Last Saturday afternoon I went to enjoy Dance Festival in Maui’s Amphitheater.   The theater is set in the “Keopuolani” Park.  Where it used to be a zoo and botanical garden.   The stage was set at the bottom center of an all grass covered horse-shoe shape slope.  Audience will have to bring their own beach chairs or mats to sit on.  The whole area is surrounded by thick tropical trees like bread-fruits trees and candle-nuts trees.

The show had full range of dance forms and schools, classic ballet to modern ballet, neo modern dance, Circ de Soleil type of Air dance,   Hawaiian “Ulalena” troupes and more.  My main purpose to attend this event was to  watch Ms. Akari Ueoka and her members’ Oddisi dance performance.   Akari is a certified teacher of this purely classical dance called Odissi from India,  I have deep respect to Indian culture but rarely had an opportunity to appreciate this ancient and historical dance.  She did not disappoint me.  It was a wonderful performance and I was so much uplifted spiritually by watching her dance.

Akari is my fellow Haiku person at our Maui Hototogisu Haiku (Japanese) group.

She is not only excelled in her dancing but also a wonderful author of Haiku.  In our October Kukai she contributed uplifting Ku to us among others.    Let us share her Ku from our October Kukai:

木洩れ日のスポットライトきのこたち                                    Komore-bi no  spot light  kinoko-tachi   (by Akari)

(translation)

Through the tree canopy                                        Flood lights of sun beam feature                               Little mushrooms