Cecelia Kuamo‘o Ka‘ai

Nā Kumu Hula Cecelia Kuamo‘o Ka‘ai - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 10

Cecelia Kuamo‘o Ka‘ai
Born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi until the age of eighteen, “Cissy” Ka‘ai has taught the hula on Kaua‘i for the past thirteen years.

I was interested in the hula when I was a little girl growing up in Opihikao on the Big Island. There would be family parties every Saturday afternoon in church halls, pavilions, and any other area where tents could be erected. We children would help serve the food and afterwards everyone would call for entertainment. I didn’t know anything about the hula but my friend and I would make up motions to the songs the musicians played.

I came from a large family which spoke fluent Hawaiian and although my aunty Rose Kuamoʻo was a well-known hula instructor, I did not have the benefit of training under her since she lived in Hilo. When I turned twelve, however, she asked my father if she could give me lessons. He agreed and a bargain was struck between them. He would supply her with the ti leaves she needed to entertain and she would give my sister and I hula lessons. Every Saturday my father would drive us to Hilo in his car for our three-hour lesson with Aunty Rose where we would be trained in both ‘auwana and kahiko.

During high school in Hilo I studied informally with George Nā‘ope and Martha Kaʻiawe and upon graduation I moved to 0‘ahu to attend Church College in Lā‘ie. I took a few lessons with Pi‘ilani Watkins in Kapahulu when I first arrived but before long I was more interested in Polynesian dances other than hula. While attending Church College I met my future husband Nelson Ka‘ai whom I married after graduation. We lived in Kaneohe until shortly after our daughter was born and then we moved to Kauaʻi.

On Kaua‘i we became active with the Kaumualiʻi Civic Club and eventually they asked me to dance at club functions. Prior to that time my husband did not approve of me dancing in public but he encouraged me to dance and my interest in hula was renewed.

I met Uncle Joe Kahaulilio who had also moved from Honolulu to Kaua‘i and at this time he was already a popular kumu hula. Unlike some teachers who did not seem to care whether the hula was learned correctly, Uncle Joe would tell you the meaning of the song, why you were dancing it, why you were doing each motion, and he would watch everything you did to be sure it was proper. I studied under Uncle Joe until he moved to California and I consider him the greatest influence in my career.

I began to teach under Hoakalei Kamauʻu and the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts in the 1970s. She trained us and then sent us out into the different districts of Kauaʻi to teach. I wanted people to see the way Hawaiians told their stories, and that it was all in the hula.