Leimomi Ho

Leimomi Ho
Leimomi Ho, a regular dancer with the Kodak Hula Show, has taught hula for the past twenty-three years.


I have stayed with Aunty Vickie Iʻi Rodrigues till this day and she has been the one that has made me what I am today. She shares so much with me and I’ve grown to love her like a mom. I’ve become her hands and feet. If someone wants to learn a dance from her, she teaches it to me and I take it from there. It is indeed an honor to be one of the many that have been touched by her work and to be able to share a part of her great knowledge.

My grandmother and my parents were involved in the hula on Kaua‘i. When I turned three- years-old, I was taken to Helen Waia‘u and remained with her for six years until we moved to Pauoa in Honolulu. Through our neighbor I was led to my second kumu Sam Kamuela Naeʻole. Sam’s studio was on Nu‘uanu Avenue in a building that they’ve torn down by now. He used to yell at us and we would get so scared but he was a good teacher who was always emphasizing fundamentals. Hālaus back then were known as studios and the ‘ūniki was called a recital. It’s only in the last few years that more teachers and students are using these terms.

I stayed with Sam for three years and then I met John Pi‘ilani Watkins. I studied under John for five years and for two summers I worked with him at Jones Beach in New York. We had to learn to work with theater people and it was all big production numbers. Because of all his trips to New York, John Watkins was very modernized.

During my second summer in New York, I met Joe Kahaulilio who was a partner of Vickie I‘i Rodrigues and I began to train under them when I returned home.

I was grateful for what John had given me but Uncle Joe taught me the hula as it should be. I didn’t like doing production numbers like “Bali Hai” and Uncle Joe and Aunty Vickie started training me in ancient hula, soft ‘auwana numbers, and old Hawaiian songs. I began to teach in the 1960s but in a very off-handed manner. It was a case of people coming to me and asking if I could teach them a certain song. What hula takes from your life is time with your family so I’ve always tried to make the hula secondary.

Nowadays the hula is so modernized. So many steps have been added to ancient hula that never existed. So what do you call them? My kumu created motions but they were kept within the kahiko style of dancing. I suppose there has to be change but I come from the “old school” and it’s hard for me to adjust to this change.

Mahalo to the Good Lord for giving me my mind, my hands and my feet to be able to carry on my Hawaiian culture as I love it. Mahalo Aunty Vickie for the many years you have shared your knowledge with me.