John Pi‘ilani Watkins

John Pi‘ilani Watkins
The late John Piilani Watkins, born in ‘Ewa, O‘ahu in the area which today is Honolulu Airport, became interested in the hula at the age of ten and was trained by his grandmother Lokalia Kaahumanu Ho‘oulu. He was the star of the Germaine Polynesian Luau Show until his death in 1983.


When I was starting out in the hula and for a long time after, it was not considered right for a man to be teaching the hula. People would talk and there was a time early in my career when I wanted to leave the hula. But I always felt that this was a gift from my ‘ohana and as long as I was unmarried I would carry this talent. This is the reason I’ve remained single till today. I think it was the music that brought me into the dance. When I heard the chants I immediately felt it was something that I should learn because it was so beautiful. Grandma knew she was getting old and the tradition in our family was to pass the knowledge on before you die. My grandmother was the keeper of the keys for Luka the Queen, and she interpreted dreams and signs for the Queen. She had a book filled with history and chants and traditions that was supposed to go to me at her death. She had tried passing it on to the whole family but nobody wanted it so I was her last chance.

I lived with my grandmother for awhile and I remember very vividly another lady coming to visit my grandmother and together the two of them would chant. Everyday they would wear their hair up but when they chanted they would let their hair down and it would fall all over their bodies. My grandmother wanted me to learn kahiko because I was the next in line to be the caretaker of Kamehameha’s body. I was supposed to learn the chant that would allow me to cross the waters and then I would have to rub his body with oils.

I was very young at the time and I really didn’t understand the kahiko but my grandmother told me not to worry because it would all come to me when it was time. She said that when she was living she couldn’t do anything for me but when she left that’s when I would know. But my mother was a very strong Christian and after awhile she grew afraid for me and forced my grandmother to stop the lessons.

From 1951-53 I joined the Army and served in Korea and during that time my grandmother passed away and the book was lost with her. After her death I began to have dreams. Everything came to me in dreams. I would be standing on a hill looking down at a great pond of water, tossing tl leaves into it. I would see dances, I would see costumes, and I would see symbols. Even till today I still have these dreams.

At the age of sixteen, I was connected with the Salvation Army and we would travel and deliver coffee. After awhile people started asking for entertainment so I started training dancers at a family home in Damon Tract and at my grandmother’s home in Nānākuli. I got together a few people and we would put together a show of hula ‘auwana. When I graduated from Farrington High School I went on a vacation to Hana. Hana had been the birthplace of my father who died when I was seven and that was the start of my composing and my popularity as a songwriter. I got a job, training the dancers at the Hotel Hana and I ended up staying there for seven years.

As the kumu hula of the John Pi‘ilani Watkins Polynesian Dance Studio, I think the best thing I’ve ever done is that I’ve taken kids off the street who were into drugs and trained them in the hula and other Polynesian dances. Many of them are all over the world working now and doing well.

When I saw the kahiko being danced at the Merrie Monarch Festival I felt like I had missed something in my life and I wanted to learn more. I think what the young people of today are doing is terrific but the kumu should go back and do research on the history of each dance so they can stay within the guidelines of the dance.

I believe we have to find a common ground between teaching the children for purely the sake of education, and training the student to be a professional Polynesian dancer who can make a living when he goes off into the world. The children have to be sent off with something more than just memories of a competition or a class.