Hula group brings aloha to Tucson seniors

Yep, that’s right. This sea of desert has a luau season, especially for those in their sunset years.

During these summer months, Cheryl Culver and her hula group the Wahines — Hawaiian for “women” — stay busy.

The group of six works the care facility party circuit, where paper pineapples hang from ceilings and cocktail umbrellas decorate cupcakes.

During the 18-dance performance, the Wahines take their audience of seniors on an island tour. Their dances — some contemporary, some traditional — draw inspiration from tropical locales such as Hawaii and Samoa.

Culver, who moved to Tucson roughly 15 years ago, began dancing the hula as a little girl in the Philippines, maybe at age of 4 or 5, she says. She started ballet at the same time, but hula stuck.

While working as a office manager at an assisted living facility about 10 years ago, Culver taught her co-workers several dances for an upcoming luau at the site. Rosie Noel, 42, is a medical technician there and still dances with Culver, who is now a registered nurse. The women estimate the group officially formed about six years ago.

“Hula is for me,” Culver, 54, says. “It’s more of an interest because it’s the dance that gives a story. Every hand gesture, every move tells a story and has a meaning.”

All of the Wahines, with ages ranging from their late 20s to 50s, moved to Tucson from the Philippines. Many connected with Culver through acquaintances.

“We treat (Cheryl) like our older sister,” says Frances Doreen Thomson, 40, the third Wahine to join. With her own background in dance, some of it in hula, she picked up the movements quickly.

Thomson says the women call themselves sisters. They share a home country and their faith as Christians, often praying together before Saturday practices that can take up most of the day. They also eat together, getting their fix of Filipino foods when they practice at Thomson’s home in Green Valley.

Daughters join them these days, and Culver imagines someday teaching formal hula lessons. Maybe next year — hula season is too far gone at this point.

At performances, while their mothers change costumes between sets, the little girls keep the crowd entertained, shaking their grass skirts to songs from the Disney film “Lilo & Stitch.”

These keikis, or “children,” steal the show.

“They just loved all the dances,” says Joni Chandler, the activities director at Desert Springs Gracious Retirement Living. “They love the kids, especially the kids.”

For the first time, the facility, 30 W. Lambert Lane, invited the Wahines to perform at their June luau. Chandler is still hearing about it. The finale even got the audience involved. The dancers invited residents to join them.

Most resisted, but several volunteered — or were volun-told — to get those hips moving.

Monette O’Hara, who joined about two years ago, remembers her very first performance with the Wahines — outside on slick grass covered in dog poop.

“Those residents were like, ‘Ew. Ew. Ew.,’ but the show must go on,” O’Hara, 29, says. “We pretended that there was nothing happening.”

Dancing gives them a break from jobs and motherhood, plus they get in a good workout.

“I think it’s just nice to see the older people smiling when we perform in front of them, especially with the kids,” O’Hara, a full-time mom, says. “Yeah, why not take my time to do that for them? We don’t want to be famous. We don’t want to get too much money. You do it for them, to see them smiling and being happy.”