Michelle Lujan looks back at her wedding day with bittersweetness because although she didn’t know it at the time, the December day in 2019 was the last time the Pacific Legends danced before the pandemic exploded.
“To me, that’s like the marker of when it ended, but we had no idea,” Lujan told the Sun. “It left a big hole for all of us.”
Like so many treasured activities, Pacific Legends’ practices halted in 2020. Uncertainty followed.
Become a Legend
Sign up for Polynesian dance classes and summer camps by visiting pacificlegendslompoc.com. Practices take place at Velvet Movement in Lompoc (115 W. Ocean Ave.) on Fridays and Saturdays. See the group perform at the Lompoc Flower Festival the last weekend of June.
Dancers kept asking when the troupe was going to begin again. Lujan said it broke her heart to tell them she didn’t have the answer.
Then Lujan’s goddaughter, Alexandria Corn, returned from college and revived the group, growing performance opportunities and increasing the number of dancers. Corn continued the group that her godmother ran for many years, immersing it in the community again with performances like the one coming up at the Lompoc Flower Festival in June.
Pacific Legends originated in 2002 with a handful of dancers. Lujan and her sister found themselves in the mix after moving to California from Guam.
By 2005, young Lujan was already the group’s director. The teenager led practices in her living room until they outgrew the space and moved to a studio. They rehearsed twice a week and spent extra time planning performances at community events.
‘The big thing for us is once you’re a Legend, you’re always a Legend. It’s something you kind of carry with you.’
—Alexandria Corn, Pacific Legends director
Polynesian dance tells ancient stories through movement, music, and chants. Some styles require quick hip motions and a lot of stamina. Others take it slow, prioritizing hand motions to communicate parts of the story.
“Pacific Legends has always been really unique in that it also pulls from other islands of the Pacific particularly, because I’m from Guam,” Lujan said. “We pulled from Chamorro dances as well, even though it’s not part of Polynesia. It’s part of the Micronesian islands.”
Students as young as 3 years old can learn styles of hula and ‘Ori Tahiti (Tahitian dance), too. Community members of all ages and backgrounds are welcome, and the studio invites all experience levels.
“You don’t have very many people from Guam here, so being able to have something to represent that in art that I love, it means a lot,” Lujan said.
Lujan was the Pacific Legends director until the pandemic shuttered the group. While it was stunted, she talked with Corn, her goddaughter, who was studying business administration in Georgia. The two missed their Pacific Legends community.
Lujan remembered when Corn joined the group at age 7.
“She always gave it 100 percent, 150 percent,” Lujan said.
Corn grew up in the Pacific Legends.
“[Lujan] was such a great teacher and instructor, and it really made me fall in love with the culture and the dance in general,” Corn said.
The now-director came from a background in ballet, but at Pacific Legends practices, she could just have fun. When she was a young dancer, the group felt more informal than her other trainings, performing for the community at events and festivals.
“It definitely wasn’t the competitiveness that I was used to. It was always just so loving and warm,” Corn said. “That’s what really fueled my passion for it, and that’s why I wanted to bring it back because it left such a lasting impact on me in a positive way.”
Last August, when Corn got the gang back together, she wanted to add more structure. It meant less performances and more teaching. That way new dancers could join and get comfortable with the material.
Corn oversees the whole business as the sole teacher and choreographer. A couple of other alumni help her out with the school of around 40 dancers, and Corn is thankful to have Lujan as a mentor, too.
The director wears a lot of hats. Redesigning the Pacific Legends website was no trouble, but she did have to learn how to sew to make costumes.
One “dream come true” was the first Pacific Legends recital in April this year. The director was proud to see that dancers who started mere months ago had the confidence to perform onstage.
“I believe it was like probably the first Polynesian recital in Lompoc,” Corn said.
In addition to dancing, Corn wants to share knowledge with her students about Polynesian culture and history. With young ones, Corn reads a book or teaches them how to count in Hawaiian. With older students, the instructor translates their song into English so they can learn the languages side by side.
“When we got recital costumes this year, I was able to tell them some of the cultural significance,” Corn said about hula skirts. “I teach them the importance of how to take care of your pā‘ū skirt. For example, it should never be thrown on the floor. It always should be put over your head. You never step into it because if you step into it, it touches the floor. It disrespects the skirt and the creator of the skirt.”
During the last five minutes of class for her middle age group, Corn gives students a word or sentence for them to enact with their hands. Recently she prompted: The sun is rising from the waves.
One student made a circle with her hands, starting at her chest and continuing above her head. Another made a big circle with her arms and mimicked a wavy motion.
“The big thing for us is once you’re a Legend, you’re always a Legend. It’s something you kind of carry with you,” Corn said. “Even though it’s such a small group, it was something so special and big in our hearts.”
Now the group has been around long enough that some of the alumni’s kids are dancers, including Lujan’s daughter. The former director said Corn and her team have done a wonderful job taking Pacific Legends to the next level.
“Watching her teach my little one is just amazing because I know that she’s got a good heart for it,” Lujan said. “She’s putting in the time to understand the stories, the culture, and then being able to share that in a way that keeps all the dancers engaged and wanting to come back.”
Reach Staff Writer Madison White at mwhite@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 28 – June 4, 2026.