KOHALA — There’s a movement afoot that’s bringing the dance, music and culture of Guinea, West Africa, to the children of Hawaii Island, with local children sharing Hawaiian culture in return. ADVERTISING KOHALA — There’s a movement afoot that’s bringing
KOHALA — There’s a movement afoot that’s bringing the dance, music and culture of Guinea, West Africa, to the children of Hawaii Island, with local children sharing Hawaiian culture in return.
Now entering its third year, the Rhythm of the Soil Youth in School Program is sponsored by the Lavaroots Performing Arts Company of Hawi/Kona under the direction of Michál Anna Carrillo.
The fall program seeks to bridge hands-on school garden education with traditional West African dance and drum agricultural rhythms. Participating students learn a traditional West African song, dance and rhythm while planting, maintaining and harvesting crops in their school gardens.
A concluding assembly features the students sharing with their families and peers food they have grown in their garden, and performing what they have learned over six-to-nine weeks in school classes with Lavaroots, alongside a special guest West African master percussionist, Gabriel Fara Tolno.
“It’s all about developing relationships to the soil, land and ourselves through dance and music,” said Carrillo. “It’s fun and a great way to build left and right brain connections creating whole brained individuals.”
To date, the program has been taught with great acclaim to fifth graders at three area schools: Kohala Elementary, Kona Innovations and Kona Pacific. Looking to the future, Lavaroots hopes to bring the program to more schools and more grades, and to add a comprehensive drum component.
“We’d like to add the program to more schools if we can get the funding,” Carrillo said.
The 2016 program was supported by The Bill Healy Foundation, The Kohala Lions Club, North Hawaii Rotary Club, Ralph Blancato, Bill Martin and community donations.
As of this month, the fall 2017 program is supported by The Bill Healy Foundation, The Kohala Lions Club, North Hawaii Rotary Club, Jodi DelPonte and The Hawaii Island Retreat.
Rhythm of the Soil is also a third-year Kona Brewer’s Festival grant recipient. In kuleana of receiving the grant, Lavaroots makes the bulk of the ti leaf plates each year for the festival.
“We make 5,000 ti leaf plates,” Carrillo said. “It’s a huge festival and is virtually completely zero waste which is amazing.”
Carrillo’s been dancing since she was five, and has studied many styles of dance. She was first introduced to West African dance in college, but it wasn’t until 2000 that she began to actively study the dance of Guinea.
Seventeen years later she still can’t get enough.
“I fell in love with the dance, the movement and the drums — it’s so powerful,” she said.
Carrillo founded Lavaroots on the Big Island in 2002 and has also been a massage therapist for 18 years. She feels performing arts are an extension of healing arts because music and dance are so healing.
“It’s bringing all these elements together to really move into greater awareness as humans. I think it’s very valuable for everyone,” Carrillo said.
A main goal for Lavaroots is to share cross-cultural connections between Guinea and Hawaii. As a keeper of the music, dance and culture of Guinea, Fara Tolno has founded The Kissidugu Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation with a goal of building a school campus in Guinea. Carrillo serves as their vice president and development director.
The foundation has a small campus with a community center and pharmacy in Guinea open now, with the school slated to open in 2020, Carrillo said. Along with students studying the rich dance, music and culture of Guinea with Fara Tolno, supporters travel to the country each year taking much needed medical supplies, solar lights and water filters.
Kohala Elementary students helped raise money for last year’s efforts by giving a dollar each toward the purchase of water filters that totaled $225.
“Most of our Kohala kids come from humble homes and means, so for them to have the knowingness that they were able to bring 4 million gallons of clean water to a place on the other side of the world was really empowering for them,” Carrillo said. “They learned you don’t have to be ‘rich’ to make a difference.”
Lavaroots Performing Arts holds a fundraiser each year in support of its Rhythm of the Soil youth program, and its annual Camp Merveilles Drum and Dance Conference in North Kohala each November.
The fundraiser had previously been held at the Blue Dragon, but with its closing the dance company decided to hold two events this year to accommodate patrons who live in Kona as well as North Hawaii.
The first event will be a dessert theater from 7-10 p.m. July 1 at Kohala Hub Barn in Hawi. It will feature a dessert served with a wine or a beer, and a performance by the dance company followed by live music and dancing. Tickets are $40.
The second event will be a dinner theater from 6:30-11 p.m. July 8 at The Edible World Institute in Kona. This event will feature a full dinner and dessert served with a beer and also will include a performance by the dance company followed by live music and dancing. Tickets are $60 for VIP front row and $50 for all other tables.
Tickets for both events are available at lavaroots.com.
