Revising a Polynesian Dance Survey After a Guest Artist Cancellation
A ninth-grade dance survey at a public school plans a three-week Polynesian dance unit for 28 students in five class meetings. The original plan uses a 2004 travel-DVD clip labeled Island Dance, asks students to make grass skirts from raffia, and includes a matching quiz on Hawaiian, Tahitian, and Samoan dances. The scheduled guest artist canceled, the field trip to a cultural center is unfunded, and the teacher has no budget. One student, M, mentions that her grandmother is Native Hawaiian and has taught her a hula at family gatherings; classmates immediately ask her to show us the real thing. The department wants students to appreciate diversity and has a standard on cultural context. The teacher must revise the unit content, materials, and the way M is positioned, without turning the class into a tourist performance or putting M on the spot.
1. Identify at least three problems with the original unit and propose an accurate framing and five-meeting sequence.
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Problems include: (1) ‘Polynesian dance’ homogenizes distinct island cultures and histories; hula is specifically Native Hawaiian, with its own lineage, language, and protocols, not a generic Polynesian style. (2) The travel DVD and raffia-skirt craft treat hula as costume and entertainment, reproducing tourist commodification rather than cultural context. (3) A matching quiz on Hawaiian, Tahitian, and Samoan dances conflates separate traditions and reduces them to recall. (4) Without a cultural practitioner, the teacher risks presenting a DVD as authority.
A more accurate frame is hula as a Native Hawaiian practice with hula kahiko (traditional) and hula ʻauana (modern) forms, shaped by Hawaiian language, land, and history, including the impact of colonization, the 1893 overthrow, and the Hawaiian Renaissance. Five meetings could proceed: 1) vocabulary and geography with source evaluation; 2) teacher-selected, properly attributed excerpts with viewing protocol; 3) analysis of hand gesture, footwork, and relationship to text or oli; 4) discussion of appropriation, tourism, and cultural authority; 5) student research or reflective response, not imitation of sacred practice.
If no guest is available, the teacher should use verified recordings and readings and be explicit about limitations. Students should not make ‘traditional’ hula costumes or invent hula steps as an authenticity exercise.
2. How should the teacher respond to M’s disclosure and the classmates’ request that she show the real thing?
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The teacher should first thank M privately and ask what, if anything, she wants to share. M should not be required to perform her family’s practice, and she should not be positioned as a representative of all Native Hawaiians. The teacher can say publicly, ‘M’s family knowledge is hers to share or not; we will not put anyone on the spot as our cultural expert.’ That protects M without making her disclosure awkward.
If M wants to contribute, the teacher can offer bounded options: share a family-approved recording, describe what she has learned with prior family permission, or bring a written reflection. The teacher should avoid asking her to demonstrate steps on demand or to correct the class’s imitation. If M prefers not to participate, the teacher can use an alternative assignment on cultural authority and source evaluation.
The reasoning is that culturally responsive teaching does not mean extracting identity from a student. It means giving the class accurate context and giving M agency. The teacher should also avoid treating M’s grandmother as a free substitute for a compensated culture bearer; if the class uses family knowledge, the teacher should ask permission and consider whether any honorarium or acknowledgment is appropriate.
3. What assessment would fit the revised unit while the department still expects a grade?
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The assessment should test contextual understanding and evidence-based response, not imitation. For example, students could analyze a short attributed excerpt: identify two movement features, explain one historical or cultural context that shapes the form, and distinguish respectful engagement from appropriation using specific examples. A quiz can still exist, but it should not ask students to match three separate cultures to generic steps; it should ask them to explain why hula is not interchangeable with Tahitian or Samoan dance.
The teacher can also use a source-evaluation task: compare the 2004 travel DVD with a kumu hula–authorized recording or a Native Hawaiian scholarly source, and explain the difference in framing. This meets the cultural-context standard while remaining feasible with no budget. The reasoning is that a grade should reflect what the unit actually taught; if the unit teaches context and analysis, the assessment should not reward costume-making or recall of tourist labels.