Denise Ka‘uhionamauna Kia Ramento

Nā Kumu Hula Denise Ka‘uhionamauna Kia Ramento - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 98

Denise Ramento founded Aloha Pumehana O Hawaiʻi Nei in 1972 and is currently teaching hula and Tahitian dance in the Waipahu area.

I began to learn hula at the age of seven-years-old. My first teacher was John Piʻilani Watkins who taught at his home in Kaimukī. He was not really into traditional hula. John was very theatrical. He liked using a lot of cellophane. He also taught us Tahitian, Samoan, and Maori dancing.

I spent the next nine years with Aunty Luka and Aunty Louise Kaleiki at the ʻIlima Hula Studio. It was through their lessons that I got more involved in the hula. Aunty Luka did most of the teaching. Aunty Louise did the paper work for the business and she was the disciplinarian.

I concentrated so much in hula that I never got a chance to go to football games. Aunty Luka and Aunty Louise were very strict; if you missed one performance, you couldn’t dance. I remember a few of us never went to our proms because there was hula.

I graduated six years after joining Aunty Luka and Aunty Louise. There were six of us that were up for graduation. All of the dancers who were graduating had to learn a number of their own. Aunty Luka and Aunty Louise chose each song and the girls learned their particular song privately.

I learned hula kahiko from Uncle Henry Pa when he came to the hālau to teach Aunty Luka. Before we started the kahiko, he sat and explained about the dance. He met with us for three years and during the last year he taught us hula kahiko for our ʻūniki.

All the students from the halau participated in the graduation lū‘au held at Ka Makua Mau Loa Church in Kalihi. The graduating class danced hula kahiko chosen by Uncle Henry Pa and each of I he graduates had to dance her special song. My song was “Kau‘ionalani."

Aunty Luka and Aunty Louise asked me to become an alaka‘i but my parents sent me away to Maui to attend Lahainaluna High School. Because I missed my hula, I started at the Royal Lahaina Hotel as a solo dancer under the direction of Robert Kalani. I performed Aunty Luka’s songs and choreography. After living in Maui for a year I returned home and went back to Aunty Luka. But all my hula sisters had left and there was a kind of emptiness so I decided to rest.

I was eighteen-years-old when I was asked to teach some teenagers in Waipahu. I began with Tahitian because I was stronger in that area. My twin brother Dennis took care of the drumming and I taught the dancing. I also taught hula but when we were asked to do shows, they usually wanted Tahitian dancing.

Aunty Luka and Aunty Louise had the most influence on me. Besides teaching me, they gave me the desire to move on and to learn more. They were the biggest inspiration on my hula career.

My advice to the young teachers is to know what you’re doing. Learn the language. Respect the kupuna and our culture. We all have different styles because our kumu hula all learned from different people. Don’t over elaborate the hula. Just take it from the basics and don’t forget the roots.



98 Denise Ka‘uhionamauna Kia Ramento