A private jet arrived at Fua'amotu International Airport this week for a 12 hour stopover bringing a group of 75 Americans who dropped into Tonga for breakfast, to see a special performance of Tonga's extraordinary Lakalaka.

The group who were on a Smithsonian Journey and Starquest Expedition's Extraordinary Cultures Tour, arrived in Tonga at mid-night on Wednesday, March 18, and left at mid-day Thursday, March 19.

The group are friends of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. Their tour guide Adrienne L. Kaeppler, the Curator of Oceanic Ethnology at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, said that the groups come from all walks of life but they have a deep interest in world cultures.

Adrienne said that in each of the countries they visit they are observing what is considered to be extraordinary about the culture of that country. Lakalaka, are the great historical dances of Tonga, and the group were treated to a special performance of the Lakalaka of Tatakamotonga during their breakfast on Thursday morning at the Janful International Dateline Hotel.

Adrienne is the also author of the Tongan books Poetry in Motion: Studies of Tongan Dance, and a presenter of the book Songs and Poems of Queen Salote, which records the important Lakalaka composed by the late Queen Salote Tupou III of Tonga.

The Tongan Lakalaka won international recognition in 2003 when it was declared by UNESCO as a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity". The recognition of the Lakalaka as a world "Masterpiece" is part of a UNESCO programme for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage.

In its traditional setting Lakalaka combines poetry music and dance in a choreographed performance by hundreds or even thousands of dancers, lasting around half an hour.

During the group's short stay, they visited the Royal Palace, and the Royal Tombs, Mala'ekula, then went to the Tonga National Cultural Centre where they experienced the Tongan cultures of cooking food in the Tongan 'umu or earth oven and watched more Tongan traditional dances, the making of the tapa cloth and the weaving of mats, by students of the 'Unuaki 'o Tonga Institute.

 

 

Since the group left Washington DC, they have visited Machu-Picchu in Peru, and Easter Island before they arrived in Tonga.

The group will also visit Rotorua, New Zealand; the Great Barrier Reef, Australia; Papua New Guinea, Borneo, Cambodia; Taj Mahal, India; Jordan, Mali then Morocco before returning to Washington DC.