Cecilia Kawaiokawa‘awa‘a Akim

Nā Kumu Hula Cecilia Kawaiokawa‘awa‘a Akim - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 10

Cecilia Kawaiokawa‘awa‘a Akim
Cecilia Akim has taught the hula for over twenty-five years and is presently teaching at the Nuʻuanu Day Care Center with her kumu hula, Hoakalei Kamauʻu.


How do you teach somebody who does not know the language? I’ve seen a lot of misinterpretations of dances. They don't understand the beauty of what the chant is talking about. Our old chants are in Hawaiian and today s students need to understand the Hawaiian language to know what they’re dancing about especially because the motions are very simple. “Kawika” is a beautiful chant because the vocabulary is there, the poetry is there, the history is there. The romanticism, an important part of our cultural heritage, is there. It’s all there. As a dancer you’re painting a picture. You put into motion our oral history.

My mom took me to learn hula from Aunty ʻIolani Luahine when I was three or four-years-old. I stayed with her for about six years until she retired from teaching and moved back to Kona. The girls she taught were eight to twenty years older than me. She had me dance with all of them. We performed all over Waikiki and different places. I learned both kahiko and ‘auana from Aunty ‘Io. She taught us dances like “Little Brown Gal” so we could learn basic hula motions and how to be a little more graceful. We learned our kāhea and mele while learning the dance. It was very repetitious. We would go over it again and again.

When Aunty ‘Io retired, I went to Aunty Pele Pukui. I think because I was so young, Aunty Pele gave me private classes. Her fundamental steps were the same as Aunty ʻIo’s. Aunty Pele reviewed the dances that I had learned with Aunty ‘Io so that she knew which ones I had learned. With her I learned more numbers, many with implements, and she worked on my chanting for the hula noho.

After about a year and a half she suggested that I go to another teacher. So at fourteen I went to George Nā‘ope and stayed with him for over seven years until he moved back to Hilo. That was the first time that I was actually in a class with other dancers who were the same age as me. Uncle George had a studio a few blocks from my home in Kalihi. So why stay home and help my mother clean house when I could go down to the hula studio and help Uncle George? I literally hung out at the studio and danced with all of his classes.

After Uncle George moved to Hilo, I couldn’t find any other teacher. So I freelanced on my own doing the shows at the International Market Place with Uncle Johnny Watkins, Aunty Lydia Wong, and Aunty Louise Freeman. After I graduated from high school, I went to the University of Hawai‘i and I dropped out of hula completely.

When Aunty Hoakalei started classes for the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, I went back to hula. The purpose of the classes was to train dancers to be teachers and that’s what I’ve done.

Being with Aunty Hoakalei is a continuation of Aunty ‘Io. Her style of teaching is the same. I am very comfortable with Aunty Hoakalei. She’s a different person from Aunty ‘Io but she’s just as beautiful. When she did “Aia Lā ‘O Pele,” it was like going back to the days of my youth with Aunty 'Io. I’ve remained with Aunty Hoakalei since 1969 and I’m still learning with her.

“As a dancer you’re painting a picture. You put into motion our oral history.”



10 Cecilia Kawaiokawa awaa Akim