A group of young girl dancers (I) before they performed traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
We were treated to a beautiful traditional ceremonial dance by Polynesian cultured girls and boys and men on Tikopia, Solomon Islands, after we had a chance to walk around the village after our arrival on the beach by Zodiacs. [For an introduction to Tikopia, see our previous blog post “Tikopia, Solomon Islands”.]
A group of young girl dancers (II) before they performed traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
A group of young girl dancers (III) before they performed traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
A group of young girl dancers (IV) before they performed traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
“In Tiklopia, the most formal festival dances occur during the monsoon season. Dance variations included Te mako e ta (the dance is beaten), mako po (clapped dances), mako rima (arm/hand dances), mako rakau (dances with wooden implements), and mako lasi (big dances). It has been said to Firth that, ‘The one work of Tikopia is the dance’. He describes the ‘dancing impulse’ as being so strong in Tikopia that it is ‘almost obsessional behaviour’”. — Wikipedia
A group of young girl dancers (V) before they performed traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
A group of young girl and boy dancers just as they began performing traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
The first ceremonial dance on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
A close up of the young girl dancers (I) as they performed traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
A close up of the young girl dancers (II) as they performed traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
A group of men dancers (I) as they performed traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
A group of men dancers (II) as they performed traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
A solo man dancer performed traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
A group of men dancers (III) as they performed traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
A group of men dancers (IV) as they performed traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
A group of men dancers (V) as they performed traditional ceremonial dances on Tikopia, Solomon Islands
Where in the world is Riccardo? 
Love all the photos of the children. You really capture how happy they are.
LikeLike
Were you able to find out what the “skirts” were made out of?
LikeLike
It looks like the skirts on the girls are a form of tapa cloth — handmade on the island from bark that has been softened through a process of soaking and beating, then dried and colored and designs painted on with natural pigments. Wikipedia notes: “Tapa cloth (or simply tapa) is a barkcloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea (particularly in Oro Province around Tufi) and Hawaii (where it is called kapa).”
LikeLike