Aloha Mr. President

LIHU‘E — When Shannon Daliva of Kekaha got a voicemail inviting her to go to the White House to dance hula for President Barack Obama, she said she thought it was a joke.

The lead dancer for the Tihati Productions lu‘au show at the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort and Spa returned the call, learned it was the real deal, packed her bags and flew to Washington, D.C., for what she would later call the trip of her lifetime.

“It was an unbelievable experience. I just felt like a school girl,” said Daliva, 33. “Just to meet him, to be at the White House and to perform for the leader of the free world” was amazing, she said.

And when Obama came back stage, asked each of them their names and talked story with them, Daliva said she temporarily forgot how to talk, she was so nervous.

“We would practically do anything” to have that experience, she said. With Tihati for 12 years, Daliva said “the dancing part,” even in front of 2,500 people with the White House as the backdrop, wasn’t as nerve-racking as meeting the president after the performance.

“He treated us very well,” and Secret Service agents escorted the dancers around the White House grounds. “It was just pretty cool,” said Daliva, who also works for Holoholo Charters when not performing at the Grand Hyatt lu‘au each Sunday and Thursday.

“I was very honored just to be one of the ones to be picked. I was very, very honored.”

Husband Benjy Daliva, the Grand Hyatt lu‘au show manager, dancer and fire-knife performer who works days as a dispatcher for Garden Isle Disposal, stayed home while his wife went to the East Coast, and is justifiably proud of his wife as well, she said in an interview Monday.

“He’s very, very proud of me,” as is the rest of her family, she said.

“She was as awestruck as the rest of us,” Cha Thompson said of Daliva, the only Kaua‘i resident to make the trip.

Benjy Daliva couldn’t make the trip because someone had to stay back and run the Hyatt Kaua‘i show, Thompson said in an interview Monday.

Hawaiians invaded the White House last week, sharing kisses and aloha with President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, even First Dog Bo.

“You know us Hawaiians, we kiss everybody,” said Thompson, head of Tihati Productions, jet-lagged but still sky high over being the first Polynesian revue to ever perform at the White House.

Tihati Productions was invited by the president to perform at the annual spring picnic for members of Congress on the South Lawn of the White House.

But before that, each member of the revue had to endure the usual credential checks and security searches, complete with bomb-sniffing dogs, Thompson said.

“I just want to say to all the members of Congress, you’ve been working hard. I wish I could give you all trips to Hawai‘i,” Obama said in his brief remarks.

“But I figured since given our budget crunch we can’t do that, that we’d at least bring Hawai‘i to you.”

“Hawai‘i is the host culture, so we did the Hawaiian show,” with Tahitian and Samoan numbers thrown in, Thompson said.

“The Tihati people are going to blow you away,” Obama said in introducing the entertainment.

United States Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka and U.S. Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Mazie Hirono were in attendance, Hirono commenting Tuesday that the food by chef Alan Wong was excellent.

The Tihati crew was “very proud” to have been invited to perform, said Thompson, who made a concerted effort to include performers from each of the four islands where Tihati has 10 productions.

The Obama White House turned its first congressional picnic into a Hawaiian lu‘au, in celebration of the president’s home state.

Tents were set up on the South Lawn, tiki torches lined the perimeter, and potted palm trees were brought in. More than 2,000 guests, many wearing lei and sipping drinks, were scattered on the South Lawn.

All wearing lei, the president, First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 8, along with Vice President Joe Biden, walked from the White House to meet the crowd.

Before Obama shouted an “aloha” to guests, he and Sasha could be seen boogying to the music.

“I think that will last a lifetime in memories,” Thompson said of her D.C. experience.

• Paul C. Curtis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com