So finally, on Wednesday night, I got to see what it was like to watch my daughter and her halau perform, for a huge audience, chants and hulas I’d been watching in rehearsals for months, my daughter in a costume we made ourselves.

It was exhilarating. Thrilling.

Afterward I asked my daughter, who’s 8, to tell me a little more about her performance. She said, “I thought it would be scary but it wasn’t really. You were right, the people were all so happy about our dancing that I wasn’t scared.”

Beforehand I’d told her that the crowd loves her halau, Halau O Kekuhi, and would be roaring for them and loving the performance, and indeed that’s what happened. It was definitely not a hostile crowd. But, then again, there was nothing to be hostile about!

You can see and hear that on this Big Island Video News video of the Ho‘ike, which gives a good taste of Halau O Kekuhi’s performance, as well as the ones that followed it on Wednesday’s Ho‘ike (Exhibition) night.

And if you want to see some of Hilo’s Merrie Monarch competition, it streams live here at 6 p.m. Hawai‘i time on Friday, 4/13/12 and Saturday, 4/14. Tonight is the hula kahiko (ancient style) competition, and Saturday is the ‘auana (modern style) one.