A Collaboration Connection Mid-Pacifc and Wai’alae meet in the city.

Back when we first began our project work with connections, the children wondered if we could connect to other schools beyond Mid-Pacific. At the time we thought, what a great idea! But little did we know that idea would come to fruition within the year.

Since then, our journey has taken us to the city—the heart of Hawai’i where on occasion we would bump into other schools, other children, but only rarely, and only as passers by. Until January 18, 2018 when Hawaiian immersion schools from all over the state came together to rally at the State capitol as tribute to Queen Lili’uokalani and take an active role in standing together to remember the past but also speak for the future with their presence. Even though we are not a Hawaiian immersion school, we felt this was a connection opportunity the children needed to witness, needed to be a part of, and part of the city’s story that was being written with them included in it.

Reflecting back upon that day, and the days of researching the city that followed, the alignment of events seems more than coincidental—a rally for preschool funding, art at dark, awareness to prevent child abuse and neglect, all points along the way that marked a transformation of the capitol grounds and connected the voices of this place to our own story. A story of connecting children.

Our charge this year was to collaborate and connect with another preschool, Wai’alae charter Pre-K, but for us this was not just a charge, it was a gift. A gift to be able to work with another team, a gift to connect with other children, and a gift to work with two amazing artists—Moses Goods and SheenRu Yong of Body Portal Theatre. While our project work as individual communities continued on its own path, it was here at the heart of the city that we would connect and come together.

Moses or Kumu Moses as the children call him has been our ‘bearer of stories.’ Literally becoming the voice of the space and gifting the children the wahi pana and mo’olelo of Honolulu. Having worked with Moses last year, we knew he was much more than a storyteller, he was our cultural navigator. The art of storytelling is his platform, but Moses’ medium is ʻŌlelo Hawai’i, Hula, Hawaiian history, culture and values. Through him, the stories of the space came to life through the concept of mana, and as each story was told the mana and memory of the story being gifted to each child was becoming part of their own mana. Through him, the children are coming to know deeply, the heart of Hawai’i—its past, present and future all connected through them.

Moses Goods sharing the stories of the palace grounds from the perspectives of the buildings.

SheenRu on the other hand is working with the children using their bodies as the portal to connecting to themselves, connecting with their earth’s skin, and connecting with each other. The children’s cumulative experiences with SheenRu have been designed to explore, create and embody empathy. Through interactive performance art, SheenRu has gifted the children the languages of the body that transcends dance, music, and movement, and gets to the heart of empathy through seeing, listening, and touching one another. A connection that goes deeper than the surface of our skin.

SheenRu Yong of Body Portal Theatre leading the children through a series of connecting exercises.- through emotions, with faces, movement, bodies, and through skin.

Collaboration begins with taking risks, a mindset and disposition we value and nurture as an integral part of early education. For both teams Wai’alae and Mid-Pacific the risks of not having a working relationship prior, having different communities, classroom cultures, different regulations, different approaches, and not having done this before was all a risk. How would we make this work? As our relationship in the work that we were doing progressed, the differences that seemed risky at first turned into qualities that at least from our perspective we also shared, valued, and appreciated. We all have one common interest at heart, that is to do the best we know possible for the children gifted to us, their teachers.

This collaboration comes to fruition this Friday night in Mills gymnasium at Mid-Pacific where the families— parents and children of both preschools will come together to connect and celebrate the work of the children over the past few months through a Thin Skin installation by Body Portal Theatre. While the concept of mutual empathy is the driving force behind choosing this interactive performance as the vehicle, it is our hope that the magic and joy of the experience shared becomes part of each child’s mana and memory, and that participating in this experience serves as a reminder and metaphor for the joy of learning, the joy of childhood, and the fantastical possibilities that are possible when we break through barriers and take the risk to be connected.

We would like to acknowledge that this collaboration would not have been made possible without the generous donation and idea of Kim Coco Iwamoto, who wished to extend her generosity by affording a public school with the same opportunities that the preschoolers at Mid-Pacific are granted. Thanks to her vision and generosity, our team was able to connect and collaborate with Wai’alae Charter school’s Pre-K team. Her generous donation also made possible busing for research trips to the city of Honolulu, and work with both artists.

Mahalo from all the children, families, and teaching teams of Wai’alae and Mid-Pacific.