Poi Balls

Today was my grandfather's 96th birthday celebration. Holly also went to her second hula lesson - we missed last week's class because we went to Claire's birthday party. During the first lesson, they used poi balls for about 5-10 minutes. All the new students were measured for their own poi balls and Holly used hers for the first time today. After only 2 classes and less than 30 minutes of practice, I think she's doing quite well. At first all kids start out able to turn the balls backwards, but after today's class, Holly is also able to go forwards (which is the proper way). Poi balls originated from the Maori in New Zealand, but now a number of different cultures, including Hawaiian and Chinese, have incorporated the balls into their performances. Check out the short video, too!