Honolulu Festival Day 1 - 3/12-3/13/2011

This year's Honolulu Festival took place 2 days after the great Japan Earthquake and Tsunami scare here. I didn't know if there would even be an event but was happy to know that the groups that had arrived still participated in the events. It was heartwarming to see them put in their utmost efforts in their performance. It's been months since I took event shots and it took some figuring out to adjust to the indoor lighting and fast movements. The stage was brightly lit and was very colorful so it worked well with the performers' colorful costumes.
This is one of the littlest performer. She's only 4 years old.
There was an exhibit of art work created by Japanese artists. I really like the intricate details on this sculpture.
This one is simply titled 'Small Bird is Back'. I think it'd make a really cool large sculpture in a park.
There was supposed to be a huge firework celebration after the parade on Sunday put on by the city of Nagaoka. But with respect to the people of Japan for their loss in the devastation, the firework was cancelled. Here are some firework shells. I'm not sure if these are life size or not..but these are pretty big.

I followed Celia and Erick to Ala Moana Center Stage to see these cheerleaders from a high school in Nagaoka.
Dai Hirai is a ukulele pop singer who sang the theme song for the Honolulu Festival. I thought I found a great spot in front of the stage and it was a great spot...since these videographers were standing right in front of where I was sitting. I had to shoot whenever I could get a clear shot. Argh!!
So, I decided to take this shot. You can see in the screen that he got a great unobstructed shot.. ARGH!!
There were even these Middle Eastern dance.
Then these very energetic dancers. I was sitting in the front row and he looked straight into my lens.
Last year, there were a lot more Hula dancers. Due to the Earthquake a lot of groups were not able to get here in time.