relevant to the current generation,

it's going to stagnate and die.

If culture doesn't evolve, we have to adapt.

And I'll give you an example.

The fire knife.

100 years ago, it didn't exist.

The fire was only added to the Nifo Oti in the 1940s by Freddie

Olo Letuli.

There was the birth of fire knife dancing.

And I'm sure when he started there were many Samoans that

said, that's not traditional.

We didn't do it, but people loved it and it stuck.

And now it is very much a part of Samoan culture.

If it doesn't become interesting to the current generation,

they're not going to perpetuate it.

We walk a fine line when it comes

to sharing our culture within the tourism sector.

And the fine line is that we want it to be entertaining,

but we want to keep the integrity of our culture, too.

You have culture and you have entertainment.

What's entertaining is not culturally correct

and sometimes there's things that are culturally acceptable,

but it's not entertaining.

These cultural people who are steeped in their culture, who

brought their culture through the generations,

they didn't go to school, they didn't go on Google.

They learned it at the knees of their ancestors.

These are the people that gave PCC the stripes on their sleeve

as a cultural center.

I love my job.

I love what I do.

It's not just about, oh, you're just performing,

this is your job.

This is about sharing your culture.

This is about sharing who you are as a people.

And for my Polynesian brothers and sisters,

this is about sharing with the world

the beauties of not just what we wear

and our cultures and the way of our life,

but just the beauties of being a loving, positive,

sharing people.

And that's what the world needs.

After the show, Malcolm, like all the cast members,

returns to student life without fanfare.

You gotta love it to be in it, and you got

to do it every single night.

I have the passion to do it.

And that's why I'm OK with it.

But to do Mana during the night show,

it definitely takes a huge emotional toll and mental toll

because of the acting side of it.

So I would say that the nights I do Mana I'm a little bit more

tired.

You guys.

His late night schedule leaves little additional time

with his wife, Lesieli.

I was worried.

Malcolm is from Las Vegas, Nevada,

and is the son of Polynesian parents.

My dad was born in American Samoa.

My mom was born in Fiji.

She just loved dancing.

Dancing was her passion.

I had a four-year-old, three-year-old and Malcolm,

two years old, and I'd put them in costume

and he'd get out there.

And they would do the where they

knock their knees together and have his arms up.

He was always smiling.

I'll never forget that moment.

That was the first time I'm like, wow,

this guy is my future dancer.

Polynesian dance kept Malcolm connected

to his culture and his brothers, especially

his not-so-little brother, Micah.

With my family on both sides being Polynesian,

you know you kind of come out the womb dancing, yeah.

After graduating high school, Malcolm

would face some very grown up challenges.

Shortly after high school, I had some plans,

and I made some decisions that kind of ruined those plans.

At some point, I was kind of lost on where to go.

I felt like the need was to go to Hawaii,

which was weird because I don't know anything in Hawaii.

I didn't know anybody.

I didn't know where to go.

I didn't really know what I would do there.

But my mom did say that I have an uncle that was out here

and that if it's the place that I'm feeling

I needed to go to set things right with my life,

then I can go stay with him for a little bit.

The agreement with my uncle was kind of just

to take care of his farm, but after a good two months,

he just felt like it wasn't the right thing for me

to do, to just be here in Hawaii and kind of do nothing,

because I wasn't going to school either.

It wasn't the plan.

He offered to fly me home, and I didn't really want to go home.

The plan was to stay here in Hawaii for about six months

before I make any other decisions.

And at this point he was kicking me out.

Homeless, he couch surfed where and when he could.

Yeah, I didn't really know what to do for the first two months.

It was a struggle.

I had a hard time finding a job.

And at some point, I was kind of lost on where to go.

I'd find a place to sleep.

Sometimes I'd just pack my stuff,

just wear a nice jacket and a couple layers of clothing

and just go hang out on the beach and sleep.

This is it.

I didn't really want to tell anybody.

This is where I spent a lot of nights.

I didn't really have anywhere else to go.

I made it my home sometimes.

I wish he had reached out to me at that time

because I would have been more than happy to help out,

but I think sometimes you have to go through some of that

to find yourself, you know?

All I wanted to do.

I mean, aside from finding myself,

was to prove to my parents that I'm--

I'm not a failure.

Even though I messed up, I can come back from this.

I told him, put his head up.

Don't worry about it.

Don't worry about what other people think.

After disappointing job searches,

Malcolm was hired at the Center dancing in the canoe show

by day and as an usher by night.

Being an usher gave Malcolm nightly access

to every performance, and this would prove to be life changing.

So as an usher, I--

I got to watch the show every night.

I've never seen a show like, ha!

I got to watch all these people do exactly what I

want to do, perform, share their culture,

make the crowd stand up.

Like, it was just-- it was the coolest experience every night

to just watch.

But yeah, no, that was just like, my dream.

It was just like, wow, this is exactly what I wanted to do.

I get to see it every night.

I'd stand up here as an usher and just cheer from the back.

And they'd have to tell me to not cheer so loud because I

was louder than the guests.

Malcolm's enthusiasm, the skills he displayed in the canoe show,

combined with his work ethic, caught

the attention of management.

And something amazing happened, something

that has never happened before.

Malcolm did not audition for the role of Mana.

I just selected Malcolm because of Malcolm's work ethic.

When they told me like, hey, can we start training you?

I was like, oh, it's real.

This is happening.

It was clear he was the obvious choice just because

of the passion and the emotion that he put into it.

Malcolm does set the tone even in the rehearsals.

He will go 100%.

Actors often draw upon life experiences

when playing emotional roles, and for Malcolm, there

was no shortage of difficult life

experience from which to draw.

Not long after Malcolm started into his new role,

his little brother Micah died unexpectedly due

to a rare disease.

I wasn't there when--

when my little brother passed away, but I got to see his body

and we got to see and say our goodbyes with him.

It's almost like you lose a part of yourself.

Yeah.

It hit him hard.

It was-- Malcolm needed some time

to heal because he was very close to him, to Micah.

And then with Malcolm performing at the Polynesian Cultural

Center, the story was so much alike,

being Mana and the dad passing away.

It's just the fact that you have to say goodbye to something,

something that means so much to you,

something that gives you so much joy.

When I see the father laying down, I see my brother,

you know.

Mana loses not only his father, but just

someone so close to him.

This is a moment where I've lost someone, you know.

And that's my connection, is I've lost someone as well.

And at that moment, father kind of comes back up

and is his spirit, and he gets to rejoin

his mother and the family and ancestors who have passed on.

My mother is rejoined with my grandma

who's passed away as well.

So there's that beautiful aspect, and I know he's there,

but I just-- it just hurts because he's

not here with me anymore.

Many of the aspects of the show itself honor your ancestors

and honor the people that have passed and gone before you.

And my brother has passed and has taken the next stage of life

before me.

One fellow performer who influenced Malcolm more than any

was Lesieli Tameifuna from Tonga,

who is Leilani's big sister.

They met while dancing together in the canoe show,

found an instant connection and soon married.

She actually was the one to help me

write my application for school and submit it,

and eventually I got accepted into BYU-Hawaii.

I'm majoring right now in graphic design.

One, two, three!

We have a baby on the way.

I just want to thank all you guys for coming.

It was really emotional because in light

of a recent passing of my brother,

we decided that whether it was a boy or a girl,

we would name our child after Micah, so--

and it's his birthday today, so yeah!

Yeah.

All right.

Hey, baby.

How are we feeling?

You're OK?

OK.

Only four months into the school year,

Malcolm and Lesieli are about to undergo a dramatic life change.

All you gotta do is walk inside and they'll help us through, OK?

Congratulations.

Cry, baby, cry.

Just this morning, they have become

proud parents of a baby girl.

Hi, mom.

Hi, dad.

Here's the new addition to our family.

Baby Micah.

He is adorable.

This morning, Malcolm and his beautiful wife--

Seven pounds, 8 ounces.

So let's hear it for Micah!

With a semester behind them, how are the incoming freshmen

progressing?

Huala'i continues putting the hula skills

she learned as a young girl to good use in the Hawaii village,

and she's learning more about her culture every day.

When I dance hula, I try to be the storyteller.

Storytelling isn't just through your voice.

It's also through your hand motions, your feet motions,

your facial expressions.

That's how our ancestors did it.

Jason, who made the cut for the night show,

is steadily progressing, hoping to work his way

into more prominent roles.

At first when I started off, I feel nervous, kind of scared.

I was doing like, only overture, which is the beginning section.

And then after that, I stayed backstage till the finale, which

is the concluding section.

But then now I'm like, on for most part of the show now.

I think one thing that's very important I'm

able to perform my culture.

Josephine, who started as a dishwasher,

has experienced the most significant job change.

Well, I'm a tour guide now.

It's a really fun journey.

At first it was kind of challenging

because it's very new.

I enjoy meeting people from different parts of the world

and just seeing the excitement on their face

whenever they go and go through activities, go to shows.

Like, I shared before, in Polynesia, there's

a sort of Polynesian triangle.

This job is very fit for me because of my major

in psychology, able to help me with communication

skills, people skills.

I don't really miss dishwashing because being a tour guide

is more involved with people and that's

where I'm most comfortable at.

On the other side--

Monson, in the carver shop, has taken his skill to another level

and has gained new appreciation for his culture and family

heritage.

This is a piece that we are currently

working on to replace in the Aotearoa village.

The cool part about it is the fact

that these carvings that we are replacing originally

were made by Monson's great grandfather, Hone Taiapa.

So I'm replacing my great grandfather's carvings,

which is really, really cool to think about that.

It would have been just over 60 years now since he carved those.

Once I started carving here, I was

very intrigued about learning more about the history of it.

So this is actually meant to represent my great grandfather,

so the master carver.

Once it's finished, I'll gloss it, put a nice finish on it,

just to give it a nice shine, and then hopefully it'll

be put up in the village so everyone can see it.

I really want to make my family proud.

I want them to be proud of the son

that they have that's coming here to learn his culture,

to pay his respects to his great grandfather

and learn the art that he was so amazing at.

As Monson and other freshmen continue to progress,

there are some new developments for more experienced

upperclassmen who have been invited to apply

for a special scholarship.

Move in!

And until this moment, none of the students

know who among them has been selected.

Dear Leilani, we are thrilled to inform you

that you have been selected to receive the Polynesian Culture

Center homeward bound scholarship,

an opportunity funded by the private donations, that allows

a select group of students to return home,

to their native country to visit family and friends.

All expenses paid.

Aw.

Congratulations, Leilani.

We hope you will enjoy your trip home to Tonga, where

friends and family, who have so wonderfully supported you

with no doubt, will be excited to see you.

We love you, Leilani.

Congratulations!

I'm excited to call my parents.

My dad especially.

I've been away from home for a little over four years, so yeah.

Leilani's route to Tonga is long and anything but direct.

Over the next 36 hours, she will fly from Hawaii to Los Angeles,

then back across the Pacific to New Zealand.

From there she will fly to Fiji where, due to COVID, she

was stranded the last time.

The last leg of her journey takes her home to Tonga.

After landing in Tonga, however, she still

has one last leg to go.

The last four hours of her journey will be spent on a ferry

that will deliver Leilani to her tiny home island of Eua,

population 5,000.

It didn't feel real up until the time

that I get to come here to Tonga.

Wow.

Ever since COVID happened, and the whole time I

wasn't able to come home, oftentimes I

have that picture in my mind, that picture

of me coming into the world and my family standing

there and greeting me.

And so I got a little emotional because arriving at the--

I realized that all of them are here.

Like, I'm really home.

When I hugged my parents, that's when it hit me.

It's real, it's not a picture anymore.

It's me looking at it right now.

I'm starting to see my family, my uncle, my cousins.

Just seeing them coming out one by one, I'm like--

like, all of them are here.

Like, I'm really home.

I got all these mixed feelings.

Like, I'm home, I'm excited.

Like, when I-- when I'm excited, I cried also.

And so that's just part of my expressing of my emotions.

I still can't believe I'm home.

Leilani's first full day in Tonga is business as usual.

Within 24 hours, Leilani finds herself bound for the family

plantation to do what she's done every day since she

was a little girl.

When I came back home, I already in my mind,

like, I already know we're going to work at the farm.

Like, it's just tradition.

Ever since growing up in the morning, we go do that.

And so when I call my brothers, hey, I'm coming home,

they're like, oh, yeah, well, get ready.

We're going to the farm.

You know the drill.

And I was like, what?

I'm not getting a special treatment this time?

They're like, nope.

So wherever you go, you come back

home, that's still how we do it.

Hey.

Coming here to the plantation is our everyday life here.

And with my family, it's like we spend most of our time

here because this is where we get our living.

Everything we need is here at our plantation.

We don't bring water or anything here

because we know the coconut is cool enough during the morning.

Family time is what I miss most here from home

because we do everything together.

And if one struggles, everyone struggles.

Leilani's dad is surprising her with a special excursion

that he's arranged with a friend.

Something rare and unique in all of Polynesia.

Oh, yeah.

It's over there.

It was scary for me at first.

Like, I didn't want to get into the water,

but I'm going with my dad.

Gives me the strength.

When he got in the water, I was like, OK, I can survive this.

It's just jumping in and being able to have

that experience with him.

Throughout Polynesia, the whale is

considered to be symbolic of peace, wisdom, and longevity.

It feels like there's a connection between you and them.

At one point, I was able to make eye contact with two.

They came up together, but I wasn't scared at all.

I feel like I wanted to be in the water forever.

To get to swim with the whales, it's

like-- it's a different level.

It's like-- it's beautiful.

And yeah, you kind of feel this spirit of the islands,

like, this is beautiful.

This is my island.

Wow.

This used to be a big school to me when I was little.

But now, looking back at it, after going

to America and places like that and come back, you're like,

oh my gosh, this is so little.

See that forest over there?

Full of wonderful fruits that you can get.

So if you need fruit for lunch, you go there.

And my parents couldn't afford to give us any lunch money

or lunch, so when we finished, when it's lunch time,

we always rush back home, where kids will stay here,

eat their lunch and stuff like that, but we go home because--

Not because we go to eat lunch, but because we're

ashamed that we didn't have lunch

to stay here and eat lunch.

We all understand that parents couldn't afford us lunch,

so we just kind of learned how to make lunch.

Like, pick up guava, being independent at a young age.

I thought we were rich, but now growing up,

I know we were so poor.

But we were rich in sense where we

were taught to be independent and learn to budget everything

that we have at a young age.

Just looking back at who I was and what my little dream

when I was little, and my dream now, I

think it motivates me to keep dreaming

and keep trying to hit those dreams that I can achieve them.

I'm just happy to be here, and I'm

trying to enjoy every minute that I have here.

Being here with my family, it's a great strength

that comes from them.

Leilani's last day at home is full of mixed emotions.

Yes, she will miss her family and they will miss her,

but they all instinctively know the nature of the environment

she's going back to.

For centuries, Laie has been a place of refuge.

In ancient times for Hawaii, it was a Pu'uhonua.

One of the boundaries for the Pu'uhonua

runs right through our nursery here at PCC.

We're standing here at the boundary.

The boundary name was pa-paa-koko,

named after an event that happened when a warrior was

trying to escape his enemies and just about ready to get him,

but he made it over the wall.

And so they stopped and he was safe.

Pu'uhonua was a place of refuge.

The Pu'uhonua changes people's lives.

When you leave the Pu'uhonua, you

are totally, totally different person.

Over the years, thousands of students have experienced

the spirit of Pu'uhonua, truly a place of refuge,

which perhaps explains why so many former students have

returned for the 60th anniversary.

We are all related and I'm from the class of 89.

Class of 85.

Class of 68.

Class of 66.

Class of 63.

Over the next three days, former student employees

will gather from around the globe.

We're excited just to go back.

I wanted to take my family, too.

I'm excited to take Lawrence so we

can see the place where we met.

So when I was ushering here, there

was a performer named Tane Falevai.

Come, my Ohana.

Give ear to the story of my father's and yours.

And he, at the time, was doing Mana.

Man, this guy was a solid performer.

He knew what he was doing.

It's almost been five years since we've been at PCC.

It was my life in Hawaii.

Hey!

It don't matter where they go in the world,

they always come back to PCC, to home.

For them, this is where they went to college, make friends.

They grow up, married.

So it's a very special place for them to come back to.

Yay!

There's so much spirit of love and Aloha on that stage.

And so we learned by ohana that the breath of life lives on.

Everybody says, their time, their show is the best.

I can say that my time was the best time, but you know,

we already passed the torch, so it's their time

and hopefully they do it better than us.

Many alumni will have the opportunity to dance together

one more time.

A private show just for alumni and their families.

This is the only chance that I'll

be able to perform with people that are older than me.

Like, during the show, I was only

performing with my generation, but it'll

be good to perform alongside with them.

There are some that-- they were the lead character or lead

performer on their time.

So being able to be with those guys and rub elbows with them

and talk to them a little bit and hang out.

I was getting a little rusty, but yeah.

Hey, what's up, man?

This is big Tane.

This is the big Mana, the big Maui.

When I first came here to PCC, this guy

was the face of the PCC for a while, man.

This is who I aspired to be.

And in a few years later, he trained me.

So he's the one who got me to where I am.

When I do Mana, so I'm trying to be like this guy,

because I used to watch him every night as an usher.

It was great.

Tane.

This is the other Mana.

This is the next Mana.

It's the one-- one, two, three.

Yeah, next generation Mana right here, man.

This is the guy I trained.

Aloha, and welcome home.

Let's enjoy our alumni show for the 60th anniversary

of the Polynesian Cultural Center.

You can see in the eyes of these people who

performed over the years, genuine and authentic

appreciation for the place.

They were celebrating a very, very important thing

that the PCC did for them early on in their lives.

The 60th reunion has come and gone and long standing

relationships rekindled.

But for the students who have called this place home,

nothing is more iconic or more meaningful than graduation.

I'm excited for graduation, but I'm

kind of scared because I don't know what I'm going to do next.

I feel like so much of our time at school

is working to graduate, graduate, graduate.

And now that I'm almost there, I'm like, oh, wait,

there's so many things I have to do after this.

And being here at PCC and being at BYU,

I learned to really get outside of myself.

With graduation coming up, just--

yeah, it's going to be really hard.

For me it's like having another daughter leave

and not ready for it.

At least she knows that she was loved and supported,

that it's time for her to go to the next chapter.

I really look forward to walking over during graduation

and to just be finished with school.

As much as I loved school, I think

I loved the environment and the PCC a lot better.

The reality of my job is that make

sure that they come here, get an education, graduate and leave.

These kids are not staying and that's the hard part,

to finally let them go.

It's hard.

We never get used to it.

You can never replace them, but you

hope that there's somebody like them that's going to come along.

Graduates, family, friends and guests, aloha, kakou.

Aloha.

At this commencement, BYU-Hawaii will award 418 degrees.

Our graduates represent 34 different countries.

It's an incredible group that's going to do wonderful things.

I just want you to know that I love you and I'll miss you.

Congratulations.

From Australia, Mele Kathryn Marcin Toli magna cum laude.

Hard work is finally going to pay off.

There are so many people behind us

rooting for us, and so many people

who have supported us in our journey and just getting here.

So it will be good to finally graduate and give them

something, here, we made it.

From Tahiti, Atea Jessie Lee Chip Sao.

Looking at myself now, I just feel like I have so much more

to bring.

As a symbol of this important achievement,

please move your tassels from the right side to the left.

It was really good to be able to come here, work, go to school,

and then at the end I'm going to be fine.

Graduation for me, even though I get to receive my diploma

and to finish my path in school, I think for me,

the most important part is that I

developed all these relationships with these people,

with all my friends.

We can really feel that he's made lots of friends

and he found another home.

Other institutions, especially private universities,

are so astronomically expensive that most students, when

they graduate, are in debt for almost for life.

The mission isn't about being a top tourist destination.

It's about employing students for the benefit of them

going to school.

Students are able to get an education almost

for free, which is unheard of.

I believe the purpose here is to be an example, to show

the world that we don't have to hide

from the complexities of being diverse,

that we can come together, celebrate that, and benefit

from it in really incredible ways.

A lot of us kids were able to come from the islands,

be able to get an education because of this place.

PCC impacts our lives so much because it

created a family for us.

I found a place here.

I found a family here.

I found people who benefited my life in the most positive way.

Kind of like a refuge, right?

So we talk about Pu'uhonua.

This place is a place of refuge for me

physically and spiritually and academically.

There's happiness and joy everywhere.

You see people, you can't help but smile.

Tourists come here, get a rest from their day to day lives.

Students come here and work, we get a rest from our day

to day lives.

Our hope here at PCC is that everybody

who comes upon our grounds will feel some peace,

leave the cares of the world behind.

There is an actual Aloha environment there,

and a sense of safety, a sense of protection

from the turmoil of the world.

That's a pretty special place.

And any organization that ends up funding education

is good by me because the more educated people we have,

the more tolerance we have, the more economic opportunity

we have, the better families do.

People came here with a bunch of problems,

but there is a special spirit over here that can heal people.

And I think that's why people come to the Polynesian Cultural

Center and go home and they feel different.

If they come here and they spend time with our students,

they will feel something different,

and it will be something that they can't forget and always

want to be part of.

Here at the Polynesian Cultural Center, we find common ground.

We find that we love the same things.

We find we have the same sense of humor.

We have the same goals.

We find we all love our families more than anything.

If they can see here at PCC what we want the whole world

to experience, then I think it gives us hope that, yeah, we

can live in a world of peace.

It means that by coming here, by allowing

us to share Aloha with you, and you in turn

sharing Aloha back with us, you become part of our family.

We become one ohana sharing Aloha.

And then it's our hope that this feeling

that you had of saying hi to perfect strangers

at the Polynesian Cultural Center,

sharing a laugh with other people, you take that with you

and that we collectively help the world

become one ohana sharing Aloha.