Ishan Odelia, right, studied TAhitian dance in Taiwan with Leolani Gallardo. (Photo courtesy of Ishan Odelia)
To the dance community in Jakarta, Ishan Odelia is best known as the champion of hula dance. After all, it was she who first introduced Hawaiian hula to the capital a few years ago, by offering classes, putting on performances and making Indonesians understand that hula is rooted in a deep tradition that goes beyond just grass skirts and coconut bikini tops.
While Ishan’s hula dance classes have been fairly successful — Ishan herself mastered the art of hula while living in Japan — she felt the need for a new challenge. Still staying in the familiar field of hula, Ishan decided to learn more about Tahitian dance, which bears some similarities to hula but is nonetheless regarded as a dance form all its own.
“In Hawaii, most of the hula dancers also learn Tahitian dance,” Ishan explains, adding that many people confuse the two dances. “This is a misconception, also among people here in Jakarta. This is mainly because some of the movements look very similar, as both dances originate in Polynesia.”
When still in Japan, Ishan had already taken some Tahitian dance classes, but her focus remained on hula. Remembering how much fun she had, though, she recently signed up for more classes and workshops, to be able to start teaching Tahitian dance herself.
“I started to look online and found out that there are two Tahitian dance teachers in Singapore, where it is already quite big, whereas in Jakarta there is none,” she says. “I contacted them and told them I would like to bring Tahitian dance to Indonesia but wanted to learn about it more first.”
After meeting up with the two Tahitian ladies and taking a workshop, Ishan was hooked.
“I felt like my love of dancing had come back,” the 27-year-old says. “It was something new and different. For the longest time I have been giving [through teaching hula classes], but here I was receiving new information, and it just made me really happy. At the same time, for Tahitian dance you are using different muscles, so your body is also going through something new.”
Ishan was convinced to fully pursue Tahitian dance. Getting behind the computer again, she then found out that Leolani Gallardo, a Tahitian dancer born and raised in Los Angeles, was heading to Taiwan to train other Tahitian dancers to enter a solo competition in Japan.
“Her training would show them how to become a solo dancer,” Ishan says.
She didn’t think twice and jumped at the opportunity to learn Tahitian dance from a respected teacher, not least because it seemed like a perfect fit: Gallardo also was a hula dancer first, before joining a Tahitian dance troupe in Anaheim, California, at the age of 14 — and has won many solo and group competitions since.
“It was tough, but so much fun at the same time,” says Ishan, who during the workshop had to dance and learn choreographies for up to eight hours a day.
Despite the dance’s similarities to hula — which helped her learn the movements and steps relatively quickly — getting into Tahitian dance was quite a challenge.
“Because I’m a dancer, I could adapt,” she says. “But it was hard to keep up, and there was quite a lot of pressure. That feeling was quite new to me, because in Indonesia, usually I’m the teacher. It was like being thrown into a whole new world.”
Ishan could feel her muscles becoming stronger, yet she also experienced aches and pains during the workshop.
Tahitian dance compared to hula, Ishan explains, is not so traditional and strict, and one is able to add more modern movements into a choreography. In hula, the dancers tell a story through certain hand and body movements, which usually represent aspects of nature. Tahitian dance is also a way of telling a story, yet here the hip movements are much faster than in hula, while the shoulders and arms should remain in a steady posture.
“It’s much more upbeat than hula, and that’s why many people also take up Tahitian as an alternative way for fitness and working out,” Ishan says. “It will definitely make you sweat!”
It is also this added benefit that makes Ishan hopeful to be able to raise some interest among Indonesians in Tahitian dance. After she returned from Taiwan a few weeks ago, she started to organize trial classes for potential students. The response, she says, was very good, and she is looking to officially conduct classes starting by the end of this month.
“It was important for me to do some trial classes first to get some feedback,” she says. “I also needed to find my own style first, before I could start teaching.”
The classes will start off with the basics of Tahitian dance before moving on to more complicated choreographies. Ishan says she will also explain to her students the origins of the dance.
“Of course, if some of them are taking the class to work out, that’s OK too,” she says. “But at least they should know what they are doing and why.”
Ishan anticipates that she will conduct Tahitian dance classes twice a week, depending on the level of interest.
“I don’t want the classes to be too big because then I can’t really work with the students individually. But for some of my trial classes I had over 30 people showing up. I just want to take it slow and introduce Tahitian to Indonesia step by step.”
Tahitian dance also includes colorful costumes and accessories — and when Ishan was in Taiwan on the lookout to acquire the skirts, headbands and hip bands, she realized that many of these were actually made in Indonesia. So in addition to learning a new dance, she also — incidentally — became the Indonesian go-to person for dance schools in Taiwan looking for costumes. She is also learning how to make some of the accessories by herself.
“My trip to Taiwan has been very fruitful,” Ishan says with a laugh. “I didn’t expect everything to turn out like this.”
Despite her newfound passion for Tahitian dance, Ishan will still continue to teach hula.
“I still love hula, of course,” she says, adding that at the moment she has her hands full planning her annual hula recital. “With hula, I am already at a very mature stage, whereas in Tahitian, I am just starting out. This way, I can have the best of both worlds.”
By Katrin Figge on 11:23 am Jun 18, 2014
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