Hawaiian Luau is a Cultural Event at Corso

When Tupua Ainu’u arrived at Corso Atlanta as the new life enrichment or activities director earlier this year, he came with a background quite unlike most of the residents of the upscale senior community in West Buckhead.

Mr. T, as he’s more commonly called, is of Polynesian ancestry, having grown up on the Pacific island of Samoa, nearly 7,000 miles from Atlanta. Culturally and socially, his home was a world away from the residents at Corso, many of whom are Jewish.

Although he has lived in Atlanta for eight years, he was intimately familiar with the culture of many of the Pacific Islands. Before coming here, he had worked as an entertainer and senior master of ceremonies at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii.

The center, which covers 42 acres on the island of Oahu’s north shore, is built around eight simulated tropical villages that reflect the culture not only of Hawaii but of the islands that stretch south through Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, and Aotearoa, the Maori language name for New Zealand. Thirty-two million visitors have passed through the center since it was first opened in 1963. It has been named the best tourist attraction in Hawaii 12 times.

So, when he arrived at Corso, which opened just four years ago on Howell Mill Road, and heard that a luau, the Hawaiian celebratory meal, was already on the calendar, he went to work.

“I wanted to make sure that the luau at Corso was going to be the best of the best, meaning it was going to be authentic,” Mr. T said. “It’s going to be high quality, and it’s going to be the best experience the residents of Corso can get from someone, literally, from the islands.”

As an appropriate welcoming gesture, he found a native of Hawaii, Auntie Ipo, living south of Atlanta in Newnan, to handcraft 200 individual leis, or necklaces, of natural orchid flowers, imported from Thailand and Hawaii for each of Corso’s residents.

Because food and the native religious observances of the people of the Pacific islands are closely intertwined, he placed tikis, totemic statues, with stylized representations of turtles, sharks, and birds of paradise that represented traditional gods.

Before missionaries arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in the early 19th century, worshippers of the deities placed offerings of food wrapped in the ti leaves that are native to the islands in their local heiau, or temples.

It would have been a lot easier to cut corners and cheaper, too, but for Mr. T the care that went into his Polynesian celebration was money well spent.

“I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t a super Americanized, and fake little, plastic Hawaiian luau. I wanted to make sure that it was a deep, beautiful, and meaningful event that had a lot of cultural substance to it.”

Before the meal, which he tried to make as authentic as possible for residents, many of whom had never visited Hawaii, he gave a class in hula dancing. As a concession to advancing age and in some cases, arthritic joints, the class was done sitting down, with songs like “Pearly Shells,” “Hukilau,” and “Aloha ‘Oe,” the Hawaiian farewell song. A number of the residents managed the rhythmic hand movements to mimic the swaying of a palm tree in the tropical breeze, or a cresting wave in the ocean or the passion of personal connection.

It was all just a warmup though, for the professional entertainers, which like so much else during the evening, were as authentic as it could be. Dawn Mahaelani Douglas presented Mahealani’s Polynesian Dancers.

The professional prepared a program that combined a fire knife performance in Corso’s spacious outdoor courtyard along with songs and dances. The dance company stresses the important values of the Pacific islands such as ohana (family) and aloha ainam (love of the homeland), which also reflect the strong bonds that resonate in Jewish life today.

Residents described the evening as one of their most memorable at Corso and many of them were still wearing their orchid leis two weeks after the event.

Creating events that have an impact on senior lives is what Ainu’u sees as his most important contribution to his senior residents.

“Programs like our luau bring a lot of energy, a lot of life, and a lot of information. It gives different ways for our residents to continue to learn, to continue to grow, and to continue to have amazing life experiences and memories while they’re with us. It also helps give them a little escape, a little retreat, a little getaway to different places that they wouldn’t be able to go to in person anymore.”