Heiva Men

In case you were wondering what some of the male dancers looked like…the men in the corps generally had an equivalent costume to the ladies, sometimes a full grass skirt, sometimes a piece of fabric tide into shorts, always showcasing the tattoos. The men had very different movements than what we saw in the Marquesas (and no animal skulls incorporated into their costumes). We’re not sure if it’s a regional difference or just different dances we saw, but in Tahiti, their motions were based upon a knee knocking movement, where they would squat and thigh-master their legs together in time with the drum beat. The male soloists did so quite libidinally, pausing to smirk and rock their hips forward and back, causing the Polynesian ladies in the audience to shriek with delight.