THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 30, 1996 TAG: 9606280194
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 25 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER BENNETT, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 51 lines
Rather than going to Hawaii to learn hula dancing, area residents can just go to Kempsville.
That's where Hermie M. Serna has her music and dance arts center, and it's where she teaches dances from Hawaii, as well as Tahiti, the Fiji Islands, Samoa and New Zealand.
``I always tell people we just came from Hawaii, . . . Chesapeake,'' said Serna, a native of the Philippines. Although Filipino instead of Hawaiian, Serna knows her dances. Her husband, Paul Serna, a Mexican-American born in Texas, does, too. They can distinguish the kahiko (the ancient hula) from the auwana (the modern hula) and from the bird dance.
Serna learned the hula when she attended her 4-year-old daughter's dance class in the Philippines. The teacher, whom Serna credits for much of her knowledge of Polynesian dancing, invited her to join. She hasn't stopped teaching, or learning, since.
Her Kempsville studio is stocked with coconut hats, brilliantly colored grass skirts, exotic musical instruments and keyboards. Serna, also a professional piano instructor, teaches about 50 dance students from 4 and up, and as many piano students, she said. It hasn't always been so.
When she and her husband moved to Chesapeake from Florida, they turned their garage into a studio. As business increased and they needed more space, they decided to open a studio in Virginia Beach because that's where most of their students lived.
Her pupils have twisted and shimmied at parades, festivals, weddings and in parks, malls and universities. People are never too old to learn, she said. ``Even if you're 60, 70 or 80, you can still wiggle.''
Though her students in colorful costumes grab center stage, Serna's forte is piano instruction. She began studying at home when she was 5 and later studied at the State University of the Philippines School of Music, the ``Harvard'' of her country. Through the years, she won numerous competitions.
She taught piano as a teenager and in college she taught for a while in exchange for room and board and for pocket money. She decided she would pursue teaching rather than performing.
``I love music. I love dance. I love children. I love to teach,'' said Serna, the mother of five. ``I don't lose my energy when it comes to teaching. I love to teach.'' MEMO: For information on the H.M Serna Music and Dance Arts Center and
Hawaiian Boutique in Lake James Shoppes, call 366-5181. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Brittany Dominisac, Espie Poquiz, Kathryn Sinclair and Andra Marr
demonstrate Tahitian dancing at a festival. by CNB