Carolee Nishi

Nā Kumu Hula Carolee Nishi - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 88

Carolee Nishi has been a full- time volunteer for the Nuʻuanu YMCA Hawaiian Youth Program for close to thirty- years. Besides working for United Airlines as an Executive Services Director, she is a kupuna for the Department of Education Hawaiian Studies Program.

The beginning of Hula Hui O Kapunahala began in 1968. While working on contract in the United Airlines Red Carpet Room, a co-worker asked me to teach hula to her daughter and four of her friends who attended Kapunahala Elementary School. We gathered every Sunday morning at their home in Kāne‘ohe for hula lessons. Soon after our small hui was invited to participate in Expo ‘70 in Osaka, Japan. To provide information for the billing we were asked the name of our group. Since the students came from Kapunahala, the Japanese Expo officials immediately provided us with calling cards bearing my name as director of the Kapunahala Hula Club. When we returned to Hawai‘i, the word “club” was substituted with “hui” and we were renamed Hula Hui O Kapunahala.

I started hula at age five. In the late Forties my sister and I attended weekly classes at Eunice McLean’s Kalihi home. We were not taught the words but practiced diligently to the tune of many 78-speed recordings. I also took hula at the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) and eventually spent many years in Kaimuki at Mamo's Hula Studio. Hula ‘auana and hapa haole songs were very popular at that time and all the numbers we learned were choreographed by Aggie Auld. We entertained a lot for the military and went all out for the Waikīkī ho‘olaule‘a. In those days Genoa Keawe, Pua Almeida, Harris Kaleikini, Buddy Hew Len. and Val Kepelino were among our regular musicians.

In the Fifties around the time of the opening of the International Market Place in Waikiki, my uncle owned and managed a saimin stand next to Don the Beachcombers. In true ‘ohana fashion my parents helped my uncle and consequently the Market Place became my hangout. I was very familiar with the Beachcomber staff, all the small shop owners, members of the Martin Denny’s group, Buddy Fo & the Invitations, and even performers with John Piʻilani Watkins Polynesian Review who featured Al Barcarse as a Maori dancer. I sat through all the shows daily and I knew the routines like the hack of my hand. Most inspiring to me were the fire dancer Kimo Lee, the model/hula dancer Mamo Howell, and the strong voice of Ron Jacobec.

After my graduation from Roosevelt High School I attended University of Hawai‘i. Throughout my college years I continued to dance, learned to sing, practiced the ‘ukulele, and studied the language. In the Sixties I joined the Hawaiian ethnic studies group, studied Hawaiian chorus under Dorothy Kahananui Gillette, Hawaiian history with Pauline King Joerger, and learned hula kahiko from Ho‘oulu Cambra. I even dedicated some time to Tahitian and Maori dancing with Bella Richards in Kailua.

I spent a lot of time with Aunty Alice Nāmakelua. I was fortunate to have three years of semi-private lessons with Aunty Alice. She taught me to play slack key guitar and to sing many traditional Hawaiian songs.

At the same time I became a very close friend to Genoa Keawe. Through the years she has been the one who taught me the most. Through her influence I learned to do a lot for myself. There were many years of guidance and even today if I need her kokua, she’s always around. She has a generous attitude towards helping others. She’s a good role model and I love her.

My husband’s best friend, Alan Masuda, strongly suggested that I volunteer my talents at the YMCA. Alan’s brother Robert, who was the executive director of the Nuʻuanu Y, asked me to start an outreach program. That was the beginning of my affiliation with the Y. Aunty Genoa, Kawai Cockett, Huʻi Park, and my mother helped me through my initial years setting up the program. As the program stabilized, membership was opened to the public.

Today we have a strongly committed hui who assist me not only in keeping the members active in Hawaiian studies but keep me abreast of community events. Some of these personalities, namely Sherilyn Fukuji, Calvena Moe, Robyn Nishi, Dora Yamamura, Alyssa Malo, Kapiolani Chang, and Nalani Ke‘ale who began membership from the beginning of their elementary school years, are true volunteers keeping the aloha spirit alive by passing down their knowledge of the culture and art of Hawaiʻi. Together we’ve learned that a good kumu haumāna relationship is beneficial to the entire hui. Today they stand strong with the YMCA system working to keep the foundation of our volunteer group pa'a and moving in a positive direction.

I know for certain: you get out of life whatever you put into it. The returns have always followed in far greater numbers. Money cannot buy experiences, opportunity or aloha. And for that we say “mahalo ke Akua no Hawaiʻi; lucky we live Hawaiʻi.” Collectively we are blessed not only with the most beautiful sand and sea but also the unique feeling of ‘ohana despite our various cultural differences.

I like the words of Haunani Apoliona as she depicts the Hawaiian tradition in her song “‘Alu Like.” “E nānā aku i ke kumu, e ho‘olohe mai, e pa‘a ka waha, e hana me ka lima”* We do need to focus on taking a little more responsibility in keeping the Hawaiian language and culture alive and giving our community a better understanding of its origins.
For our children’s sake, Hawaiʻi and all that it stands for needs to be forever, keep the tradition.

*Lyrics from “‘Alu Like”





88 Carolee Nishi