Along with learning about Pacific Islander culture, dances and history, Pacific Island Dance (DNCE 260) students learned the true meaning of community.
Elaine Talamaivao, an adjunct faculty member and the Polynesian Voyagers of Redlands (PVR) advisor, taught DNCE 260 during the spring 2025 semester. This was the first year the course was offered, and Talamaivao also said it is the first of its kind in the continental United States.
Talamaivao said she decided to offer it because she wanted to provide a welcoming space and sense of community at college, something she had struggled with when she left New Zealand for an American education at the age of 18.
“There was always this longing to find my peoples and then be able to be comfortable with those peoples,” she said. “And there’s never an end to that. I think in life we’re constantly pursuing being a better person or being a better human in society.”
As such, Talamaivao structured this class as a space for people to create a family and community. In suit with her core value of inclusion, this class was not only for those of Pacific Islander heritage. Pacific Islander culture was then shared with the rest of the campus community as DNCE 260 students participated in the Feb. 20 Asian Student Association Night Market and through their April 10 “Our Collective Ancestral Voices” production.
Marissa Spires ‘26, who is double-majoring in Creative Writing and Psychology, said she was encouraged by her Palauan mother to switch out of a writing studio to take this class. The fact that it was run by fellow Pacific Islanders contributed to her decision, as she reasoned it could help her establish a community.
Robert Hernandez ‘29, a History major and Spanish minor, said he wanted to learn more about Pacific Islander culture. He was also attracted by the performance aspect, especially having seen the New Zealand rugby team’s pregame Haka.
Both students found what they were looking for, expanding their knowledge of Pacific Islander culture and their homes away from home.
“We don’t see [Elaine] as our professor,” Hernandez said. “We see her as our Auntie.”
Through DNCE 260, both students got involved in the PVR student organization. Spires had been contacted by Talamaivao during the fall 2024 semester about the class, while Hernandez joined in the spring semester. Spires and Hernandez spoke praises of the inclusivity of PVR, which they enjoyed enough to run for officer positions. In fact, Spires will be the incoming vice president and Hernandez the incoming social media manager.
“The connections I made and the sense of home from that Micronesian/Pacific Islander culture side of me got to come out more and feel safe on campus,” Spires said.
On this note, Spires mentioned how appreciative she is of the University of Redlands for their support of cultural diversity and voiced its importance. She said that it’s easy for people to ridicule customs they aren’t familiar with, but taking the time to immerse oneself into a new culture enables them to see the values others place in such customs.
“Then you can be like, ‘Oh, people put their heart into this. People find family and safety in this, so I see why people appreciate it,’” she said.
Along with sharing her culture and enabling students to do so themselves, Talamaivao said one of her highlights in teaching this course was the unity that developed.
“Students understood that they’re no different from each other – that at the end of the day, we all have similar needs and wants, which are the basic needs and wants of humanity: and that’s just to be seen and to be heard and to be loved,” she said.
Creating and instructing a course is no easy feat, and Talamaivao expressed gratitude to College of Arts & Sciences Dean Justin Rose for his leadership and his support of DNCE 260. Talamaivao said she hopes to teach this course, or a similar one, again next year. If she does, both Spires and Hernandez encourage students to take it. Staying true to the course’s inclusive nature, Hernandez pointed out how students don’t need to be of Pacific Islander descent. Hernandez, himself, doesn’t come from a Pacific Islander background and was still able to connect with the others.
“It’s a top-tier class,” he said.
Talamaivao joined Spires and Hernandez in encouraging Bulldog students to add DNCE 260 to their schedule and lightheartedly advised against taking it for the wrong reasons, saying it won’t be an easy A.
“It’s my culture. I’ve got to make you work for it,” she said with a chuckle.
July 2025 Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to ASA as “Asian Student Alliance” and has since been corrected
McKenzie Rose is a freshman at Redlands with interests in Environmental Studies and Journalism. She worked for the last three years as a freelance journalist with the Hermiston Herald, a newspaper near her hometown of Echo, Oregon. She is looking forward to covering the interesting, the exciting, and the intriguing happenings at the university for the Redlands Bulldog!
