Mililani Allen began her teaching career in 1973 with the founding of Hālau Hula O Mililani in Waianae, 0‘ahu. In the last ten years, the most significant change perpetuated upon the hula has been an increase of respect, scholarship, and interest. People have recognized it as a classical art expression of the Hawaiian culture. However, the style of dancing has changed because the greater emphasis today is on the dance itself rather than the language and poetry. I don’t look upon this as negative. There are so many of us that lack the fluency of the language and the understanding of the poetry. So the emphasis is now on the dance form rather than the verbiage of the mele. It is just another transition that has happened. Exposed to hula at the age of six by my mother, I began my formal training under Aunty Mā‘iki Aiu Lake at the age of eleven. The lessons continued for three years until I entered high school and then they were interrupted by piano lessons then college. It was during my college years that my appreciation for the hula was nurtured and revitalized. Realizing my lack of knowledge in the art form contributed to my learning process and eventually it brought me back into the hālau after graduation from college. I enrolled in Aunty Mā‘iki’s hula kahiko class and she emphasized the mechanics of the hula, the value of research, and written documentation of everything we learned. Her method to convey this knowledge of our culture was as much an oral presentation (“talk story”) as it was classroom-oriented. It was a positive reinforcement method and we were trained with succinctness. Aunty Mā‘iki would first write the chants on a chalkboard and she would chant it for us. We were instructed to repeat the chant then allowed to write it in our notebooks. She was very positive in her approach. This was the most distinctive aspect of her teaching style and she remains a great influence on me today. After my ‘ūniki with Aunty Mā‘iki, I studied with Aunty Edith Kanaka‘ole in workshops and Hawaiiana classes. Her teaching style was similar to Aunty Mā‘iki’s in that there was a tremendous giving atmosphere to Aunty Edith. It made me feel at ease and it allowed me the strength to give everything of myself. A lot of my style of dancing has been directly influenced by Aunty Edith so my hula kahiko is very simple. I’ve tried to keep in mind that the dancer is only the embellishment of the mele. In 1973 I was now a wife and mother and my teaching career as a kumu hula became a reality. Before my sons were born I had been with the Department of Education, and hula teaching became the solution at the time to combine the continuation of my immersion into the Hawaiian culture and the raising of my children. So far the reward and sacrifices have a way of balancing out. The formation of an ‘ohana demands sacrifice but it gives its own rewards. I think the most important service offered by my teaching has been the creation of a place for people, mostly women, to belong to apart from their daily routine and family. However, the privacy of my family is part of the sacrifice of being a kumu hula. The hālau members become part of your family and my time is shared with everyone. While this has been especially tough on my family, it has made my children stronger and better people. The hula kahiko has changed but I think it is best to keep an open mind about these changes. My advice to my students is don’t put down someone because you think you know it all. You have to keep an open mind about people who want to study hula and about other members of other hālau. In the hula there are so many different styles of dancing, so many lines of knowledge, who’s to say what is right or wrong? We don’t know. I don’t think there was ever one right or wrong. In retrospect I don’t think there was ever one style of dancing in the hula. Hopefully, we will continue to develop many more.
Michael Kekaimoku Toshi Yoshikawa
Raised in California, “Moku” Yoshikawa moved to Hawaiʻi in 1986 and opened Kapōmākolekapuakāne in 1991. I was always interested in Hawai‘i while I was growing up in Carson, California because of the influences of my mother Mary Yoshikawa. It was she who planted the seed of Hawai‘i and its culture within the depths of my soul. I remember the family preparing for our annual family lū‘au to which all of the relatives were invited. Everything from the dining to the living room were stacked and piled into the bedrooms. We constructed low lying tables that one actually had to sit on the floor in order to eat. My mother would then decorate the table tops with ferns from the yard and mounds of fruit. Whenever we prepared for this lū‘au, I knew that the food was going to be delicious. Such delicacies like laulau, poi, lomi salmon, and raw fish. My mother played Hawaiian music and would mimic the hula for entertainment. Influences such as these transferred over into my school work. All book reports or art projects always carried a Hawaiian theme. Soon I became known as the little Hawaiian boy to all my friends. Through childhood I developed a strong sense of Hawaiian identity as well as a pride for my culture. My younger sister Karen was learning hula from Sissy Kaio and I would continually nag my mother to ask if she had a class for teenagers. Through my persistence Sissy opened a class for my two cousins and myself. Thus my training in hula began at the age of fourteen. Sissy provided me with a firm foundation of the hula and its basic fundamentals. Being ha‘aha‘a was always adhered to as well as enjoying the hula. With it came a definite sense of spirituality and within time, Hawai‘i, its people, and culture became a passion. I especially became interested in oli or chanting, something very foreign to a young man in California. I had no formal training in the art of oli. It all began one summer when again, my mother returned home from Hawaiʻi. With her she brought LP records of chanters such as Edith Kanaka'ole and her daughters Nalani and Pualani, Kalia'i Topolinski, Keli'i Tau‘a, and Mililani Allen. Also a record of our kupuna entitled “Na Leo Ka Wa Kahiko." I would listen to these recordings wholeheartedly day after day; my ear glued to the stereo. I would chant and enunciate with the text that were graciously provided. I am thankful for these recordings because they were my beginning. Since I have moved to Hawaiʻi, I have studied briefly with Kalani Akana and I have always been supported by Uncle George Nā'ope of Hawai'i who came to California to give hula workshops. In time I was appointed to alaka‘i of the men’s class and then became ho‘opa‘a because of my desire to chant. I was only eighteen. Experience would come in the form of trial and error, trusting the instinct within my na‘au. The men’s class became my responsibility to which Sissy herself would come watch and listen. She encouraged me to choreograph a mele or we would create in tandem. It was a relationship that lasted for a total of eight years. To this very day I still return to California and share what I have learned with Sissy and her hālau, an act that was bestowed upon me so freely and lovingly. We experienced many parties, shows, and competitions together as kumu and haumāna but my appetite to learn more about hula was voracious. In the summer of 1986 I moved to Hawai‘i and after settling in, an invitation came to join The Gentlemen of Maluikeao under the guidance of Palani Kahala. Thus began my training with Palani after receiving my blessings from Sissy to further my hula career. Palani refined me. Being a very creative person, he always had a new idea or concept to execute. He challenged himself to different tangents in hula. A very contemporary style based on a strong knowledge of traditional values. Costuming was always impeccable and precise. He stressed the importance of learning the language and opened my sense of creativity, smoothing out all my rough edges. You will always see traces of Palani’s teaching within my choreographies as I mix his with mine. I was training in ho‘opa‘a class when Palani became ill and so classes had to be postponed until he was in better health. Unfortunately we were unable to continue because of his untimely death. Prior to his passing Palani gathered four of his haumāna, Leimomi Cruz, Pomaika‘i Gaui, Ka‘ilipūnohu Canopin, and myself and gave us his blessings to begin our own halau. Later he sat me down in private, talking and instilling in me that the journey and responsibility that I would be undertaking is of great importance and that one day I would be a great hula teacher. It was a special moment for me and I knew it was his way of telling me that he would always be by my side. I will always remember him. Palani was the one who gave me the name of my hālau. One day he came over to my apartment and said he had been dreaming of this Hawaiian name for three nights straight. He then said it was meant for me. The name that was given, Ka-pōmākole-kapu-a-kāne, means, “The Sacred Night Rainbow of Kāne. I gladly accepted his gift and he advised me to have the name blessed. This was done by my dear friend Richard Kamanu of Kaua‘i. Within the last two years I have had the pleasure of being reunited with the Hawaiian side of the family. It was a childhood dream come true because I knew my talents just didnʻt come from nowhere. I knew that the knowledge of my Hawaiian ancestry would be revealed to me when the time was right. Upon meeting and spending time with them, I have found that there were and still are kumu hula within the family line and that hula and music are part of their everyday lives. Knowing this I have found the root from which I grow and it has given me just that much more mana to continue on. To my ‘ohana in Kohala and here on O'ahu, it has been my pleasure and honor to finally have placement with my kupuna. My greatest accomplishments are not measured by physical things such as trophies and plaques but of growth within spirit and knowledge. If there was one thing that I could say to my haumāna and other kumu and their hālau, it would be “Kulia i ka nu‘u!” (Strive to reach the highest!) 116 Michael Kekaimoku Toshi Yoshikawawa
Michael Ka‘ilipūnohu Canopin
Michael Canopin, kumu hula of Hālau Kealakapawa, has been teaching hula on O‘ahu since 1987. In 1982 I began my hula training with kumu hula Chinky Māhoe of Hālau Kawaiʻulā. We went through some rigorous training, learning the basic steps. I found Chinky’s style to be ‘aihaʻa. We danced low to the ground with bent knees. Chinky stressed discipline and I liked that because it was a challenge. After a few months Chinky asked me if I would like to be a part of his competition group. So I trained and ended up dancing in the 1983 Merrie Monarch Hula Festival. What an experience! My second teacher was Palani Kaliala, kumu hula of The Gentlemen of Maluikeao and The Ladies of Kahanākealoha. His classes were held at the Kamehameha Schools dance studio. I really enjoyed when he explained the background of each mele and I was fascinated with his method of teaching. He had a very systematic way of explaining things, especially to dancers who were new to the hula. He would stress the importance of the basics starting with the foundation which was your feet. His style wasn’t as ‘aiha‘a as Chinky's but it demanded a lot of endurance. As part of the class curriculum we were trained to research chants and mele of the hula. It was extremely important to Palani that we have a thorough understanding of the material we were dancing to, so it was our homework to go out and research. Palani also encouraged us to enroll in his “papa ʻōlapa. ” This class offered us the opportunity to further our knowledge through research projects such as the study of the famous birthplace of our aliʻi Kūkaniloko; Laka, the patron god/goddess of the hula; Pele and her siblings; the kuahu and plants related to the hula; types of chants appropriate for dancing, and hula protocol. These were a few of the many projects included in the “papa ʻōlapa. I completed the training and received a personal oli aloha, the symbol of the red lehua blossom, and a certification of ‘ōlapa from my kumu. For a short period in 1988 I had the opportunity to study hula under the direction of kumu hula Robert Uluwehi Cazimero of Hālau Na Kamalei. I was fortunate to learn some traditional hula, chants, and wonderful choral singing. It was fabulous!! His style was more of a relaxed, upright style. In late 1989 I returned to Palani Kaliala. He selected me to train as hoʻopaʻa. Through this training I learned various chant styles, composition, choreography, and die proper use of the ipu heke. Palani offered my hula brother and me the opportunity to train the students of Pearl City High School to enter the annual Hawaiʻi Secondary Schools Hula Kahiko Competition. It was his way of affording us the hands-on experience in learning how to teach the hula. Later I taught hula at Damien High School and Saint Francis High School. Through these experiences I gained the desire and interest to pursue teaching. It was through Palani’s blessing that l became a kumu. He stressed the importance and the responsibility of t he title of kumu hula. He gave me the right to teach at a lnPelepo ceremony. In 1990 before his passing Palani gave me his blessing to begin Kealakapawa. This inoa given to me by Palani literally translates as “the path of dawn” and poetically it means “the trail of the morning star.” I encourage my students to study and continue to learn. Emphasis is put on the importance of the language, culture, and Hawaiian values. But the thing that I stress most, especially in the study of hula, is to learn the language. There’s much more to a chant than merely looking at the written translation. I will sometimes compose a chant to express my feelings. If I m inspired by a certain place or by a certain event, I will put it down on paper to commemorate that particular occasion. I'll also write if I need a special chant instead of using a standard hula kaʻi and ho‘i. I don’t want to say that all kumu should compose however if they put their thoughts in writing, it would be a record of their time in hula. When it conies to hālau we all know our place; we are an extended family. We stand firmly by our motto: “Mai ka lōkahi, mai ka ikaika” (from unity, comes strength), and as a kumu I need to remember that my students come because of their interest in learning hula. Since 1990 we’ve been active in participating in various hula events such as the Prince Lot Hula Festival, the King Kamehameha Hula & Chant Competition, and the Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition. In recent years we have entered the King Kalākaua Hula Competition in Kona and the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival in Hilo. Hula competitions serve as a time for the dancers to strengthen themselves. As we train together and work at researching the materials we are performing, we gain that special sense of family awareness. At competition we present all of this. We need to adhere to the guidelines set for us by our kupuna. Each kumu should take interest in learning the ancient dances from our hula masters and keep it the way it was taught. I would like to see a stronger involvement in keeping the hula traditional. There’s a time and a place for being creative. What concerns me is what will be left for the younger people and generations to follow if our creative license gets the best of us? “When it comes to hālau we all know our place; we are an extended family. ” 24 Michael Ka‘ilipunohu Canopin
Mary Abigail Kawena‘ulaokalanihi‘iakaikapoliopelekawahine‘aihonua Wiggin Pukū‘i
Mary Abigail Kawena‘ulaokalanihi‘iakaikapoliopelekawahineʻaihonua Wiggin Pūku‘i Mary Pūkuʻi, a living treasure of Hawaii, has published many books illuminating the Hawaiian culture. Among them is the Hawaiian Dictionary which she completed in 1957 with Dr. Samuel Elbert. Mentor of hula exponents such as the late ‘lolani Luahine and Lokalia Montgomery, she is widely recognized as the premier resource of the Hawaiian culture. Because of health problems, Mrs. Pūku‘i consented to having her daughter, Mrs. Pat Bacon, share her story with everyone. Kawena was born and raised in Ka‘u and her grandmother was a court dancer for Queen Emma so her mother and aunties danced and she was surrounded by it as she grew up. Her teachers ranged from her immediate relatives to Emma Fern, Keahi Luahine and her cousin Kapua, and Joseph ʻĪlālāʻole. Kawena’s father was from Salem, Massachusetts. She has always been grateful to him for allowing her to be raised Hawaiian by her grandmother. At the same time he would constantly entertain and educate her with stories of Salem and all of New England. In the days of her childhood, Hawaiian culture was suppressed and children were raised in the Western culture. My kahu hānai was one-half Haole and one-half Hawaiian, and was equally proud of each heritage. Today the young people look upon their Hawaiianess as something that has to be emphasized and accentuated. In my mother’s era the Hawaiian identity was something that was understood and even taken for granted. She always knew she was Hawaiian. Her whole life was centered on the preservation of the traditions of the Hawaiian culture. I think that was her motivation for learning the dance. She was always trying to save this and save that by telling the family don’t let that get lost. Her mind worked that way. People came up to her frequently because she was fluent in the language and asked her to do a lot of choreography and that’s how she began to teach. She began to teach in the early Twenties. By this time she had moved to Honolulu. My mother had a very inquiring mind and the benefit of that was it pushed her to get to the root of the traditions. She graduated traditionally with Keahi Luahine and Joseph ʻĪlālāʻole, and their influence on her was that they made her aware of the responsibility of teaching and dancing the hula. If she taught a dance to someone she wanted to see it done properly. She wanted to see the children carry on the culture. Kawena was a stickler for keeping the hula kahiko the way it was taught to her by her kumu. She was not one to rechoreograph a mele or a dance. If she wanted to create she would compose and choreograph a new mele and dance using the basic motions that had been taught to her by her kumu. She could see that Hawai‘i was changing quickly and she wanted her grandchildren and the young people of Hawai‘i to have a record of what once was. Her advice to me always was to stop, look, and listen. She was always telling me to take my time and not be impatient. Kawena was always writing and scribbling notes wherever she was, whatever she was doing, on whatever she could get her hands on. She used mostly four by six cards but I don’t dare throw out anything because I have found notes on things as obscure as the inside flap of an envelope. My mother felt that the next generation had to have some kind of record of the past so that the Hawai‘i that had been wouldn’t be entirely lost. She was always saying that she must write this down, there must be a record. She was always encouraging young people like Mā‘iki Aiu Lake and John Topolinski to read and write down everything in regards to Hawaiian culture because if one depends upon their memory, in time it will fade.
Marilyn Leimomi Ho Marilyn Leimomi Ho resides in Kuliouou, Oʻahu and currently works for the United States Air Force. She is married to Harry A. Ho, Jr. and teaches in conjunction with her hula sister Jan Yoneda. One thing which Aunty Edith Kanaka‘ole said which has stayed with me is that we are all individuals and when we chant “Kawika” we all sound different even though there is a standard chant style to “Kawika”. And that is all right. I began my training in hula at the age of seven with Aunty Alice Namakelua through the Department of Parks and Recreation program. Classes were held at the Royal School, and Aunty Alice provided me with my basic foundation in the hula. In her method of teaching, students did not use paper and pencil to make notes but only followed Aunty Alice’s verbal instructions and committed movements to memory. At age thirteen 1 moved to Guam where I studied the hula under Mrs. Lillian Aquai. Her training primarily included modern hulas and the use of hula implements. Mrs. Aquai’s hula movements were a little different from those of Aunty Alice’s but her students also were asked to learn totally from memory. After my training with Mrs. Aquai I went on to Edith McKinzie who I still continue to study under and who I suppose is my greatest inspiration. I consider her not only my teacher but a friend. I was trained in both modern and traditional hula along with other Polynesian dances. Aunty Edie had me as a teenager so she would get up and physically show us steps and motions, and she would provide us with written instructions on movement and expression. After graduating from Mrs. McKinzie at eighteen, my family returned to Honolulu. Shortly thereafter I joined the Hālau Hula O Mā‘iki where I studied under Mā‘iki Aiu Lake for the next four years. With Aunty Mā‘iki, she wasn’t satisfied that you just learned the dance; you had to know the meaning of the dance and that meant hours of research. Aunty Mā‘iki could talk to people on their own levels and therefore they conveyed the feeling she wanted when they danced. She gave you a special feeling for every subject you danced. My last two formal teachers were Hoakalei Kamauu and Pele Pūku‘i Suganuma. Hoakalei was teaching through the Model Cities Program and after I gained the consent of Aunty Mā‘iki, I began to train under her. Hoakalei taught me new hula movements, chant styles, meanings of chants, and the use of the pahu and the ipu. She used the old style of training which asked the student to watch, listen, then imitate repeatedly until the dance was executed correctly. Hoakalei was the first kumu to start performing the deep kahiko chants and that’s why I credit her with the great revival of hula kahiko. With the consent of Aunty Hoakalei I began to train under Pele Pūku‘i Suganuma and she became like a mother to me. Aunty Pele was always strict with those that she cared for. I was always in the habit of putting my hands behind my back but in the Hawaiian culture that means that you are ho‘okano, so I was always getting punished because I didn’t know any better. She couldn’t understand why a lot of people asked questions that she thought were so obvious. She tooks things for granted because she was brought up in a Hawaiian atmosphere. She was a woman of her own and very selective of who she opened up to. I began to teach in the early Seventies as an apprentice teacher under Aunty Hoakalei. I worked through the Model Cities Program and the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. I went on to work with my hula sister Jan Kahoku Yoneda in teaching students of Moanalua High School and we eventually formed a hālau which was named Pohai Na Pūa O Laka, by Edith Kanakaʻole. It’s hard to get the elders of the Hawaiian community to share their knowledge because some students use the knowledge out of context. The dance has become a very modernistic expression and its appeal is to a young modern audience. Most students still exhibit a great deal of respect for the hula and to their kumu but with the influx of all the different races into Hawai‘i, the kahiko is not purely Hawaiian anymore. I see teachers like Frank Hewett and Bobby Cazimero having the most impact on young people and that will fashion the kahiko of tomorrow.
Margaret Kilauano Aipoalani
Margaret Kilauano ʻAipōalani Margaret ʻAipōalani is an employee of Kekaha Elementary School and has taught hula on Kauaʻi for over twenty years. The one thing that my mother did for me was to teach the hula without any kapu. I think she knew my generation couldn't handle it and she didnʻt want me getting hurt. She realized that the hula kapu was of her time and she wanted to put it away. Kalalau was the original village where the Hawaiians first started out from. Some Hawaiians went out to Haena. Others came out of the village and ended up on this side of the island. I was born in Kekaha and became interested in the hula when I was a young girl at age eight. I received ʻōlapa training as well as ʻauwana. Kahiko is a new word for what I was taught to be ʻōlapa. I was trained by my mother Kawehiwa Kaholoiki who was taught by her father. Tūtū Kaholoiki was a hula instructor in Kalalau where the hula is believed to originate from. The people of this village were the source of much of our Hawaiian culture. When I was young I was not really interested in what my mother was passing down to me. She would concentrate on the paʻi and the oli of the mele, and then she would rise and dance as another woman would paʻi. Afterwards she would explain the manaʻo of the chant through stories that had been passed down to her through her father. Because of the rituals I did not ʻūniki, but I was asked by some high school kids to help them and that's how I began to teach. I try to teach my students that hula ʻōlapa is a tremendously strict form. The movement of your feet and body are within strict boundaries, and everything is dictated by the paʻi of the mele. To me ʻōlapa is the chants and dance motions handed down from generation to generation. I can't revise or modernize my definition. I'm set with it and I have to stay the way I am. The ʻōlapa of today is a beautiful, theatrical show and it's fantastic what's going on but I wouldn't like to see the ʻōlapa of the future.
Māpuana deSilva Māpuana deSilva established Hālau Mōhala ‘Ilima in 1976 which is currently situated in Kailua, O‘ahu. I am learning to hold true to the spirit of what my teacher gave me. I think now that this spirit comes in two parts. First, it is my duty to respect and preserve the traditional dances. If I inherit a holokū from my grandmother I don’t chop it into a mini-skirt just because fashions have changed. The same is true for the chants and hula that have been given to me. They are priceless gifts; I shouldn’t be so presumptuous as to fiddle with them just to keep up with what is fashionable. Secondly, it is also my duty to create. I am a keeper of the record of my own time and of my own place. With my husband Kihei, I create mele hula for my family, my dancers and my Kailua home. We have tried to re-create the chant and dance tradition of Kailua which for several generations has largely been hidden in books and Hawaiian language newspapers. Did you know that Kawainui Marsh was once a fishpond and before that a lagoon? Did you know that Hawaiians have lived on its banks for 1500 years and that Kailua was once immeasurably wealthy and an ancient center for the arts? It’s my duty and pleasure to revive the chants which speak of those things, and to create new mele that remind us of what was, describe what is, and ask of what will be. So you see I’m learning that I have two roles. I’ve tried to keep and honor what was passed on to me, and I’ve worked hard to build through creation and recreation, a tradition of my own. It was after I graduated from college and returned to Hawai‘i that I began taking hula in a serious way. I had been taught hula ‘auwana by my mother as I was growing up but in 1972 I was introduced to Aunty Mā‘iki Aiu Lake and I immediately felt that she was the kumu I wanted to learn the hula from in a deeper way. I started my training that January and I found Aunty Mā‘iki to be a wonderful teacher. She loves the hula so much and she conveys this love to her students. Aunty Mā‘iki made us want to feel and understand the dance and not just copy her movements. She explained the words and stories of the mele and she got me excited about dances that I didn’t really care for. Aunty Mā‘iki was very generous with her knowledge but she didn’t restrict us. She gave me my foundation in the hula, a foundation that I keep and respect, but she gave us the freedom to go out and create new chants and dances. My ‘ūniki in 1975 was very special because Aunty made the graduation process so demanding. We were disciplined and tested because she wanted us to have strong values and beliefs in the hula and in our lives. She wanted us to find out for ourselves if we really wanted to accept the responsibility of becoming kumu hula. Through the encouragement of my mother and family, I began to teach in Kailua in 1976. I wanted people to understand our culture in the same way that it was presented to me by Aunty Mā‘iki. Hula is one of the few things that you can study in the Hawaiian culture that teaches you every other aspect of Hawaiian life. There is a spiritual strength in hula that I wanted other people to experience because it can in turn strengthen their own lives. There are certain dances like “Kaulilua”, “A Ko‘olau Au”, and “Au‘aia” that are not for everybody. I hold them back because I think of them as ‘ūniki dances. They are the oldest dances that have been shared with me and they have been passed down from generation to generation. These dances are the foundation of my hālau and my training and I will never change the way I was taught them. To create in hula you have to do your homework and open your heart. I think that there are boundaries to creativity and they are based on common sense. If you’re going to create a traditional hula you shouldn’t wind up with a square dance. You have to know your text, you have to feel the magic of the language and you have to be well-versed in hula’s traditional vocabulary of motions. Only then can you conscientiously experiment and innovate. Only then can you explore the art without violating it.
Nā Kumu Hula Mae Kamāmalu Klein - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 60
Kamāmalu Klein began teaching in 1984 in her home in Kāne‘ohe. In 1992 the name of her hālau, Kūkalehuaikaʻohu, came to her in a dream. I look at hula in a very traditional way, embracing our Hawaiian culture and my heritage. I believe that the kumu hula of today need to express their creativity in a modern setting. I also believe that they need to remember and respect the past even though they may lack the understanding of Hawaiian thought patterns, because without tradition there is no strong foundation. When a kumu begins to alter the mele or hula movements, the kumu begins to lose what was once part of a tradition. I began hula with Mā‘iki Aiu Lake at age twenty-five when I was in search of a hula school for my three daughters so that they could learn not only the dance but also a part of their Hawaiian culture. This was the beginning of my love affair with hula and an association with Mā‘iki which lasted twenty-three years. To belong to this hālau, there was a required discipline. Mā‘iki had a method of teaching her ‘auana classes called “Descriptive or Interpretive hula” that had to do with all of these senses: everything you see, feel, taste, touch, and smell. She knew how to bring hula to life. I left my teacher in 1970 for a rest but on the urging of a friend found myself with Hoakalei Kamau‘u’s hālau. This would be of short term for Hoakalei told me two years later that I had to return to assist my teacher with the graduate ‘Ōlapa/Ho‘opa‘a of 1972. In the Sixties no one questioned the kumu hula; you just obeyed and did as you were told. I returned to Mā‘iki in 1973 and remained with my kumu until her passing in 1984. I was told by Mā‘iki to be a sponge and to absorb all that she had to share which included among other things, respect for my elders, attitude, programming, costuming, and the weaving of leis. I became her first kokua kumu in 1973 after receiving my status as kumu. During this interim I learned the three rituals for hula ‘ūniki: the Hu‘elepo, the Midnight, and the ‘Ailolo Ceremonies. I have performed these rituals for my students respectively as they graduated from 1985 through 1994. I teach hula in my home in Kāne‘ohe, the site chosen by my kumu hula. My mission in hula has been accomplished and I have fulfilled the promise made to Mā‘iki a few days before her passing, that I would open my school and pass on her tradition. I believe that the hula kahiko is the only way to reflect on our kupuna and that the “hula renaissance” we are still experiencing is a rediscovery of those deep roots. Without traditional ways we have no foundation for the hula kahiko, therefore a kumu must work hard at preserving what was handed down from one generation to another. This is the legacy that I leave: Kū Kalehuaika‘ohu Kū, Kū Uluwehikalikolehuaikauanoe Kū, Kū Ka No‘eau Kū, Kū Kamaluolehua Kū, Kū Kamamolikolehua Kū Kū Kalehuakiekieikaʻiu Kū, Kū Kalehua‘apapaneoka‘au Kū, Kū Kealaolehua Kū, Kū 60 Mae Kamamalu Klein
Ma‘iki Aiu Lake and Coline Kaualoku Aiu Ferranti
Mā‘iki Aiu Lake Mā’iki Aiu Lake, teacher of the hula for thirty-seven years, is recognized as a mentor for many of Hawaiʻi’s outstanding young kumu hula. As far as my family was concerned the hula was a closed book. I came from a straight- laced, Christian family and most anything Hawaiian was not condoned. But in my family was a grandaunt named Helen Correa and to her the hula was great people accomplishing heroic deeds in everyday life. In the old days pageants were known as tableaus and she would be called upon by churches to organize Hawaiian tableaus because she knew the protocol. My tūtū taught me the mannerisms, the attitude, and the gentleness of the actual dance performance but my first formal teacher was Lokalia Montgomery. As I studied under her I learned that the kahiko could be performed without all the rituals. I didn’t have to be afraid and I didn’t have to compromise my Christian faith. I went to Aunty Lokalia at fifteen and at eighteen I was graduated traditionally as a dancer. In those days nobody carried the title of kumu hula. They were all musicians or composers or performers and when the elders were no longer around some of the teachers would improvise and put their own feelings into the dance. After my ‘ūniki I was trained by Lokalia to be a teacher and by the time I graduated I had started my family. I would dance in between my family life with Pua Almeida, Lena Guerrero, Andy Cummings, and anybody who needed a dancer when they entertained. In 1946 I was asked by my grandaunt to teach the church members at the Blessed Sacrament Church. I was so grateful for the extra money because now I could buy my children the little things besides only saving money for their education. I was still a young teacher feeling my way through classes and I would go home and try to remember the things that I was disappointed with in my education. When I studied with Aunty Lokalia there was no paper or pencil so when I’d come home I’d cry at the table trying to retain all that we had been taught. Then my Tūtū Helen would explain the kaona to me and she would open up a whole new world. The knowledge of the culture became very real and a part of modern everyday living but how many students had a Tūtū Helen waiting at home for them? There would be many questions that would be in my mind and my teachers would tell me they would be answered when the time came. Some things were left sitting in the air and my tūtū told me if it was meant for me it would be explained. It was a totally different way of learning back then because it was a totally different world and I don’t think it would work for the young people of today. Tūtū Kawena P uku‘i told me that we need written instructions these days because we don’t speak the language in our homes. So I had a blackboard put in which upset some of my kumu but I needed to teach vocabulary in order that my young people could understand what was being taught to them. I started putting everything into book form because I wanted them to be able to take notes home and study. I didn’t want them to suffer like I did because if you don’t know how to study, learning becomes only stressful. What I’ve tried to do with my career is standardize the methods of learning the hula and give it structure and credibility. The students must do the paper work or they are expelled, they must pass the monthly tests or they are expelled. I don’t consider myself a master but I’d like to believe the hālau is carrying on something that my elders have left me. Nona Beamer has given a title to the kahiko the young people of today are composing. She calls it contemporary kahiko and I go along with that. Kahiko is a record and reflection of the times it is created in and the kahiko that we look upon as traditional today was contemporary one hundred years ago. I encourage my young people today to compose their kahiko from what they see around them. Today is a part of life and a part of history and in a hundred years it will be considered traditional kahiko. Taken to an extreme there is some kahiko being danced today that is a combination of styles and innovations. We are seeing kahiko today with no history, no tradition, no trace of any original source. It is as if it has arisen from thin air. Sometimes everyone forgets what the hula is all about. But you come back and remember. I’ve forgotten many times what it really means but as you get older you find that it’s real and it’s there. The spirit of the kapuna will always be there. Coline Kaualoku Aiu Ferranti Coline Aiu, the daughter of Mā’iki Aiu Lake, teaches with her mother and resides part of each year in London and Honolulu. I have looked upon my mother’s hālau as a bridge from the modern world to a past world. We have tried to make the hula kahiko accessible to a modern generation. There is a responsibility in passing on the kahiko but the methodology of the study of the hula has to adapt to a new age, a new era, a new generation. My first formal teacher was my mother and the first two things I learned were respect and discipline. Respect for the things that I learned and discipline in myself to make a commitment to learn the hula correctly. You have to be committed to certain goals and not be swayed by popularity and trends. As a child I would help my mother make leis, press costumes and clean the hālau so the hula was something that became second nature to me. I think as you participate you study, so my childhood became an unconscious apprenticeship. I didn’t attend classes regularly until I was in high school and that’s when I began to perform. Other jobs started to come and in order for me to take them I had to attend classes to keep up my knowledge of the songs. In 1974 my mother became ill and I began to teach the teenagers for her because they were wild and energetic. I traditionally graduated as a teacher from my mother in 1972 but I don’t think I realized at that time the difficulty of teaching people. All of these minds are coming to learn from different levels and you have to find a way to communicate the knowledge so that it will be understood by all. Up until the age of fifteen, the students in our hālau must wear a uniform. They have to learn that they are not the teacher, they are coming to the teacher and that there is one mind and one voice to listen to in class. In their first month students are taught basic foot movements, the definitions of a hālau, basic hand motions, basic vocabulary, and on the last week of the month are tested on all of this. If they pass they are introduced to our dance notation system through simple hapa Haole songs and eventually Hawaiian songs. For every song that they learn, a research report must be turned in and the students are tested every month. The first year we translate the songs literally even if it’s in pidgin because pidgin is here to stay. We rotate hapa Haole and Hawaiian songs because too many times people forget the ‘auwana defines the kahiko and vice versa. Throughout all of this the students’ vocabulary is replenished weekly and is relevant to the songs they are learning. A hālau takes a student from ground zero and trains them. The students have to know that they are not just going to a studio but a school that develops the mind, body, and spirit, and that it’s going to take a great amount of patience on their part. All the books, teaching methods, mimeographed information and songs are categorized into four distinct levels of expertise. There is a method that has been developed by Martha Graham on how to study modern dance and that is what my mother and I have tried to do for the hula. Create a modern methodology that is orderly, logical, accessible, and yet loyal to the hula.
Luka Kaleikī Born and raised in Papakōlea, Luka Kaleikī became interested in the hula at the age of eight. She began to teach at a hula studio owned by her sister Louise Kaleikī at the age of fifteen. We Hawaiians have a culture but we don’t protect it. We would rather modernize. That’s why I admire Joseph ʻĪlālā‘ole, Manuel Silva, and Henry Pa. They had an element that you don’t see nowadays. They were very devoted to the hula and not to the audience. I was always on the big side and I was ashamed of that so I never was interested in learning from the kumu hula that were in my family. I think that’s the one thing I regret in my life. My first teacher was Dorothy Ortiz and I was trained in modern hula. She was a friend of my sister Louise and together they had opened a studio in Papakōlea in 1959. When they moved their classes to the old George Nā‘ope studio in Kalihi, my sister asked me to help with the teaching load. My sister had been left a book of hulas and I studied the book like people study to go to school. The classes would come, I would put on the record, and that’s how we would start. My first idol was Joseph Kahaulilio but his classes were few so I learned my basic steps for ancient hula from Manuel Silva. When I turned seventeen, I went to Henry Pa and he became the greatest influence on my hula. Henry’s teachers included Katie Nākaula, Keaka Kanahele, Joseph ‘Īlālā‘ole, Akoni Mika, and Kauluwai Maka Palea. Whenever I needed an ancient number for a big show, I would go to Uncle Henry and in 1962 he graduated me as one of his students. When I was in high school, I was studying to become an opera singer. I took classes at the University of Hawai‘i but I stopped when my sister needed help with her hula studio. Once Istarted teaching I never felt the need to go into anything else. Hula has been my sole support. I simply enjoy the teaching aspect of working with a student and watching that student grow and mature as a person and as a dancer. I think it’s important to take kids who may not be the best dancers and give them the opportunity to dance at big competitions like the Merrie Monarch. The opportunity to travel and to get up on stage and prove they are something is important. I do not consider myself a kumu hula but a hula instructor because I didn’t go through the rituals. My life in the hula has been a gift from God, I took one year of formal training under my sister and she had no teacher, only the book of hula motions that had been left to her.
Nā Kumu Hula Lucy Lee - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 65
Lucy Lee opened her hālau in 1958 where she taught hula and other Polynesian dances until she retired in 1978. She is currently employed by the Hula Supply Center as the costuming consultant. In a family of seven daughters, my mother said one of us had to learn hula. Nobody wanted to go so my mother said I was the one. I was about seven-years-old and I remember going to Tūtū Makaena in Kapahulu. Her daughter helped to teach because Tūtū Makaena’s vision was not one hundred percent perfect. Regardless of her handicap she knew exactly what we were doing. I only had kahiko lessons with her because my dad said that I could not learn hapa haole numbers until I was fourteen. I had many years with her and I remember graduating in the old St. Mark’s Building on Kapahulu Avenue. I went on to Ruby Ahakuelo. A lot of people never heard of her but she was excellent. I danced with her for years. With Aunty Ruby it was important to be on time for the classes and she made sure that we knew what we were doing. When she felt that you were eligible, you would train to ʻūniki. I graduated in the old Civic Auditorium. I was in my middle thirties when I went to Leilani Alania and I remained with her for four years. We didn’t learn much kahiko because she was more into ‘auana. She was well-known for her implement numbers. After two years with her I became her assistant. I taught the numbers that I had learned from her to the class assigned to me. I was inspired by Aunty Lei because she played her ‘ukulele as she taught hula and I decided when I opened my business that I would teach exactly the same way. I got involved with Uncle Henry Pa because he was the hula teacher for the Kamehameha Civic Club. Uncle Henry Pa had a styling where his dancing was a little more sophisticated and a little naughty with the eyes. His motions were really peppy and he had a few of his own fancy little steps. We enjoyed him because he played his ‘ukulele and his singing was excellent. I became a teacher because some of the parents encouraged me to teach and because of Aunty Lei’s inspiration. I did not teach hula kahiko because I felt that there were many good kahiko teachers like Aunty Kauʻi Zuttermeister, Aunty Māʻiki Aiu, Aunty Sally Wood, and the Kaleiki Sisters. They were all super so I concentrated on New Zealand dancing, Tahitian dancing, and my ‘auana. I felt that I needed to become familiar with the Hawaiian songs and to know the meanings. Aunty Alice Keawekāne Garner was my musician and really helped me with the meanings. She would explain the whole song to me. Another person who was very instrumental in telling me what the songs were all about was Aunty Genoa Keawe. Aunty Genoa was the one who hustled business for me. While singing in a Kaimukī restaurant, she would call me to come up. She would say to the audience, “I want you people to know that there is a young teacher in here and she is starting to teach. She is very good so that’s why I had her come with her students to show her teaching ability. She’s going to be our dancer for the night.” When I learned hula, I was always told that whatever your teacher teaches you is correct regardless of what the next student tells you. There are big changes in the hula because there are a lot of steps. But you cannot condemn the teacher because that’s her thought, her mana'o, and that’s what makes her happy. My advice to the new kumu hula is to learn your language and get a good advisor so you have one person to go to. There are many people who are willing to help and share their knowledge. Be positive in what you are teaching. Hula has brought me the greatest friends who I adore and worship today. It makes me feel so good because they recognize what I did for them and they respect and love me.
Lovey Leina‘ala Yau Choy Apana
Lovey Leina‘āla Yau Choy Apana “Aunty Lovey” Apana began to teach on O‘ahu in 1963 and in 1970 opened her studio on Kaua‘i. As I reflect upon my growing- up years I was always involved in school programs that involved Hawaiiana whether it was the May Day program or commemorative honors for King Kamehameha. While still young I worked within the tourist industry and I traveled throughout the world. I entertained on the side but I still felt something missing in my life. There was an incomplete ingredient to “level” the bread of life and happiness. Thus I went to my tūtū lady for advice and discussed my future with her and she encouraged me to teach hula. She said I possessed the gift of laughter and patience and that I should continually teach children. She also said the hula was an integral part of our family many years back and that I had the responsibility to study hard and to try my best to perpetuate the art. I am very grateful to my late tūtū Caroline Apao and my mother Christine Apana who still inspire me today as I dance or teach the hula. I also look to other teachers who were and are part of my life in the Twentieth Century such as Tūtū Roberts, Aunty Kuchie Kuhns, Aunty Sally Wood Nalua‘i, and Aunty Hoakalei Kamau‘u among others. All of these people served as my resources in my Hawaiian studies. There have been tremendous changes in the hula but I cannot downgrade or resist these changes because the Hawai‘i of the past is not the Hawai‘i of today. We have no choice but to grow and adapt to this modern world. What makes me uneasy is that many people today seem to see the production of the dance and not the intrinsic value of the art and the traditions. If someone wants to create in the traditional hula they must use a composition written today in the traditional style and choreograph that. Today young people are going deep into certain facets of the culture and they wish to recreate and relive the ancestral ways of their forefathers. They must have the proper training and preparation or they will be lost because they are modern people trying to go back into an ancient world.
Lorraine Joshua Daniels and Blossom Joshua Kunewa
Lorraine Joshua Daniels Lorraine Daniels, daughter of Rose Joshua, teaches with her mother at the Magic Hula Studio in Waikiki. She has recently returned from coordinating a Polynesian show for the Maunaloa Restaurant in Cancun, Mexico. Because my mother and father were entertainers our life as we were growing up was always filled with music and hula. My mother danced in a hula troupe with Sally Wood Nālua‘i and Helen Fuller, and their dancing inspired me and left a lasting impression on me. We used to have parties on the beach and whenever the music would play I would just get up and dance. I was trained first by my mother but she wanted her children to have a broad education in the hula so my first kumu outside the family was Mrs. Ku‘ulei Clark. I graduated traditionally with Mrs. Clark and then I was taken to Aunty Louise Akeo and then to Mrs. Po‘omaikai who is better known as Hannah Ho. During that time the only hula that was taught was ‘auwana complemented by very simple kahiko lessons. When it came time to ‘ūniki from Mrs. Po‘omaikai we were told to go out into the sea and she would accompany our walk with an oli. My dad was deeply Christian and he refused to let us delve into any kapu hula or kapu chant so I was not allowed to participate in the ‘ūniki ceremony. The last kumu who I formally trained under was Henry Pa who gave me my foundation in ancient hula. He inspired me to better myself as a student and I found him to be a very strict teacher with a great deal of warmth for his haumāna. In the 1930s I began to dance more actively with my father’s group, The Moana Entertainers. We performed abroad, on the Mainland, and at Honolulu showplaces such as the Waikīkī Sands, Lau Yee Chai, and the Princess Theatre. In time people began to approach me and ask if I could teach them and that is how my teaching career began. I taught at my mothers home and I learned that a kumu has to go into teaching with her whole being. You have to discipline yourself and your lifestyle if you expect to keep your health and teach well. My mother has had the greatest influence on me and she continues to be my mentor today. She sent me to various kumu but actually all of them had a similar style of dancing. The traditional hula was always done flat-footed with simple, unadorned hand motions. Many people nowadays seem to prefer a traditional hula that shifts toward Western styles of dancing and this has turned the dance into a series of poses rather than a dance which flows with hula movement. In the end the responsibility of these changes lie with the kumu of today’s new teachers. The dancers and teachers of today are only reflecting the teaching and ideas of their kumu. I consider myself contemporary and traditional at the same time because I allow for creativity within the framework of the ancient hula. I think it’s so important to know the language because it is the key to the Hawaiian culture. If you know the language then you can find out the interpretation of the chant and understand the meaning and logic of what you are dancing about. The language is the key to controlling creativity within the traditional hula framework. Blossom Joshua Kunewa Blossom Kunewa, daughter of Rose and Isaac Kahele Joshua whose Moana Entertainers helped popularize Hawaiian music in the 1930s and '40s, has brought hula to the four corners of the world. During the war we must have played every foxhole on the island from the mountains down to the sea. At Red Hill my father announced that regardless of a plane or gas attack the show would go on, and as we danced we donned our gas masks. The soldiers threw their hats in the air and applauded. Back in the 1930s my dad had a group of his own called the Moana Entertainers. Every weekend Princess Theatre used to have their “Potluck Show” and my father would be called upon to perform. I first performed with my father at age six and was trained right along as I grew up. My mother, who choreographed our hula shows, gave me my foundation in the hula. She trained my sister Lorraine and I in ‘auwana and simple kahiko. At the age of nine, I was enrolled in hula classes under Mrs. Mary Ho for one year and later studied under Tom Hiona at our home for a year and a half. After Tom Hiona I studied under Henry Pa who became a partner in the hula studio with my mother. I acknowledge Tom Hiona and Henry Pa and my mother for my hula kahiko training. I went through a modern ‘ūniki with my mother and Mary Ho, and I began to teach hula in 1956 under my mother. I tried to teach my girls to perform with grace and to keep it as Hawaiian as possible. You have to know precisely what you are doing because in the “real world” you sometimes have to compromise and give the audience what they want. If you don’t know what you’re doing you’re going to lose the Hawaiianess of the dance altogether. Up until World War II most of the jobs available were informal and casual. But when the war came everything changed. Everything was restricted to the military and we would work at the USO (United Service Organization) and go to high school at the same time. My dad got together with the Ah See family and we would entertain at the Little Theatre down at Schofield. It was the hottest place to entertain because it was always filled with generals and the top brass. During the war years military clubs were the big outlets where people performed and entertained. Back then modern hula was popular. People of those times weren’t interested in the past, they were interested in what was new, what was modern. So they had no interest in the traditional. After the war we began to perform in Waikiki. We were featured performers at some of the better known establishments beginning with Elmer Lee’s Waikīkī Tavern, the Waikīkī Lau Yee Chai, and the Hawai‘i Village. We’d put on five, forty- minute shows a night at three different showcases. My mother would be waiting at the stage door with the motor running to shuttle us back and forth. We ended up changing our costumes as we drove, fixing our make-up at stop signs and stoplights. I began teaching hula in 1959 in the Manana Housing in the Pearl City area of O‘ahu. In 1963 my husband, who was in the military at that time, was transferred to a base in Frankfurt, Germany. I accompanied him and continued teaching hula in Germany. I produced a Polynesian show with students enrolled in my classes which toured almost all of Europe. In 19691 returned to Hawai‘i and helped my mother teach in her studio. I also served as a hula teacher for the Department of Education adult education program on O‘ahu. Today I am still with mom’s studio, and I also give private hula instruction. In the last six years there seems to be so many kumu all of a sudden. It’s like a free-for-all. During our time we knew all the kumu and whoever was studying under them. It was unheard of for someone to take a few lessons then rise and call him or herself a kumu hula.
Lola Yolanda Caldito Balubar
Nā Kumu Hula Lola Yolanda Caldito Balubar - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 14
Lola Yolanda Caldito Baluhar Lola Baluhar founded the Hālau Hula ‘O Keola-Aliʻiokekai in 1975. She has taught in her home, the Salvation Army Hall, Central Maui Youth Center and is presently at the Wailuku Industrial Park. My friends knew me as a dancer. During my high school years I danced al local night clubs, hotels, and lūʻau. My dad was a politician and whenever I went to rallies, I was always asked to do a hula. My love for hula lives on and I am proud to carry on the culture through song and dance. My mother’s kumu hula was Elizabeth Lum Ho. Mrs. Lum Ho was also my first kumu hula. She was a Chinese- Hawaiian lady who trained us from the basics in learning the foot steps and making sure we learned the name of each step. If we had a hard time doing the ‘ami, for example, she had us place our hands against the wall, bend our knees, and push our hips making sure we moved only our hips. I remember kneeling down and she would push against one of my thighs with her foot to strengthen the thigh muscles. I also remember she used the pū‘ili to correct us. Just a tap on our hips, elbows, knees or feet to remind us to concentrate on doing our steps correctly. I was very disappointed that after the ‘ūniki, I was unable to return to hula because it was too expensive. Later when I was in the sixth grade, Aunty Becky Ka‘ōpū‘iki taught my sister, Charlene Rodrigues and me with her daughter in her yard in Naska. We learned implement hula, Polynesian dances, hula kahiko, and ‘auana for performances at the local hotels. Although I was only in the seventh grade, Aunty Becky Ka‘ōpū‘iki gave me confidence to be creative in my hula. I was very fortunate to have studied under kumu hula Uncle Johnny Hokoana and Uncle Robert Kalani. Uncle Johnny Hokoana concentrated on hula ‘auana and comical hula. Uncle Robert Kalani taught hula kahiko, implement numbers, and Polynesian dances. My husband suggested I stay home and care for our son and start a dance studio. I put an ad in the local paper and the response was unbelievable! My hālau was originally called Lola Balubar’s Polynesian Dance Studio but was later renamed Hdlau Hula ‘O Keola- Alʻiokekai. I continued learning kahiko from Uncle Robert Kalani so I could teach my students. I also decided to teach Hawaiian Studies through the Department of Education so I could become more familiar with Hawaiian vocabulary and language. In the 1980s I started entering hula competitions on Maui. The first year I entered the Ka‘ahumanu Festival with senior girls and keiki. We entered the ‘auana divisions and placed first. I became interested in hula kahiko when my hālau was invited to participate in the Queen Lili‘uokalani Keiki Hula Competition. That’s when I started creating my own kahiko and tried to put my own tune to the contest chant. Every year I have grown, but there is so much more to learn. I enjoy using my talents and I really love teaching. I feel the aloha from my students when I teach them foot steps, step names, movement of the hips, good posture, head turns, facial expression, interpretation of the hula, expressing feelings of the dance, and memorizing the hula so they will have confidence when performing. I also train the haumāna in personal grooming, costuming, dressing in preparation for a performance, and helping one another use their good judgement and common sense. To have carried on the Hawaiian culture through hula has been very rewarding in so many different ways. Mahalo ke Akua for the guidance. "I enjoy using my talents and I really love teaching. I feel the aloha from my students when I teach them foot steps, step names, movement of the hip...'' 14 Lola Yolanda Caldito Balubar
Nā Kumu Hula Lilinoe Lindsey text from Nānā I Na Loea Hula Vol Two Page 66
Lilinoe Lindsey is the niece of kumu hula Joan Lindsey and currently teaches hula at the Manana Elementary School in Pearl City, 0‘ahu. It was an unspoken law in our family that all the girls went to dance for Aunty. Our families realized the opportunity there was for us by learning hula and hopefully, teaching. So at parties and functions all of the cousins knew how to dance. Aunty Joan Lindsey has been my kumu hula from the age of five- years-old. 1 have been with her all these years and we continue to have a close relationship. We actually teach at the same school with our classes running simultaneously. She is my mentor and we are an ‘ohana- type of halau. Aunty Joan taught me to dance hula at my grandfather’s home where we both lived. Her classes were made up of aunties, cousins, neighbors, and friends. 1 went with her when she started to teach at ka Makua Mau Loa Church in Kalihi and at St. Elizabeth Church in Pearl City. She taught there until I was about twelve-years-old. Then I helped her teach when she opened a halau in ‘Aiea and in Moanalua Shopping Center. So as I grew up, I was always with Aunty Joan. Since she didn’t have children until a few years later, I was pretty much considered her daughter. I was twenty-one when we had an ‘uniki at the Neal Blaisdell Center. We all had to do our kahiko and our "a liana as part of the ‘uniki ritual. Each class had to make their skirts differently and all who ‘uniki were required to have taken hula for at least ten years. As a teenager growing up in the Sixties, every weekend was spent dancing. We would dance on Friday nights, and on Saturdays after hula classes do three shows in the evenings. We went from one church to the next, from one side of the island to the other side. We danced in Waikiki at the Halekulani, Princess Ka'iulani, and Moana Hotels. We did “Hawai‘i Calls” and performed at the International Market Place. This went on for about seven years. You never realize how much you have learned and gained from being a hula dancer until after growing up. I have Aunty’s style of hula which is a basic style with flat- foot and very simple. We are very smooth and graceful and we tend to spend a lot of time developing the dancer’s gracefulness and smooth transition from one motion to the next. It is similar to tai chi where your movement is a flowing style that never stops and one motion leads into the next without much distinction. The kaholo vamp step requires that the heel of the foot be turned forward on the fourth beat. Thus forming a ninety degree angle with the toe of one foot almost meeting the heel of the other foot. The ‘uwehe step is done with a quick forward thrust of the knees and not to the sides. These are a few slight differences in Aunty’s style and execution compared to other kumu. I enjoy kahiko more than I do ‘auana. I always enjoy the rhythm, the tempo, and the sound of the ipu and the pahu. It brings me into the center of hula. I am learning the culture while dancing kahiko. For some reason just the movement itself gives me the feeling of what our culture is all about. The name of my halau is Hālau Ka Pā Nani 'O Lilinoe. The name was given to me by Aunty Joan. Poetically it means, “the beautiful sounds of the rain.” Lilinoe is the fine misty rain and pa stands for the sound. I think it’s important to relate to each child individually rather than just treating them as a mass group. I want each child to know that they are very important to me and their development is important to me. I try to do my very best to help them and I always pray that I will be able to recognize their needs. Aunty has been a great influence in my life. As I grew up, she advised me on what was best for me. I took her suggestions under deep consideration and made my decisions based on what she felt would help me throughout my life. We still go everywhere together. We do shows together and we pretty much help each other out. She influenced me to the point that I knew that hula would always be a big part of my life. And it has.
Liffie Keonaonaoku‘uipooleolani Johansen Pratt
Liffie KeonaonaokuTiipooleolani Johansen Pratt Leolani Pratt has taught the hula in Hawaiʻi for over twenty years and is a retired member of the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation, Hawaiiana Unit. She currently makes her home in Hawaiʻi Kai, O‘ahu. I was born in Kalapana, Puna, Hawai‘i, and was reared in the ways of old Hawai‘i. My mother, a native of Ka‘ū and Puna, was a full-blooded Hawaiian who saw everything through spiritual eyes. She had taught me at a very early age the spiritual aspects of Hawai‘i. We were told that we were the “offspring” of Pele and so we were very special children. My mothers maiden name was Elizabeth Waia‘u Waipā. My dad, from Oslo, Norway, learned the Hawaiian language before English. He brought his “old country” ways along with him because he was very strict with us. We were not allowed to dance or play the ‘ukulele around him. The desire to do these things was always with me but it was unheard of in my family. My mother had allowed me to have hula lessons but this was done in secrecy without my dad’s knowledge. At the age of six, I was taken to my first kumu hula. Her name was Aunty Mary Keahilīhau. Aunty Mary lived right next door to Edith Kanaka‘ole in Keaukaha and they would share the same hulas. After two years with her I went on to Rose Nuhi who also lived in Keaukaha, and I was taught the use of implements as well as more hula kahiko and ‘auwana. After Aunty Rose I moved back to Kalapana and lived with my granduncle Nāpua Kaukini. He, along with my mother, taught me a lot of chants about the land and Pele. At that time, all of the people of Kalapana and Ka‘u were related in some way and like me, they grew up respecting Pele as a grandmother and kupuna figure. Everything about her was beautiful. Later I studied the ‘ohelo dances under kumu hula Victoria Nuhi Wright in Pāhoa. Then I began to travel with my cousin, kumu hula Martha Waipā Ka‘iawe, with whom I had my ‘uniki in a modern ceremony. I studied informally under George Nā‘ope and Kauihealani Brandt, and after graduating from high school and college I moved to Honolulu and continued to dance at nightclubs and hotels. While studying with Aunty Rose Joshua, I related a dream that I had the night before. In this dream I was dancing on a heiau and Pele was dancing toward me with flames shooting from her eyes. Aunty Rose told me to go down to the Ala Wai Clubhouse to see this beautiful lady, Alice Kalāhui because I was the one she was looking for. Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I went. She then hired me to be a hula and ‘ukulele instructor with the Department of Parks and Recreation. I was pretty shocked at what was happening but she instructed me to report to the Kāhala Playground the next day to teach. I had never picked up an ‘ukulele in my life and here I was facing a class with a toy ‘ukulele in my hand and an ‘ukulele chord sheet in front of me. I taught the children C and G7 all day long. Aunty Alice trained me in the proper costuming, the dances of both the ali‘i and the gods and she taught me the different aspects of the culture. Many tears were shed by me because Aunty Alice was a very strict person and she expected perfection. I had never taken the hula seriously before this but with her I learned fast and well. She brought in some of the very best kumu hula to teach us their specialty among them Mary Kawena Pūku‘i. My parents were both pastors in a Hawaiian Christian Church in Keaukaha, Hawai‘i and for years I’ve had a spiritual battle going on within me. I was taught both the old Hawaiian religion and the Christian religion and I’ve tried to come to terms with this dual religion all my life. Today I am a born again Christian and an ordained Evangelist, and I’ve re-dedicated my hālau as a Christian hula hālau. Although I no longer do the chants of our kupuna, my God Almighty has been giving me some beautiful chants and songs for my hālau. The songs and mele are different but the hula is still being perpetuated.
Leinaʻala Kalama Heine Leināʻala Kalama Heine, born and raised in Pālama, O‘ahu, opened her hālau Na Pualei O Likolehua in 1975. She is a featured dancer with the musical group The Brothers Cazimero. Whatever happens from now and hereafter will be looked upon as kahiko in the future. There are those that hang on to the past and there are those who only live in the present. In each case there is no movement because the definitions for each side are very narrow. So it’s stagnant right now. The present and the past have to co-exist with one another if the hula is going to move forward. I don’t think a lot of people who knew me before felt I had the ability or the desire to take on the responsibilities that I have now. I do things today that I never would have done ten years ago. The comic dancer was my role. I was never a straight dancer. I fooled around so much that people wondered about my seriousness. But underneath, the straight dancing was my want. I was a line dancer before I became anything but I could not hold still in a line. I’m one who gets bored fast and I like to make things happen. It was a wonderful feeling to have people laugh with me and at me. It made no difference. Just the fact that people wanted to see more of me was enough. After awhile I started to ask myself where am I going to go from here, so I started to do some straight numbers and people would laugh thinking I was trying to be comical. My interest in hula started when I was enrolled by my mother in classes under Ruby Ahakuelo. I was three years old and Ruby would hold class at the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) right on Fort Street. Back in the early Forties, hula did not have the interest level that it has today so there was no separation between ‘auwana and kahiko. Young kids were enrolled at the YMCA or the Department of Parks and Recreation program. I was then taken to my aunt, Rose Maunakea on Kam IV Road and then to the Alama Sisters (Pua and Lei) with whom I stayed with for quite awhile. At this point I met Joseph Kahaulilio who gave me the incentive for wanting to be something in the hula. In the Forties the hula was not the mainstay of being Hawaiian as it is today so it wasn’t that important to dance the hula. The emphasis at that time was on music and ‘auwana and the teachers were not so concerned about the gestures and steps. It was very relaxed, you just came to learn, picked up an implement, and they taught you a hula. A student just existed in the hula because there was not much knowledge available to students from their kumu. Uncle Joe gave me the incentive to make myself more knowledgeable which led me to Aunty Vickie I‘i Rodrigues. Aunty Mā‘iki Aiu Lake, who is the last kumu I studied under, put all of this together and polished away the rough edges. In 1975 Robert Cazimero asked me to train a few girls for a show, so I began a class made up of fourteen Kamehameha School girls and their friends. Aunty Ma‘iki advised Robert that the boys and girls should be separated and this was how Na Pualei O Likolehua was born. Everyday that I go to the halau, I sit down with my ladies and share my past memories and present experiences so that they can have something to draw from when they dance. Then I have them write up a list of their own experiences because you cannot teach students only on the memories of their kumu. I believe that creativity is important in the traditional hula especially if we expect the young people to be attracted to and have a place in the dance. Uncle Joe and Aunty Vickie always told me that repetitious motions become boring and that no two dances or movements should be alike. When you write a new mele you are writing from the viewpoint of your lifetime; when you lived, when you trained, when you taught. Your boundary is your death and that life span will record and preserve and express your existence. That is exactly what our masters and ancestors did before us and hopefully that’s what will happen with the generations after us. The meles that we write today are going to be the kahiko of the following generations but there has to be limits to creativity as well. Our ancestors have set guidelines for the traditional hula but not everyone follows them. So what we have to work towards is a kahiko that is traditional but also accessible to people who are new to it.
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.
Nā Kumu Hula Leilani Bivera Bond - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 20
Leilani Bond started teaching hula to the children of Kauaʻ i in 1981. Her hālau now includes adult women with classes held in Wailua and Pō‘ipū on Kaua‘i, and in Reno, Nevada. Kauaʻi was such a good place to grow up in. As a child I had many wonderful experiences and met several famous people who came to Kaua‘i because I helped my dad Larry Rivera with his shows at The Coco Palms Resort and in Honolulu. He began working at the Coco Palms in the early 1950s and he composed and performed many songs that have become famous. “Wai‘ale‘ale” became really popular and I remember that we were invited to perform it at The Waikīkī Shell. In those days the tourists came on the ocean liners and my dad frequently sang “Love and Aloha,” which talks about the Lurline sailing away. My sister and I were photographed holding a lei up so that one of the ships could be seen through the middle. That photo became famous. I started taking hula lessons from Aunty Kuʻlei Pūnua when I was three-years-old. I really enjoyed the Hawaiian music, the stories, and the many ho‘olaule‘a we participated in. There were no stressful competitions then; the gatherings of musicians and dancers were a lot of fun. I tried my best to learn as much as I could. I decided that I wanted to teach hula too but I knew I had to work really hard to learn the meanings of the words and the spirit of the dances. After I graduated from high school. I started Hawaiian studies classes at Kaua‘i Community College but soon decided to postpone the rest of my education in order to assist my parents with the shows. I also put on shows of my own for conventions and other hotels and entered some competitions. I began working in guest services at Coco Palms and got to know and learn from Mrs. Grace Guslander, Aunty Sarah Sheldon, and Aunty Sarah Kealamapuana Malina Kaʻilikea about Hawaiian culture and arts. In order to educate tourists about our culture, I did a lot of research on hula and Hawaiian music while I worked in the historical museum at the resort. I taught tourists how to play the ‘ukulele, sew a lei, make a hula skirt, and other Hawaiian arts and crafts. These skills became part of my everyday life and I learned leadership and developed my creativity while making many good friends. When I had my first daughter, I became determined to pass on the Hawaiian culture to my children. I decided that I would do this through hula. So I started holding classes in my home for neighbors and relatives and continued teaching as my family grew. Throughout the years Iʻve learned from several great kumu hula. Aunty Sarah Kealamapuana Malina Ka‘ilikea worked with my father and so she has given me friendship and knowledge over many years. I also acknowledge Uncle George Nā‘ope, Frank Hewett, and Vicky Holt Takamine for their tutelage and continuing friendship, and I have received much from Sarah Sheldon, Pat Nāmaka Bacon, Edith McKinzie, and Pua and Nalani Kanaka‘ole. I received a year of training in hula kahiko from Willie Pulawa who was teaching on Kauaʻi in the early 1980s. His training encouraged me to be creative with kahiko. All these teachers helped me to recognize and realize the traditions of hula. As a kumu I try to teach my haumāna to understand what they are dancing about and how to express the emotions in (lie chants and songs. Because I don’t come from a family that speaks Hawaiian, I’ve worked hard to learn the language and am still learning. Before I create a hula, I study the words and try to list all the meanings I can find. I then try to decide what the writer intended to say. That helps me to create and enjoy the emotions of the hula. Like everyone else I start my students with the basics because (hey need to have that foundation and discipline. Usually kahiko is taught first but because of today’s modern English-speaking environment, l teach the keiki a hapa haole song. That’s how the children learn that the motions, words, and timing all move together. Then (hey learn kahiko and ‘auana and I always explain (lie meanings of the Hawaiian words. As the students get older they learn aspects of Hawaiian arts and crafts. About five years ago some mothers of my students and oilier friends asked me to start a ladies class. Some were in my classes as little girls, others stopped taking hula when they became teenagers and had other interests. The ladies dance with a lot of feeling and try hard (o understand the songs. A new challenge came to me a year ago when Janet Rasmussen of Reno, Nevada asked me to teach hula in her home. I go there every six weeks and these women have really blossomed into good hula dancers. Preparing and participating in competitions take a lot of time and energy. I have wrestled with the idea of competing for profit or prizes and it never really settled in my spirit. I try to tell my haumāna that if we decide to compete, then I challenge them to compete against themselves; to convey in a true spirit of aloha, their sincere affection for their hula sisters. I ask them to practice and exemplify what Hawaiians call ha‘aha‘a and to see competition as a chance to perpetuate our Hawaiian culture. When I see my haumāna understand these concepts, then I feel I’ve succeeded as a kumu hula and no prize can replace the inner peace that I gain. “When I had my first daughter, I became determined to pass on the Hawaiian culture to my children. I decided that I would do this through hula." 20 Leilani Rivera Bond
Leiana Long Woodside Leiana Woodside is the daughter of Ida Pakulani Long of Maui and the sister of Mae Loebenstein and Kāhili Cummings. She is currently affiliated with the Queen Emma Summer Palace in Nuʻuanu, Oʻahu. I was the seventh of seven girls in my family and was born and reared on Maui in an area called Kauahea; the same area which Kahekili used as his practice ground for combat. Our house was situated just below Kahekili’s heiau Hale Ki‘i. My father Henry Keao Long was originally from Kilauea, Kaua‘i, and my mother was Ida Pakulani Ka‘aihue-Kaianui Long. Mama was a Maui girl and in her early years she was a hula student of Kamawa‘e of Maui. Later she became a kumu hula herself. Therefore, I don’t suppose I had a choice about learning the hula. Everyone in the family, brothers and sisters alike, learned the hula under Mamas tutorage. Mama was a very strict kumu hula but I suppose I have yet to meet someone of my vintage or earlier whose kumu hula was not strict. We had to dance with bended knees, elbows up, head turned toward the extended hand, with eyes looking up beyond the fingertips. If our basic hula exercises were not exactly as she taught them then the pū‘ili was the next boss. It came flying so quickly, I used to swear she had the fastest hands on Maui. As children, my sisters and I would dance the hula on the heiau Hale Ki‘i. Tom Hiona lived down the road from us, and I remember seeing him as a young boy dancing the hula on the same heiau. I remember asking my mother about her hula training. I had not yet heard of the book The Unwritten Literature of Hawaiʻi on Maui and she unfolded a story which seemed to me at that time to be embarrassing, strange, and exotic. She mentioned the ‘ailolo ceremony and while I did not see the ritual, I did see her on several occasions, picking at the po‘opua‘a and eating the lolo. She also mentioned the cleansing rituals of bathing in the sea at midnight and returning to the hālau which was an open lanai with coconut leaves for a roof. In the middle of that lānai was a fire pit around which the hula students slept on lau hala mats with their feet towards the fire. She said they were taught that the strength of the hula was in the footwork, and if the feet were strong the rest of the dancer was strong. She told me, ‘Today, you go to a hula hālau and learn the basic steps and hula choreography all together with your kumu hula but in my days we dreamt our hula. When I fell asleep I heard drumming and chanting and in my dreams I’d see myself dancing a whole, new hula, over and over again, all through the night until the crow of the rooster at dawn. I awoke and remembered everything that was shown to me in the dream. The next day at hula class the kumu would pa‘i his ipu, the po‘opua‘a would kāhea and we all danced in unison the same hula that I had dreamt of the night before. If a student appeared unsure of the dance, the kumu knew that the student had gone ‘auana the night before, and that student had to go through a whole cleansing ritual again or was asked to leave the hālau.’ She also said that in her time the prime age for hula dancing was considered between three and twelve-years-old. The children within this age group were reserved for the ancient kapu-kapu or sacred temple dances because they were believed to be clean and pure and therefore dedicated to the gods. The dances of the children beyond this age group were more ‘auana and so their movements were allowed to be more descriptive. For many years I kept these accounts of my mother’s past hidden with mixed feelings. In 19511 went to the Library of Hawai‘i and asked if they had any books on traditional Hawaiian chants and dances, and the librarian handed me The Unwritten Literature of Hawaiʻi. Imagine my surprise when feasting my eyes on this recorded aspect of Hawaii’s history. My whole inside just surged with understanding, pride, and love for my mother. Another memory I have is watching Mama’s hula classes and I was especially fascinated with one of her students. The student’s name was Alice Mahi and she would later become Alice Keawekāne Garner. At the age of five I would walk around the yard and in my dreams I promised myself that one day I was going to be a beautiful hula dancer just like Alice Mahi. But as I grew older my idol became my sister Mae Loebenstein who at that time was dancing at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel with Mama and Daddy Bray. Several times a year she would return to Maui and my mother wanted us to keep abreast of what was happening with the hula in Honolulu; so Mae would hold hula classes everyday during her visit. Back then the Royal Hawaiian Hotel was “the” spot in the Hawaiian Islands where the elite from all over the world met, and because Mae danced there I wanted to learn everything she had to teach us. I tried to emulate every motion she taught to the nth degree. In 1945 I married and moved to Honolulu to live with my sister Mae in Kaimuki. She was a neighbor of Lena Guerrero and it was through Lena that I began to perform. Lena asked me to train with her and when I turned twenty-one I began dancing with her hula group The Waikiki Girls at the Royal. In those days you had to dance in many locations in one night. You might start at the cocktail hour at the Moana Hotel, go to a nine o’clock floor show at the Royal Hawaiian, then go to the eleven o’clock show at Don the Beachcomber’s. In the end we had to change in the car as we drove to each place. When you arrived at the hotel you just grabbed your things and ran from the car onto the stage just in time to the accompaniment of the musical fanfare. Back in the Forties and Fifties the hālaus were called hula troupes and the kumus thought nothing of sharing their haumāna. As a result it was easy for me to study informally under people like Alice Mahi, ‘Iolani Luahine, Joseph Kahaulilio, and Sally Wood Nālua‘i. There were times when we even helped our kumu hula choreograph some of our hula. In 1947 I started my first hula class teaching a group of Punahou School teachers. One of them lived in an apartment across the campus and we met there for classes. I encourage my haumana to create what they feel. Some of the old kumu feel their way is the only way of dancing. They say that traditional motions and dances have been handed down from generation to generation without changes. I don’t believe that’s the way it was done because it doesn’t explain the great variety we have in our chants and dances. If everything had been passed down without change our dance would be so monotonous. Our ancestors must have created on their own or we wouldn’t have such beauty in the culture. Today the hula is being learned by people of all races, some with more interest than the Hawaiians themselves, and the wonderful thing about it is that the hula has helped these other races understand the Hawaiian a little more socially and culturally. We have lost a lot but we still have a lot left. If the kupuna were here today surely they would be writing chants and perhaps choreographing dances about things that inspire them in today’s world. May this same inspiration and tradition be allowed to continue in our young people of today.
Leialoha Amina and Nani Lim Yap
Nā Kumu Hula Leialoha Amina and Nani Lim Yap - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 13
Leialoha Amina Leialoha Amina resides on O‘ahu and travels to the Big Island to instruct at the hālau with her sister Nani Lim Yap. My first kumu hula was my mother Mary Ami Neula Lim. It was on our veranda that Nani and I first got our introduction to hula. She showed us various hula numbers but the one that I fondly remember was a hula noho with one pūʻili. To watch my mother sway to and fro, to hear the rhythm of the pūʻili, and the melodic chanting was inspiring. I desperately wanted to learn. The first day with Mother was fantastic. But in the days thereafter she introduced the concept of discipline by whacking us with a bamboo when we were not doing the steps or hand motions the way we should. I know I was in shock the first time she hit me on my leg. I cried because it stung! Eventually Mom and Dad decided to send us to our Aunt Margaret Moku Tahlit. She had a hula studio in Kohala and at times would need to use the gym to teach because she had between thirty to forty students. Her forte was not hula kahiko so she encouraged her students to learn from other instructors. Her first recommendation was to take a six- week hula kahiko workshop from ʻIolani Luahine. Attending that workshop had such a profound effect on me and has been a major contribution to the form of hula you see in our hālau. The workshop began by Auntie ‘Iolani introducing herself. She then prepared to dance the first number we would learn, “Aia Lā ‘O Pele.” She stood there with a searching look in her eyes as if trying to see something. I remember building up with anticipation to see her dance as she held that stance for what seemed like minutes. Finally she signaled with a finger to the ho‘opa‘a to begin. I watched her transform before my eyes from a little sweet-talking, gray-haired Hawaiian lady to the most graceful moving, story-telling hula dancer. Her eyes and facial expression along with her body movements told you the story of Pele. It was as if her feet were not touching the ground. I felt an energy from her that had me totally captivated. That experience has been with me until this very day. Since that time I went through a transition period from being the dancer to becoming an instructor. I was asked by Lydia Kauakahi to help instruct her haumāna for the Kualoa Hula Kahiko Competition. I solicited the help of Darrell Lupenui and together we prepared the hālau of students from Nānākuli High School. That was my first introduction to hula competition as an instructor. Shortly after I was introduced to Pilahi Paki by Uncle Moe Keale and his fiancee Kolena. My focus was moving towards understanding and translating mele. Auntie Pilahi reached into my very soul and has been the turning point in my life in everything that I do. I studied with her for two years and before the ending of the second year, I was blessed by her with my inoa Hawai'i, “Leialoha, “ and with her olioli aloha as a kuleana that I carry to this day. Through a dream she had of seeing beautiful holokū dancing, the hālau was bestowed with the name Hālau Nā Lei O Kaholokū. The olioli aloha has a powerful spiritual message which is the very foundation of Hālau Nā Lei O Kaholokū. The very first assignment for each of our haumāna has been the translation of this olioli and it is the message within the olioli aloha that is within each of us in the hālau. Hālau Nā Lei O Kaholokū is a culmination of the experiences of my sister Nani and Lorna our alaka‘i, and myself . We feel truly blessed that in our lifetime we have met instrumental people who have shared the art of hula with us. We are always mindful that we carry a responsibility because what we instruct today will have a profound effect on tomorrow. It is our hope that we have done and will continue to do justice to our ancestors by the hula we portray through our hālau. Nani Lim Yap In addition to running her own entertainment company, Nani Lim Yap has been teaching hula with her sister Leialoha Amina for over fifteen years. I was six-years-old when my mother Mary Ann Neula Lim began to instruct my sisters and me. She soon became impatient with our progress and decided to stop teaching. Five years later my father felt that we should not be deprived of learning our culture so he took us to his cousin who was a well-known kumu hula from Niuli‘i, Kohala. Her name was Margaret Kaleolani Moku and l took from her for six years. Aunty Margaret taught and shared with us her unique style of hula which came from Kohala, Hawai‘i. We met once a week at the old Hāwī Gymnasium for hula classes. After awhile Aunty Margaret fell ill and we travelled to her home to learn new numbers. I enjoyed the stories as well as the hula lessons on the porch of her hale. Aunty Margaret had difficulty with her legs and became confined to a wheelchair hut she would still continue to dance and teach using her expressions and her hands. The essence portrayed without the movement of her feet was very captivating to me. She taught my older sister and me just about everything that she knew. She said, “You know everything that I know. Just take it and train others.” She wanted us to carry on the style for the children and her love of Kohala. She made sure to share this kideana with my parents as well and to know that it was given with her aloha. We were encouraged to go to other kumu hula while under her tutelage and also after she had passed on. Through the program funded by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, we were exposed to the stvles of "Iolani Luahine, George Na‘ope, Edith Kanaka‘ole, Kaha‘i Topolinski, Darrell Lupenui, and John Ka‘imikaua. These workshops were all deeply appreciated and enjoyed. Because our babysitters were our grandparents who spoke fluent Hawaiian, we had come to understand ka ʻolelo Hawai‘i. My grandfather came from Kau and spoke a very poetic dialect of Hawaiian. This enabled us to understand the essence of the mele being taught while we were training for hula. When I began to sing, it made the translation even easier. I could understand the song and its literal translations as well as its kaona. I felt that through that understanding, I should share the knowledge with others. It was a follow-up to what Aunty Margaret had said. This was the time. And so we took it from there, knowing the mele, translating them, and sharing it till today. We have a kuleana to pass on these traditions as they were taught to us and to perpetuate a style that is truly part of Kohala. Nana / Na Loea Hula 13
Nā Kumu Hula Lehua Hulihe‘e - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 41
Lehua Hulihe‘e established Ka Pā Lehua in 1992 and teaches hula in her home in Kahala. I would not be who I am today if it were not for the guidance and love of my dearest tutu Helen Haloa Mamali Kekuikehekiliokalani Haleanu Coelho Kaipo. Ka Pā Lehua was founded in her name and in thanksgiving for all the goodness which she shared with me through our culture. Throughout my life, she was ever-present. She was a guiding force for me. I was born and raised in Kalihi in a wonderful home that my grandfather built on Kam IV Road. My tutu was pure Hawaiian. She and my grandfather came from Maui in the early 1900s to settle here on O‘ahu. She was a very strong woman and did things in the old ways. Things Hawaiian were ever-present for me. Hawaiian was spoken in my home. Cleaning lau hala, quilting, feather work, Hawaiian medicine, music...were all part of my days as a child. The greatest gift that she imparted to me was that the true understanding of life would come through humility. “E ho‘olohe mai. E nānā (Listen. Watch). This is the way we were taught. Be humble. Be honest. Work hard at whatever you do. It is not what you say but what you do that will speak louder than your own words. Hawaiian thinking is very simple and vet profound. My beginning in hula was done through the family. My mother had studied with Manuel Silva and my tūtū’s father was a dancer in his time. Like most children I took lessons informally from my aunty. When I was older my tūtū took me up to Papakōlea Park to take lessons from my uncle George Holokai. There were many students and if you didn’t listen carefully...‘auwē! My formal study of traditional hula did not begin until 1981 with kumu hula John Kaha'i Topolinski. I had no dreams of becoming a hula teacher, only of satisfying a dream of learning traditional hula. Hula in traditional hālau was to become a large part of my life for many years. I began in a class of seventy-five students. Within a month the class of ‘81 which had begun with seventy- five students was down to thirty and by Christmas there were fifteen...fifteen strong! We were to become friends in hula. The class of ‘81 was to enjoy another three years together before marriage, babies, and jobs would send us in different directions. The memories of this time in hula, I will always cherish. My first years of hula focused on the feet. From August to April basic steps were taught. The steps were to be mastered before any other learning. It was quite like building a house. The foundation (the basic steps) was the beginning. Hand movements would follow. Hula practice was a constant repetition. It was a time of learning and realization. One might say that the awareness of the physical, emotional, and mental bodies is heightened through hula. I enjoyed my teacher’s style of hula. It always amazed me how something that looked so simple could be so hard to learn. To master the style of hula taught in Ka Pā Hula Hawaiʻi took more than just Saturday classes. It is a style that you continually had to work at because it took physical stamina, grace, and poise. I was an alaka'i for eight years before being released in 1992 (hu‘elepo). As alaka‘i in Ka Pā Hula Hawaiʻi much learning was done through listening and watching. You may be asked at any time to do translations, instrument making, lei, or even choreography. At the invitation of David Eldredge, Punahou School s advisor for the Holokū Pageant, our kumu asked Doreen Doo and I and our fellow alaka'i to instruct the students for Punahou’s May Day program and the high school competition. This was a challenge and joy and great opportunity that I am ever grateful for. Doreen and I have taught hula at Punahou School for the past eleven years. I believe that all of these experiences have helped me to learn that there is so much more to learn. Possibly the most challenging of experiences in hula was when I was learning the art of chant. Kalani Akana was my hula brother and instructor. I also spent countless hours in the audio collection at the Bishop Museum. My kumu entered me in the 1985 Kamehameha Hula and Chant Competition in the chant division. It was a memorable experience. As I look back at this time in my learning, I believe it was the pleasure of learning this art that fed my desire to continue to learn. Learning for me is a constant beginning. I do not believe there is an end. Being a teacher is a great responsibility. In one sense you are not the creator but the perpetuator. On the other hand, you can create within a traditional parameter that already exists. It is my sincere belief that as a teacher of tradition, one has I In' responsibility to be honest and forthright about what one knows and what one does not know. Doreen and I are continuously learning and we are not afraid to ask for help from our kupuna. We are sharing the traditions of hula ‘ōlapa. We are sharing traditional values. As we grow up, we learn that these values are universal. Doreen and I, in our small way, wish to do whatever we can to share these hula traditions with our young people in hope that what they receive from this learning will enrich their lives and help them as they each travel their own paths in life. "One might say that the awareness of the physical, emotional, and mental bodies is heightened through hula. ”
Ku‘ulei Pūnua Besides teaching hula on Kaua‘i for the past twenty-eight years, Kuulei Pūnua also entertains at the Sheraton Coconut Beach Hotel with her children. At the time of our learning we just did what we were told. We didn’t ask questions. I can remember very well that all of the dancers were very, very disciplined. We had to have a keen sense of memory. There were no tape recorders. We just practiced and practiced and practiced. When I was two-years-old I was taken by my mother to Elizabeth Pahukoa Lewandowski of Ke‘anae, Maui and she was my first kumu. She was one of the original Leilani Village dancers on Kūhiō Avenue. This was during World War II and she would teach me in her apartment. I studied with Aunty Elizabeth for a year-and-a-half and then I was taken to Ruby Ahakuelo. She had her studio on Smith Street and I would go to class after school. When I was nine-years- old I was taken by my mother to ‘Iolani Luahine who was in Kaka‘ako in the Forties. I had not seen anything like the training we were put through under ‘Iolani. We had to prepare ourselves by going to the ocean and gathering seaweed and we had to be very cautious that no one had their ma‘i at this time. Nothing was explained, we just did whatever we were told to do. Aunty Hoakalei Kamau‘u was a young girl at that time but she was the one that taught us the dances. What I remember most is that nothing was explained to us. I suppose it was because of our age so we were being protected. Background was not freely given so we had to learn everything by observing. We just learned whatever our kumu felt she wanted us to know. Everything depended on sound, memory, and our senses. When I was about twelve- years-old I graduated traditionally with Aunty ‘Iolani and the presentation was held at McKinley Auditorium. At the same time I was asked by Kent Ghirard to join his hula troupe. I learned everything I know about kahiko from Aunty To. When I went to Kent Ghirard, I learned everything about entertaining. This was when nobody could touch Kent Ghirard. It was the Fifties and he was the best. He was very explicit about our dancing, our routines, our appearance, and our mannerisms on stage. There is a difference between learning the hula as a dancer and as a performer. Every dancers hair had to be the same length and we were trained to even put on our make-up a certain way. We were trained to become professional dancers. In 1954 I moved to Kaua‘i. I had no intention of teaching the hula when I moved but I began with one student then two and so on. When I started teaching, many Hawaiians felt that there was kahunaism attached to the ancient hula so no one wanted to learn. But Aunty ‘Iolani taught me not to be afraid of the kahiko and Kaʻupena (Wong) told me to put my faith in the Lord and my kupuna and go forward. So I began to teach kahiko that was simple and fun because I felt all the fear was based on hearsay. If we Hawaiians don’t dance and teach the ancient hula how can we expect it to be perpetuated? If some of our kupuna like Aunty Hoakalei Kamauʻu, Aunty Edith Kanaka‘ole, Aunty Lokalia Montgomery and Aunty Mā‘iki Aiu Lake didn’t share their dances in the Seventies there would have been no way that the door would be open for everybody today. We cannot survive if we do not come together to share and acknowledge each other. The hula offers everything a Hawaiian should know and a Hawaiian is everyone that makes his home here. We are having a lot of people moving here and we must preserve our language. In New Zealand it is mandatory that all residents learn the language and the same should hold true for our islands. Without the language there is no culture.
Ku‘uleialoha Beckman Kuʻulei Beckman is the niece of Aunty Alice Nāmakelua. She began her teaching career at the age of seventeen under the supervision of her family. I think the greatest hardship I had as a dancer was believing that at one time I would appreciate the knowledge that was being given to me. I started my training in the hula at four- years-old and it wasn’t until I became a teacher at the age of nineteen that I realized and appreciated all of what was taught to me. My advice to the young dancers is to be faithful and loyal to what has been taught to them. Be grateful that someone opened up and shared the knowledge with you. It’s only when you grow older that you appreciate the beauty of your own culture. I’m very grateful to have had three kumu hula who took precious time and effort in teaching me. My first kumu was my grandmother Emily Keko‘olani, and I studied under her for two years. My grandmother had trained under Pua Ha‘aheo and ‘Iolani Luahine so my classes were really in the style of the “old school”. Everything was very strict and very disciplined, and I wasn’t allowed to speak my mind. My mother Katherine Kahanohano Keko‘olani Dambley and my aunt Myra Kolani Chartrand, took over my training after my grandmother and I found them to be much more precise. My mother was taught by my grandmother so I was consistently trained to be attentive to the precise motions of my hands. The result is that the dancer looks like she knows and loves what she’s dancing about and the audience is drawn into the hula. The foremost kumu in my life was my mother and I began to teach at seventeen with her as my mentor. At nineteen I went out on my own because I felt I had been given so much knowledge and I wanted to pass on the knowledge to my own children before I began to lose it. I teach my students with less intensity than I believe my grandmother trained because today’s students don’t reside with their kumu. But I feel the best part of teaching is still and will always be helping students overcome their personal handicaps and limitations.
Kevin Michael Kapilialoha Mahoe
Kevin Michael Kapilialoha Mahoe “Chubby” Mahoe is the son of Arthur Keanahou Māhoe, Sr. and Abigail Kahiwalani Ka‘aloa Māhoe. He has taught the hula in Hawaii for the past thirteen years and is currently affiliated with the St. Andrews Cathedral of Honolulu and the Christian Hula Academy. I think I have to go back to an age when anybody starts to remember which was about three to four-years-old. Being at family parties I was always attracted to music and to rhythms. I was always attracted to sweet music, to music with heavy percussion. I listened to Harry Owens Orchestra, the chang-a-lang music of Elmer Lee and Uncle Jimmy Wong, and I found all of this music so refreshing. My father was invited to many of these kamaʻāina parties so I saw people like Flora Hayes and Uncle Rennie Burks dance; elegant men and women dancing. This respect for the classical Hawaiian music was instilled in me at a very young age but we were never taught the ancient ways because we were baptized and raised as Christians. I started off my training in the hula by watching my sister learn the kahiko in Kalihi Valley from a lady named Daisy Bell Young. We would make fun of my sister as all brothers will do but at the same time we were watching and learning. My first kumu was George Nā‘ope. When I was a fifth grader, he came to Pu‘uhale School to teach us a popular song for a pageant we were having. I met Nalani Kanaka‘ole when I was working for Waiākea Village and I learned two chants from her. It was many years between George and Nalani so in the interim I just watched other people dance and I watched their interpretations. There were very few male dancers because it was considered māhū to dance. So I admired the few men that did dance because their spirit seemed to transcend this type of criticism. I trained informally under hula master Henry Moikeha Pa while a member of the Prince Kūhiō Hawaiian Civic Club. In preparing for a concert Uncle Henry wanted us to build a kuahu for Laka, the goddess of the hula, and I couldn’t participate in it because of the religious convictions I felt within me. In my heart I felt I could not rightfully worship Jehovah and at the same time participate in the offering of prayer chants to Laka, Pele, or Hōpoe. I began to teach in 1970 when I became the social director at the Kaua‘i Surf Hotel. Every morning at ten o’clock we would teach the hotel guests how to dance simple songs like the “Hukilau” hula. It was tourist-oriented but it was a way for them to learn about the culture. I didn’t teach it kāpulu and I paid every respect to the hula. I had great respect for the people who came to learn because they wanted to learn about our culture and they were earnest and sincere. I didn’t feel it was a scam. The visitors are very interested in learning what we are all about. I think they are searching for a way to learn about our music, our dance, our food, our culture, and I think we owe them some kind of instruction to satisfy that hunger. In 1978 I formed the Lamalani Hula Academy in partnership with my dear friend Lahela Ka‘aihue. I took care of the books and trained the children while Lahela was responsible for the adults. Lahela and I parted, and I moved the Academy to Kawaiaha‘o Church where Madonna O’Rourke, a student of Henry Pa, became my helper. In time I was asked by St. Andrew’s to move to the Cathedral’s facilities and I’ve been here ever since. Our endeavor at the Academy is to worship God in the beauty of his Holiness. The hula is Hawaii’s most beautiful art and can certainly be used to display His magnificent handiwork. I wanted to respect God as my creator so I went into Scriptual hula. Can you see David and Goliath, the Nativity, the Songs of Solomon done to traditional hula? I felt if the missionaries had gone to the temples and asked the natives to put the Bible to hula kahiko, the Hawaiians would have accepted Christianity much faster and easier. The hula that I do today, the interpretation, the motions are all inspired by God. I am a student of the ancient and honorable art of the Hawaiian hula and not a kumu hula. 1 feel that only a very few can be acknowledged as such.
Kent Ghirard A great love for the hula brought Kent Ghirard from the Mainland to Hawaii where he established himself as a kumu hula and choreographer of hula productions. We were the first Hawaiian group to tour Japan, in 1955. We performed in Nichigeki Theatre in Tokyo and the audience was jammed into the hall and they were cheering us like we were The Beatles. We had one singer, four dancers, and myself backed by scores of Japanese girls in cellophane skirts dancing on white tiers that stretched up to the ceiling. I was born in San Francisco, California on September 1, 1918. I was twelve when I first became interested in the hula. My parents came over here on the old Malolo on a regular tourist vacation. Even at that age the minute I saw the hula I loved it. It was the Bray family that I saw and I just took right to it. I bought some old 78 RPM hula records and I even bought a hula skirt. During my college years I learned how to play the ‘“uke” from Hawai‘i students up at Stanford and I learned how to sing from listening to the records. I came over here in 1938 for summer school at the University but it was just an excuse to get over here. In those days the Kodak Hula Show had just started and I was there every week. Every Boat Day I would go down and watch the dancers and listen to the music. That’s when I started to pick things up on my own. The first person who taught me anything was Marguerite Duane who had danced hula professionally on the Mainland and was a very good friend of Hilo Hattie. I was twenty-one at the time and we both were living in San Francisco. So it was through Marguerite that I got my foundation and once I got the basics I just fell into it. I felt it inside, and as long as I could get a translation I could make up the rest because I knew the basic motions. In 1947 I came to Hawai‘i to stay and Marguerite and I took lessons from the Bill Lincoln Studio. At that time Bill Lincoln was the premier writer and singer of hula songs. Everyone was dancing to Bill Lincoln’s songs. My teacher was Alice Keawekane Garner and it is this type of dance that I am carrying on. During that same year I began teaching at the Betty Lei Studio. It was located in Waikiki and movie stars like Shirley Temple would go there to learn hula. Marguerite was living there and helping owner Dorothy Campbell teach hula and I was working in a Waikīkī Hawaiian record store. I would hang around the studio because of Marguerite and I began to sit in on her classes. I began to pick things up, suggest ideas and then help put on her little recitals. After about a year I began to teach groups after hours at the record store when we closed at five o’clock. I never really made any money teaching but I enjoyed it so much. I was interested in putting on a good compact Hawaiian show that was appreciated by a receptive audience. The Kent Ghirard style is the style of the 1930s and 1940s. It is a very simple style that keeps close to the basic steps. When I first saw hula performed I was attracted to the groups that relied on a very simple style. I felt it gave the dancer more of an opportunity to express emotion without being able to rely on the gimmicks of a fast pace and complicated motions. Of course today all of that has been turned upside down. The new kahiko of today is exciting and vital and I’m all for it, but it should be clarified and classified in a category all its own, otherwise what has been passed down from generation to generation and what has been created last month, will become hopelessly muddled. I never had a wealth of knowledge of Hawaiiana. What I brought to the hula was all heart, and a love for the music and dance. I had seen hula at some of the big hotels and I felt there had to be a higher standard for the tourists. I did away with jewelry, inconsistent costume, differing hairstyles, and tried to bring in a more professional style of staging. My greatest thrill still today is to perform in front of Hawaiians and be accepted, although I am Haole. When I hear the old songs of my era played in the old style with a steel guitar and a high-lead voice, it still brings tears to my eyes.
Keli‘i Tau‘ā Keli‘i Tau‘ā has taught the hula on O‘ahu for the past five years and currently makes his home in Kihei, Maui. I think the biggest stumbling block for the modern Hawaiian is the definition of who is and who is not Hawaiian. Many people still believe it is strictly a matter of race. Today being Hawaiian has more to do with a sincerity of feeling towards the fate of Hawai‘i than anything else. In 1970 I was teaching Hawaiiana for the Department of Education at Waimanalo Intermediate School. Aunty Nona Beamer was serving as my consultant. I was required to learn hula for teaching purposes and so Aunty Nona invited me to train under her informally. I stayed with her for a year and in 1972 Aunty Mā‘iki Aiu publicly announced that she would be holding classes for hula teachers. The hālau at that time was on Ke‘eaumoku Street and after some practices, I could hardly walk down the stairs of the second- floor studio. The “Hawaiian Renaissance” to coin a phrase of that time, was just starting to turn its wheels. Anything that was Hawaiian was a joy to learn. I think the greatest thing that I came to recognize was that hula was not just motions but Hawaiian life, language, and folklore. That was the greatest joy, being in a place where I was learning not only the dance but something about myself in relationship to the past Hawaiian culture. What was there, and what it could be in the future. More answers came from another kumu named Kau‘i Zuttermeister. I started studying intensively in 1973 with style and a feeling that I still possess today and transfer the stylings of Aunty Kau‘i to others. I started to teach in 1975. Two of my former classmates in Aunty Mā‘iki’s hālau, Robert Cazimero, and John Topolinski were really getting into men’s hula and it was exciting to me. There had been men’s hula when we were learning but there weren’t hālaus as we understand it today. They set the pace and helped to establish respectability for men to dance. My approach was to show that hula was physical and demanding and required dedication and learning. That’s how in 1978 I ended up with a hālau of fifty- five men, half of them college or professional football players. My work has centered on kahiko because ‘auwana, as the word indicates, can be created by anyone, anytime, anywhere. My definition of hula kahiko is that of Edith Kanakaʻole’s. It would have to be movements passed down from generation to generation. In the old days we were taught to wait for the right time but in today’s society the opportunity for knowledge is so great that it behooves each student to search out all opportunities. At the same time, the student has to be committed and dedicated. I’d rather see the student free to go after what they really want than be frustrated waiting. The young kumu are criticized for their commerciality but the older people have to realize that there are exorbitant costs to be met. The expenses of 1983 are not the same as in the Forties and Fifties, and they have to be paid if the hālaus are to survive. It has been said that a culture dies if creativity stops. I am happy to see the young perpetuating the culture and traditions for in them is the future of Hawai‘i nei.
Nā Kumu Hula Keith Kalani Akana - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 8
Keith Kalani Akana A teacher for the Hawaiian Immersion Program at Waiau Elementary School, Kalani Akana is kumu hula of Ka Pā Hula Hoʻoheno Hawaʻi established in 1987. In school I didn’t consider myself a good hula dancer and I didn’t think I had a strong voice since I flunked concert glee. But I listened to the chanting of Ho‘oulu Richards, Nona Beamer. Hoakalei Kaniauʻu and Kalena Silva and they became my models. It wasn’t talent but I believe it took hard work and dedication that developed my voice. When I was a sophomore at the Kamehameha Schools, I was hired by my teacher Sarah Quick as an aide for Hawaiian language but I also helped Hoʻoulu Richards teach hula to the students in the school’s Explorations Program. I was really shy but she compelled me to teach. She ingrained poise and confidence in me. Watching the effect she had on the students kindled my interest in hula as a teaching tool to reach children. Shortly after, my relative Palani Kahala, a fellow Hawaiian language student and classmate, persuaded me to learn hula from him. One afternoon in Aunty Nona Beamer’s room, he started teaching me the rudiments of hula. Aunty Nona was very supportive of us by giving us access to her files and her advice. She even entered us in a hula competition at St. Andrews Priory in 1974. That’s where I first saw Kahaʻi Topolinski’s men perform. They were masculine and powerful. After graduating in 1975 I wanted to paddle canoe but I saw a newspaper ad for hula classes from Ka Pā Hula Hawaii. Remembering Kahaʻi’s men’s hula, I signed up and traveled all the way to the Waiāhole Poi Factory where the classes were held. Kahaʻi has been my kumu ever since. Kahaʻi engrained in me the love for the traditions of hula; particularly how it’s passed down from kumu to kumu and through family. I was especially touched by his treatment of his family chants. I could see the direct tie between kumu, family, and the past. As a history buff he brings a great knowledge to each of his hula. He touched not only the emotional but the intellectual cord within me. He taught me how to discover my positive Hawaiian self. I had what they call a huʻelepo ceremony. It was a private and small ceremony held at noon. It was attended by Kahaʻi, the family, and myself. We had those special ʻailolo foods, chanting, and pule. I observed a kapu period prior to the performance test and we had a small paʻina. Kahaʻi was very gracious. He allowed me to take workshops from other people. I started taking chanting lessons from Kalena Silva and attended Aunty Edith Kanakaʻole’s workshops. Also I learned from Aunty Edith McKinzie whenever she conducted workshops for the State Council on Hawaiian Heritage. I was fortunate to receive a scholarship at the University of Hawaiʻi in Hawaiian language from the Kamehameha Schools. I saw hula and chant as a vehicle to reach the Hawaiian youth but language is what tied it all together. I use this knowledge and my abilities in language to explain to the students the stories brought alive through the hula. Hula gave me an arena to internalize and ruminate on the meaning, kaona, and language. I don’t like the term “hula kahiko.” We always used the word “hula ʻōlapa” in our hālau. Hula kahiko technically means “old hula” and I don’t like stereotyping hula as being something old. Our people had a name for every hula by its type and style: hula noho, hula ʻulīʻulī, hula palm, hula ʻālaʻapapa, and so on. A hula person must know all these kinds of hula. So hula kahiko is a broad term that is not linguistically correct and I think it’s too stifling because it doesn’t account for the traditional kinds of hula and for hula that we need to branch off into. There are four important elements to become a successful kumu hula. First, language is the key for any aspiring kumu hula. Young people have an advantage because they can decide early on to learn the language. Secondly, whether they ʻūniki or not, they need a kumu or a mentor to turn to. That’s why we have the word kumu, meaning the source. If a person doesn’t have a kumu or a mentor, they’re going to flounder. Thirdly, a young kumu has to develop a style and creatively develop something unique that makes him/her a little different. And lastly, every kumu has to have and preserve the tradition of their hālau. If I teach a dance from my hālau, it’s my obligation to teach the exact way I learned the dance. That my kumu is satisfied and approves of what I do is an accomplishment. Graduation is one way that the kumu acknowledges the student. Anyone can graduate if they put on a good show but the proof is if you can continue to please your kumu. If I didn’t do that, then there’s really no sense of me even continuing. I have my masters, degree and soon I would like to start on my doctorate. But I can truthfully say, of all the formal Western style education that I’ve had, there’s greater satisfaction in the formal traditional graduation and training of hula. There’s a lot more pride, a lot more satisfaction. You receive much more than you can ever give. I’ve come to the realization that you cannot compare a degree with what you really get from the hula which is the pride of knowing that you are continuing a tradition. “I saw hula and chant as a vehicle to reach the Hawaiian youth but language is what tied it all together. ”
Nā Kumu Hula Kealoha Kalama - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 47
Kealoha Kahuna is a kumu hula, producer, entertainer, musician, and recording artist. In 1971 on the premises of the Bishop Museum, she opened Hālau Hula O Pohai Kealoha which means “hula studio of encircling love.” I was raised in the country growing up with lots of music and hula. It was a good life and I was fortunate to have parents who gave us what they could. I was always involved in music: singing, playing the ukulele, piano, and guitar. My mother Mrs. Virginia Hainan Kalama was, and will always be, the biggest inspiration in my entertainment life. She was the community association president, the Nānākuli Hawaiian Civic Club president, and was very much involved in politics. She was a true Republican who worked hard for her community and she always enjoyed playing music. My big love in those days was the hula. I learned to dance in elementary and intermediate schools from teachers and sometimes from our kupuna. Back in the 1950s hula was a big thing in Hawaiʻi. Miss Puanani Alama was my first hula instructor, and she was such a beautiful hula dancer and a wonderful instructor. We didn’t do many chants because it wasn’t as important as it is today. I also met John Pi'ilani Watkins and was very honored to perform for his group. Brother John was such a great composer, beautiful singer, musician, and fantastic entertainer. He w as my kumu in hula and music. Back then in the late Fifties we put on shows at the military bases, the old Kapahulu Tavern, the Waikīkī Sands Club, and on the neighbor islands. I met Joseph Kamoha‘i Kahaulelio through Brother John. Joseph and Aunty Pauline Kekahuna were looking for hula dancers for their big show in the Princess Ka‘iulani and the Moana Hotels. Before I started taking hula lessons from Joseph Kahaulelio, John Piʻilani Watkins gave me his blessing to learn ʻōlapa. I also danced for Aunty Vicky I‘i, Aunty Genoa Keawe, Uncle Bill Aliʻiloa Lincoln, Louise Kaleiki. Leina‘ala Haile, and Leina‘ala Simerson. I was blessed to have been associated with many of Hawaiʻi’s outstanding kumu hula and entertainers. From 1969 to 1971 I coordinated the Hawaiian revue at the beautiful Ulumau Village in Kāne‘ohe. I also opened a Polynesian revue for the Waikiki Resort Hotel and I produced shows for the Reef Hotel. Hyatt Regency Hotel, Halekūlani Hotel, Bishop Museum, and Hawaiʻi’s Visitors Bureau. I was also the lead dancer for Aunty Bosalie Stevenson whom I travelled with to Kwajalein, Johnson Island, Okinawa, and other countries. For the past few years I’ve been with the Department of Education’s Kupuna Hawaiian Studies Program at the Admiral Nimitz Elementary School. It has really been a challenge to teach military children but I really enjoy helping them learn our culture, sing Hawaiian songs, and especially learn how to pronounce our Hawaiian words. Having been a judge for many hula competitions in Honolulu, Hilo, and on the mainland, I found our culture to be popular all over the world and so many young instructors are coming out from all over the place. I find a change in our beautiful hula and our ‘ōlapa, and I guess it has to be because it’s so competitive. After twenty-five years I still have my hālau Hālau Hula O Pohai Kealoha. My wonderful husband Wilfred T. Cabral has supported me with his love and has always been there to help me. I’ve made sure that I tried my best in whatever I did, and I thank the people who helped me throughout the years. After being in the entertainment field for over thirty-five years, I feel that I’ve paid my dues.
Keali‘inani‘aimokuokalani Reichel
Nā Kumu Hula Keali‘inani‘aimokuokalani Reichel - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 100
Na Hoku Hanohano award winner Keali‘i Reichel is a popular singer, composer, and the kumu hula of Hālau Hula o Ka Makani Wili Makaha o Kauaʻula. In comparison to other people I started hula late. I was exposed to hula through the Hawaiiana Club at Lahainaluna High School when I was a freshman. The club was under the direction of a senior named Peter Day. At the time he was considered to be a child prodigy. He studied under ʻIolani Luahine and Henry Pa when he was about seven-years-old. I studied with Peter for one year in high school. He didn’t explain too much about the chants. I le just showed us how the mele was danced. I was a bad dancer in high school. I had no rhythm, nothing. When we had performances, the other students used to forget my outfits on purpose. Finally after the twelfth or thirteenth time, I caught on that they didn’t want me to dance. When you’re fourteen-years-old that’s hard to take so I quit and studied on my own. I practiced everyday in front of the mirror just to perfect my timing. After a couple of years Peter saw me dance again for the Hawaiiana Club and he was impressed. He had just formed his hālau and he wanted me to dance for him and help teach the students when he wasn’t there. During that time I was able to improve my teaching skills. You can have all this knowledge but if you don’t know how to convey it, there’s no sense. It was an intense several years that I studied under Peter. I learned dozens of dances. Then suddenly in 1981 Peter moved and left the hālau. Within a two-day period he just up and went. He had all these students who were hungry for more hula and because I was the alaka’i, they asked if I could stay and continue the training as best I could. At first I told them “no” because I wasn’t qualified. But other kumu hula on Maui urged me to continue and said they would be there if I needed help. When Pua Kanahele came to Maui to teach Hawaiian language, I jumped at the chance to study with her. I quit all my jobs and I basically plunged into poverty so I could go back to school to study under her. The first foundation she gave me was language and she stressed the importance of language in hula and chant. The next foundation she gave me was in chanting. Through the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Apprenticeship Program, I became Pua’s apprentice and studied one-on-one with her in chant styles and techniques. Between these two different foundations I believe that I have become successful. I love competitions. Our people were competitive from the ancient times. Hawaiians were competitive in almost every aspect that you can think of. We don’t enter competitions all the time because we don’t want to make that our one and only goal. But competition brings out an excellence in the dancers that under normal circumstances would not exhibit. One of the main reasons we go to competitions is because we want to make a statement. We want to tell people that this is our hālau, this is what we do, this is our foundation, and this is us. Whether we place or not isn’t important. Seeking knowledge is the priority and it’s ongoing. I don’t think everybody knows everything. “‘Aʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau ho‘okāhi” (All knowledge is not taught in the same school) is really true. In our hālau there are certain things that I’m not knowledgeable in and I recognize that. I don’t pretend to know certain kinds of hula. When l feel that my dancers are ready to learn that hula, I send them to another kumu hula who has extensive knowledge in that hula. That way our students receive as much information as possible from other kumu hula who are willing to help and to share. I’m not going to deny my students a specific branch of knowledge just because I don’t know it. It’s important that I bring in someone who can fulfill that void. A hula style is something that you develop over the years. Every person who teaches hula today is almost a direct reflection of their kumu hula. What makes a kumu hula good is that they take the knowledge from their own kumu and take it to a higher level. If they learned from two or three different people, they take the styling and they blend all of those styles together and they come up with their own. It’s not done on purpose, it just happens that way. I think that’s creativity. You gather all that you’ve learned and you make it work for yourself and for your students. I’m not a prolific composer. I compose every so often when I’m moved to do so or stressed out to do so. I usually compose when emotions are running high. It’s a good outlet. If you are composing, you need to have that emotional connection to whatever it is you’re writing about. If you are writing about love or a broken heart, make sure that you understand what that emotion is. You cannot be writing songs about love if you’ve never been in love. When this music thing happened, it was very much by accident. Although I knew I could hold a tune, I never thought I was a great singer. I was singing in the shower one day and as you know, everybody sounds good in the shower. Some of my friends were over and they said, “Wow, you should do an album.” They kept bugging me so after awhile I said if they could get the money together, I’ll do an album. I thought I'd nip it in the bud right there because albums are expensive to make. Well they got most of the money together and I had to do my album. We didn’t even put a band together because we didn't think it would be successful. We just thought some hula people would like it and that would be fine. We just wanted to break even on the expenses. All of a sudden it went ballistic. Two months after the album came out, we realized we had to perform. I’m a reluctant performer. I stress out everytime we have to sing at a concert. Chanting is different because you immerse yourself in the composition. I can oli in front of a million people and not be nervous but when you’re singing, it’s different. Looking at the community however and seeing how these compositions and this music affected people, I realized that it was a lot bigger than all of us. We now had an obligation to fulfill. Ever since I started the hālau, it’s been number one in my life. I’ve lost jobs because I chose hālau before work. I’ve been homeless because I couldn’t pay my rent. For the first time in my life I saw myself as being financially secure. But I told myself that this wasnʻt going to last long. At some point Keali‘i Reichel, the singer, will fade away. I still believe that. During the past three years I relied on the alaka‘i to continue and to try and keep the hālau together. We’ve lost a lot of students because of it. Over the last month I’ve met with the hālau and I’m recommitting myself. The singing stuff can wait. My hālau is back to number one. 100 Keali‘inani‘aimokuokalani Reichel
Nā Kumu Hula Kawai Aona-Ueoka - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 1 Page 14
Kawai Aona has served as kumu hula for the Queen Liliʻuokalani Childrenʻs Center since 1979. I was hānai by my Tūtū Mary C. Pua‘ala Aona from the time I was a baby. I knew basic Hawaiian words and phrases and some hula ‘auwana from my tūtū but to me it was nothing because Tūtū could speak Hawaiian fluently, and I’ve been told that she also taught hula kahiko. When I first went to the University of Hawai‘i, I was this tita from Nanakuli. I was dorming on campus and one day these two Japanese exchange students came up to me and asked, ‘Are you Hawaiian?’ I answered yes proudly and then they asked, ‘Can you do the hula or speak Hawaiian?’ I said no, and they gave me a funny expression and said, ‘You not Hawaiian then.’ I got very angry but I found the strength to control myself and went to my room to think. I came to the conclusion that they were right. I was born with Hawaiian blood and my tūtū had a wealth of knowledge but I never really understood it. The Hawaiian culture I knew was surface. Having the Hawaiian blood and doing things Hawaiian is not enough. You have to understand, and have a respect and feeling for the culture in a deeper sense. The kaona was the essence of all mele because our kupuna were not surface people. After that incident, I made it a point to learn more of the language and more of the hula. I was introduced to Aunty Mā‘iki Aiu Lake by some friends that were taking hula ‘auwana classes from her. It took about a year of taking ‘auwana classes before Aunty invited a few of us to enter her hula kahiko class. I studied with Aunty Mā‘iki for two and a half years and she made Hawaiian history come alive through the mele. Her requirement for research gave me an understanding of the many things my tūtū had said and done but didn’t know how to explain. I began to understand the depth of Hawaiian values and the importance of respecting all that it stood for. I graduated traditionally from Aunty Mā‘iki’s ‘Ilima class in 1975, and I went on to Aunty Edith McKinzie who helped to develop my oli by training me in the different styles and techniques of the oli tradition. I began teaching as kumu kokua with Mililani Allen in 1977, and in all my years of growth I have learned that a kumu hula is not just a title but a great responsibility. You are not only the source of technical knowledge but also a model for the behavior of your haumāna. Hula kahiko, as I know it, is a whole system of values and responsibilities that you have to live and believe in. The process of learning and teaching this tradition is never ending and always growing. I went to the University of Hawai‘i to study fine arts. I was educated in sketching, painting, sculpture, poetry, and photography. They were all art forms from which people could express their feelings. The hula is also an art form from which the kumu hula expresses their manaʻo of our Hawaiian culture but we have to remember that our source is our strength and our essence. We have to hold sacred the teachings of our kumu and the values of our kupuna. A lot of our young Hawaiians are lost today. They don’t have the confidence in themselves and it’s difficult for them to see how they fit in this ever-changing world of Western values. It’s hard to believe in yourself when you don’t even know what you have to be proud of. What are the concepts behind words like aloha, kōkua, laulima, lōkahi, ‘oia‘i‘o, hō‘ihi, ‘ohana, mālama, and ho‘oponopono? I teach hula with emphasis on cultural understanding, respect, and pride for the elements within each mele as well as its kaona. If my haumāna leave me with a respect for their kupuna, each other and themselves then it will be that much easier to apply the Hawaiian concepts and values in this modern world we live in. Na ‘Ōpio O Hawai‘i Nei To dance the hula is to live it To understand the mele is to seek its kaona To express the meaning is to feel it To love the hula is to respect its source
Kaulana Kasparovitch Originally trained in fine arts and classical music, Kaulana Kasparovitch established the Lehua Dance Company and has taught the hula for the past eight years in Honolulu. We are close to a point of saturation in the hula right now unless there is something new that arises to keep the next generation interested. In any culture you will have peaks and valleys. In the next three to five years the interest in the culture will level off and possibly turn downward. Other things will arise because today Hawaiʻi is cosmopolitan. My grandmother Minnie Liliaokalani Wilhem Jones was the one that saw to it that I was introduced to Hawaiian music and dance. She introduced me to a lovely lady named Emily Thomas who had an ‘ohana group that were all friends of my grandmother and this was how I started. My first kumu was Manuel Silva who was a member of this group and he taught my cousin and I to chant for three years until he passed away. I was being taught Hawaiian music at this time by Aunty Pauline Kekahuna and in 1971 her dancers decided to retire from the Hau’oli group. Aunty Pauline and one of her musicians decided to open a hālau under the Hau‘oli name and this is how I came to dance under Leilani Mendez. In ancient Hawai‘i people lived the hula, but the hula today is entertainment and a leisure-time activity. What Leilani taught me was that I really had to work hard at the hula to be good. She disciplined my attitude toward work and hula. We had to be good because we had to do shows and there wasn’t a margin for sloppiness on stage. I went on to train under Uncle Henry Pa at a class he opened at Kamehameha Schools for the Kamehameha Hawaiian Civic Club. I admired Uncle Henry because there was such a joy in all of his hula and even in his kahiko. What he gave me was the essence to create. He would sit us down and say this is the mele in Hawaiian, this is the mele in English, now create your own motions and we will pick the best motions from the class. His alakaʻi Pa Mai invited me to study with them and I ended up staying for one and a half years. I went on to take hula workshops under Eleanor Hiram Hoke, and Edith Kanaka’ole and her daughters but I consider the Hau‘oli style of dancing to be the most influential factor in my dance style. Watching Vickie Iʻi Rodrigues, Lei Mendez, and Sally Wood Nāluaʻi as they taught and danced provided me with a foundation for the boundaries and protocol of the hula. If there is any question that I have about the hula or a chant that I need they are always there to help. What I’ve done in fact is take five different hula styles that I was taught and taken what I feel is the best from each to create my own style. The trademark of the Hauʻoli group was beautiful line dancing full of expression and heart. My goal became to bring back as much as possible the expression and love in a dancer’s face and movement so that a haumāna can dance in place and emulate through the face and heart the entire dance. That is a dancer. Anybody can perform or teach technique but to draw an audience into the emotions of the dance is something else. I began to teach in 1975 as a hula instructor for the Department of Parks and Recreation. This was one of my most difficult periods because I had no teaching style and I was working with students who looked upon the class as recess. I had to develop personal teaching habits such as how much should I balance strictness with gentleness. I learned that a student shouldn’t ever consider taking hula if he or she doesn’t have the desire to learn and respect it. Popularity and commerciality are not the reasons to learn the hula because you end up wasting everyone’s time. In 1969 Hawaiian music was contemporized by Peter Moon, and Robert and Roland Cazimero. I think this had a great influence on getting our young people interested in their music and dance. It helped to reawaken the Hawaiian in me. I am only one-eighth Hawaiian but once I got into the culture I was just taken over. I saw that the purpose of the hula and the music was to retain the culture from one generation to the next and I wanted to be a part of that.
Kathleen Malama Leleo Kathleen Leleo served as alaka'i to the late hula teacher Samuel (Kamuela) Nae‘ole of Waimanalo. She currently is affiliated with the Kalihi-Palama Culture and Arts Society as a hula instructor. When I think of traditional hula I think of Lokalia Montgomery and George Nā‘ope. There would have to be limitations on creativity if one is to go strictly traditional. The old style of traditional hula is vanishing and most of our kupunas that practiced it are gone. The hula of today is exciting but there’s not enough people alive today to show us or teach us what ancient hula was really like. It’s difficult to say what it is and what it is not. I became interested in hula at a very late age. My children were grown and all in school and there was nothing else for me to do. So I became a member of the Kalihi- Pālama Hawaiian Civic Club which my late brother founded. I became very interested in Hawaiiana and at this time, George Nā‘ope began his hula classes in Kalihi and the members of our club were encouraged to join. This was my start in hula. I studied with Uncle George for five years and I was trained in hula kahiko, hula ‘auwana, and chanting. We were never told what the chant was about so we did research on our own time. At the end of my fifth year of training I was graduated by Uncle George as a kumu hula. I went on to train under Samuel Nae‘ole and I found him to be someone who really cared about his dancers and how well each one did. He helped me to better myself in the hula ‘auwana. I remember when we went out to perform, Uncle Sam would charge a quarter for every mistake we made. He trained five of his students to become kumu hula and I was very fortunate to be one of those students. He stressed the importance of the mekona and the ‘okina, and he started our training by focusing on memorizing the chant, proper pronunciation, translation, expression, and significance of the chant or dance. Uncle Sam gave us the resources and we did the research. We would also create the dance and perform before him for his approval, and at the end of each chant or dance we were given a written test. When I was a haumāna, teaching looked easy, but I found the great difficulty of teaching to be communication. How do you communicate to a large group of restless and often uninterested children? There were times when Uncle Sam would call at the last minute and ask me to take over his classes. Unknowingly to me, he would hide outdoors and watch how I worked with the class. I guess he wanted to see if I was able to handle the classes without him. After the death of Uncle Sam in 1981, I was asked by the Kalihi-Pālama Culture and Arts Society to carry on his work in the Kalihi-Pālama area. I try to train my students the way Uncle George and Uncle Sam trained me. I consider myself between traditional and contemporary hula but I’ve always tried to respect the ancient hula. The history of hula is so clouded, for example there has always been a controversy over what the correct ‘uwehe step is. No one knows where the foot movements originated from or where the hula originated from.
Karen Kaohulani Aiu Costa
Nā Kumu Hula Karen Kaohulani Aiu Costa - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 35
Karen Costa, daughter of the late renowned kumu hula Māʻiki Aiu Lake, established Nā Wahine No Me Ka Ha‘aha‘a Mai Māʻiki and Nā Kāne O Kaohulani in 1984. Back in the early 1960s training as a dancer was very important and valuable as far as where our beginnings came from and where hula started. Kahiko was not as popular as it is today. Chants such as “‘Au‘a‘la” were very precious to Hawaiians and were taught only to the special students. I became a student of my mother Māʻiki Aiu from the age of six or seven. As I got older I was fortunate to become an extension of my mother in the running of the hālau business as well as learning our culture of the hula. For twenty-two years I was very privileged to hold this position. In 1970 my mother opened up a class for anyone interested in studying to he a kumu hula. It was decided by my mother’s aunty Hoakalei Defries that I attend these classes. All the young people who came to that first kumu hula class were there by choice. For me it was an obligation. It was meant for me to carry on the family tradition into the future. Our class started off with a total of at least seventy-eight students but dwindled down to about fifty-two. The desire to be a kumu and to learn what a kumu’s responsibilities are were not as easy as we thought. The formal training lasted over two years with long hours learning chants of our ancestors, making our own instruments, and training as ‘ōlapa and ho‘opa‘a. Only then were we given the title of kumu hula. This title was bestowed onto us after all of this training in 1972. I accepted the title but I didn’t acknowledge it because of all the duties and responsibilities that such a gift carried. My mother gave us the opportunity to write notes and to ask questions regarding any chant, song or dance that we were learning. She also issued some chants that we never heard of on paper to make it easy for us. Tūtū Kawena Pukui encouraged her to satisfy the need for paper and pencil because when we went home, we would be totally lost if we didn’t have anyone who spoke the language. We would be frustrated and lose interest in learning. It would be more damaging not to have something to fall back on. I have had the opportunity during those twenty-two years with my mother of visiting and learning from many elders. Today many of them are gone like Aunty Alice Nāmakelua, Vicky Iʻi Rodrigues, Uncle Bill AliʻiIoa Lincoln and Tūtū Kawena Pukui. Today I am fortunate to have caring teachers such as Aunty Malia Craver, Kaʻupena Wong, Namaka Bacon and my godmother Kekauʻilani Kalama. As I got older and hopefully wiser, I experienced things and saw the love of people who came to me and believed in me and my teaching. They told me that I really had a lot to share. My interpretation of kumu hula has always been what I saw in my mother. She was so enlightening, full of love, and she had so much to give. I didn’t think I was that kind of a person. But the people looked to me for all of the same things that they saw in my mother. Today I share the knowledge that my mother’s hula masters left with her and she has left with me. Now I leave it with all of you. As a teacher my mother was strict but there was also love and concern. To me she was a master in all that she did. She appealed to the young because she made hula exciting. She wasn’t selfish with her haumāna and she was always forever giving. All of these things made me look up to her. Hopefully all these qualities are what I as a kumu hula can someday leave to my haumāna. In time I visualize hula will come full circle and we will return to that which was the most important. We will go back to the beginnings, to the basics, to our ancestors, and that will be vital to our survival. We do have elders; we do have beginnings; we do have grass roots; and where we all come from and the source of the elders is there. Without the source we don’t have much of a future. “My interpretation of kumu hula has always been what I saw in my mother. She was so enlightening, full oj love, and she had so much to give.”
Nā Kumu Hula Kamalei Sataraka - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 103
In 1976 Kamalei Sataraka opened her hālau Hui ‘O Kamalei so she could share her love of hula with the people of Hawaiʻi. Hula teaches you everything about life. It teaches you about nature, respect, and about God. It teaches you how to be humble and disciplined. My mother thought that I was born to hula. She took me to Sally Kamalani when I was two-years-old and even at that young age I remember enjoying hula. A year later we moved into town and I remember going to Emma Bishop who taught on McCully Street. Emma Bishop used to take us to perform at the Kapi'olani Bandstand where we wore paper leis and mu’umu’u. In those days the people threw money when we danced. Everybody used to laugh because I would sit down and collect all the money and take it to my mother. Those were the good old days with Emma Bishop. I stayed with her until I was about six or seven-years-old. I ended up taking hula from John Pi'ilani Watkins. I started when I was nine and I graduated with him twice. His graduations weren’t the traditional graduations. At that time people didn’t put an emphasis on traditional ceremonies like the ‘ailolo ceremony. It was more like a recital. We graduated to another level and he gave awards. To graduate he wanted us to pass a test. He used to give us a written exam and a dance exam. As long as we passed, we could go to the next level. The written exam was about the songs: the background of the songs and how well we knew the words and the translation. That was his criteria for passing. Because I was teaching for him, I was embarrassed if I got a low grade so I tried my best to get As. Whenever he was busy or he couldn’t be there, he asked me to open the hālau and teach for him. That’s where I learned to teach. I taught for him many times and I ran his hālau for him while I was in high school. I attribute most of my hula training to John Pi'ilani Watkins. He was really before his time. What I got from him was basically show business and not much tradition. He took us to New York where we worked under June Taylor, the choreographer for the Jackie Gleason Show and the Dean Martin Show. I really enjoyed dancing with John Pi‘ilani Watkins because I’m pretty much an entertainer myself. When I was eighteen-years- old, I left Johnny Watkins and a couple of us formed our own group. We started traveling all over the world. We went to Japan many times and to Korea. We tried to travel as much as we could while we were young. I started yearning for the traditional part of hula that I did not get from Johnny Watkins. When I came back from traveling, I did research on my own. I taught myself most of it. I took anything that I could learn from anybody and I was very curious and inquisitive. I think that a lot of where I am today can be attributed to my own desire to make myself a better kumu hula. What I wanted to do was to open a hula studio that would teach people the simple fact that hula can open gates for anyone. They can travel around the world and they can do anything they want to do as long as they put their mind to it. Nothing is unattainable. My goal was to take my students around the world as entertainers and part of that goal is fulfilled. The greatest accomplishment for me is entering competitions. When I opened the hālau, I thought competitions were out of my league. But the students asked to enter so we tried. Whether you win or lose, simply participating is an accomplishment in itself. I ‘ūniki my students but not traditionally. They have to go to language classes; they have to be able to make their palm drum and their ipu heke; they have to be able to oli, to dance kahiko and ʻauana, and dance with the implements. The advice I would give the young hula teachers of today is to instill in their haumāna, love and confidence. You have to tell your children to be inquisitive and to do their research if they want to carry on the traditions of hula. I don t consider myself a traditional hula teacher but I do consider myself a good hula teacher. I think hula has gotten more lively and more progressive. There are the purists who want it to stay the same but I really don’t think hula will stay the same. Like everything else Hawaiʻi is progressing; things will keep moving and we do move with the flow. It would be nice if we can keep our traditions the way they were in the past but I really don’t want to go back to the past. Hula is progressing but it will get, to a point where it will come full circle. Like the clothes that we wore in the Forties, they’ll come around again. Lastly I feel all patrons of the hula need to focus on the Man above, the Creator of all who allows us to do what we do. We also teach our haumāna and ‘ohana to understand and respect the gods of yesterday for our ancestors felt that their ancestors were embodied in spirit, in everything they owned. Today we still carry that respect but the majority of us are Christians in various denominations. Therefore we follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. Focus on him, our Lord through Jesus, and he will not give us anything we cannot handle! Nānā I Nā Loea Hula 103
Nā Kumu Hula Kalena Silva - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 104
Kalena Silva teaches hula and chanting as part of the Hawaiian Studies curriculum at the University of Hawai'i- Hilo Campus. ‘Ano ‘e nō paha ko‘u komo "ana i loko o kēia hana ‘o ka hula. Ua ho‘omaka au ma ka noho ho‘opa‘a ‘ana no kekahi mau haumāna hula a ma hope mai, komo pū akula au ma ia hana ‘o ka hula. I ko‘u manawa e hele ana i ke kula ki‘eki‘e ‘o Kamehameha, ua ‘ōlelo mai ‘o Aunty Winona Beamer e lilo au i ho‘opa‘a no kekahi mau hoa haumāna e ho‘omakaukau ana no ka hōʻike o ka Ho‘okūkū Hīmeni o kēlā makahiki. No ko‘u ho‘omaopopo ‘ana i ko‘u nanea nui palena ‘ole i ka noho ho‘opa‘a ‘ana o Aunty Kau‘i Zuttermeister no kana kaikamahine ‘o Noenoe i hula ma kekahi ‘aha‘aina Hui Kiwila Hawaiʻi i koʻu manawa he ‘elima wale nō makahiki, a no laila, ua noho ho‘opa‘a akula au no kēlā mau haumāna hula. I loko nō na‘e o ko‘u noho ho‘opa‘a ‘ana no lākou, ua ʻike no hoʻi au ‘a‘ole au i ‘ano mākaukau loa. A no laila, ua hele au iā Ho‘oulu Richards ma Kamehameha, a ma laila au i ho‘omaka ai i ke a‘o i ka hula me ke oli. A pau, ua hele pū māua ‘o Ho‘oulu iā Aunty Mā‘iki Aiu Lake ma ka Hālau Hula O Māʻiki. A hala akula kekahi mau makahiki, ‘ūniki au ma kona Hālau i ka MH 1972 ma ke kūlana he ‘ōlapa me ka ho‘opa‘a. Ho‘okahi makahiki ma hope mai, ‘ūniki hou au ma ke kūlana he kumu hula. Pau, hele nō ho‘i au iā Aunty Kau‘i Zuttermeister me kana kaikamahine ‘o Noenoe ma Kāne‘ohe. Pau, hui au me Aunty Lōkālia Montgomery a, aia aku aia mai, ke maika‘i kona ola kino, a‘o mai no ho‘i ‘o ia i ka hula. ‘O Ka‘upena Wong ‘o ia kaʻu kumu oli. Oiai ua aʻo mai ka‘u mau kumu a pau i ke oli i pili i ka hula, na Ka‘upena i hoʻakea a‘e i ko‘u ʻike ma ke a‘o mai i nā ‘ano mele me ke oli ma waho o ka hula. No ka nui palena ‘ole o ka waiwai me ke kū‘i‘o o ke a‘o a ka‘u mau kumu a pau, a no laila, aia iā lākou ko‘u ho‘omaika‘i me ka ho‘ohanohano mau. I ko‘u wāʻi a‘o ai i ka hula me ke oli, ua a‘o au no ke kō wale ‘ana no o ko‘u ‘i‘ini e ‘apo i ia mau mea, ‘a‘ole no ko‘u mana‘o e a‘o aku au i kekahi po‘e. I ia wā nō ho‘i e noho haumāna pū aku ana ma nā kula haole a hiki i ka loa‘a ‘ana mai o ke kēkelē Ph.D. ma Ethnomusicology ma ke Kulanui o Wakinekona. I kēia manawa, ma ko‘u ‘ao‘ao kumu a‘o ma ka Māhele Ha‘awina Hawai‘i o ke Kulanui o Hawai‘i ma Hilo, he a‘o au i ka hula me ke oli ma ka ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i. Mana‘o au ua ho‘omaka ka nui o nā ‘ano hula e kapa ‘ia nei he “hula kahiko” ma kahi o ka hapalua like o ke kenekulia 19, a i ia manawa ua kapa ‘ia ho‘i he “hula ‘ōlapa. ʻO ka hula ‘ōlapa, ‘o ia ka hula he ‘elua laina o ka paukū, a he “haʻina” ko ka paukū hope, e like ho‘i me “Aia Lā ‘O Pele,” “E Ho‘i Ke Aloha I Ni‘ihau,” “Eia No Kawika,” a nui hou aku. Ua ho‘ohui ‘ia ka Hawaiʻi me ka haole a loa‘a maila keia mea he hula ‘ōlapa. Mana‘o no ho‘i au he hana nui ka ho‘opa‘a ʻana a pa‘a maika‘i ka leo oli Hawai‘i maoli i ka mea oli. Ua liiki i ke kumu hula ke ho‘oma‘ama‘a aku i ka haumāna i ke ‘ano o ka ‘uehe, ke kāholo, ka ‘ami, ke kāwelu, a pēlā aku. Eia nō na‘e, i ko‘u mana‘o, ‘a‘ole no i nui loa na kumu i hiki ke ho‘oma‘ama‘a aku i ka haumāna i na ‘ano leo o ke olioli, ka ho‘āeae, ke kepakepa, ke kāwele, a pēla aku. He ‘ike ‘ia ka hula ma ka pā‘ina, ka ho‘ike a me ka ho‘okūkū e ho‘olele ‘ia ma ke kīwī. He kāka‘ikahi wale nō na‘e ka manawa e lohe ‘ia ai ka leo oli Hawaiʻi maoli. ‘O ka mea nō na‘e e lana nei kahi mana‘o, ‘o ia ka ‘ike i ka māhuahua liʻiliʻi a‘e o ka po‘e nāna e ‘imi maoli nei i ia ‘ike ku‘una nani o nā kūpuna. TRANSLATION The way I began to learn the hula is probably somewhat unusual. I began as a ho‘opa‘a for some hula students and only later began to hula myself. When I was a student at Kamehameha, Aunty Winona Beamer asked that I serve as a ho‘opa‘a for some fellow students who were preparing for the hō‘ike portion of the Song Contest that year. Because I remembered my utter and complete fascination with the power and beauty of Aunty Kauʻi Zuttermeister’s chanting and drumming in accompaniment to her daughter Noenoe’s dancing at a Hawaiian Civic Club lū‘au when I was about five-years- old, I agreed to serve as a ho‘opa‘a for those students. Despite my serving as a ho‘opa‘a for them, I still felt that I needed to learn more. And so I began studying the hula and chanting with Hoʻoulu Richards at Kamehameha. Sometime later she and I went to study with Aunty Māʻiki Aiu Lake at the Hālau Hula O Māʻiki. A few years passed and I graduated from her hālau in 1972 as an ‘ōlapa and a ho‘opa‘a. One year later I again graduated from her hālau, but as a kumu hula this time. Later I went to study with Aunty Kau’i Zuttermeister and her daughter Noenoe in Kāne‘ohe. Soon after studying with the Zuttermeisters, I met Aunty Lōkālia Montgomery and occasionally when she w as in good health, she also taught me the hula. Kaʻupena Wong is my teacher of chanting. Although all of my teachers taught chanting that was related to the hula, it was Kaʻupena w ho broadened my knowledge by teaching me various kinds oi chants performed outside of the hula context. Because of the great value and truth in the teachings of my teachers, I shall always be thankful and indebted to them. When I learned the hula and chanting, I did so only to satisfy my own desire to learn about these arts and not because I thought I might eventually teach others. At that time too, I was a student in schools of west cm education until I finally earned the Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the University of Washington. Today as a teacher of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, I teach hula and chanting through the medium of Hawaiian as a part of the curriculum there. I believe that much of the kind of hula currently being called “hula kahiko” probably began at around the middle of the 19th century and was then called “hula ‘ōlapa.” Hula ‘ōlapa generally have verses of two lines apiece and a “ha‘ina” in the last verse. Examples of hula ‘ōlapa are “Aia Lā ʻO Pele,” “E Ho‘i Ke Aloha I Ni‘ihau,” “Eia Nō Kāwika” and many others. Hawaiian and haole elements were joined to produce this acculturated type of music and dancing. I also believe that it is difficult for chanters today to learn proper Hawaiian chant vocal production. Hula teachers can train their students in the intricacies of the ‘uehe, the kāholo, the ‘ami, the kāwelu, and so on. However 1 believe that there aren t many teachers wdio are able to train their students in the intricacies of chant styles like the olioli, the hoʻāeae, the kepakepa, the kāwele, and so on. Hula can be seen at parties, concerts, and competitions broadcast on TV. Unfortunately proper Hawaiian chanting is heard only very rarely. Nonetheless I have cause to be hopeful as I see that gradually more and more people are earnestly seeking this priceless traditional knowledge of our ancestors. 104 Kalena Silva
Ka‘aiikawaha Kekau‘ilani Kalama
Ka‘aiikawaha Kekauʻilani Kalama Lani Kalama, cousin of Māiki Aiu Lake, serves as a hula consultant for various hula halaus throughout Hawaii. She currently resides in Kailua, O‘ahu. When I was fifteen-years-old, my friend Nellie Wong told me she had heard of a lady named Lokalia Montgomery who was teaching the hula pahu in Kapahulu. My yearning to further my knowledge in the hula prompted me to pay fourteen dollars to learn which was a lot of money in those days. I didn’t dare ask my grandmother because I was sure she wouldn’t let me, so I broke my piggy bank and I took that money to Lokalia to pay for my lessons. My formal hula training actually began at the age of seven under Tūtū Keaka Kanahele and Gertrude Makini at Aunty Gertrudes home on Rose Street. The class was made up of all the neighborhood children and the kids in my family. The Makinis’ had a big yard and a large home and we would move all the chairs in the living room, and that’s where we would dance. We would go to class everyday and if Tūtū felt like it we were there for hours. If she was tired the class would be cancelled for three or four days. I graduated traditionally with Aunty Gertrude and then I went on to Harriet Kepelino Fernandez who trained me in hula ‘auwana. I went through the hula kapu training with Aunty Harriet but when it came time to perform the rituals myself my grandmother stopped me. I am especially grateful to my grandmother Helen Pamaiēulu Ha‘o Correa who exposed me to the hula at a very tender age. She made me aware of the mannerisms and protocol of the hula because back then the definition of hula ‘auwana meant hula that was free of any ritual ceremony or kapu and had nothing to do with creativity or musical accompaniment. I graduated traditionally from Aunty Harriet at fourteen but I wanted to study more of the hula pahu and that is how I was led to Lokalia Montgomery. In Lokalia’s dining room she had a great dinner table where she would talk with her guests. Beautiful Hawaiian ladies such as Kawena Pūku‘i, Malia Kau, and Vickie I‘i would drop in throughout the day to “talk story” and we would be in the dancing area which was separated by a sliding door waiting to learn. One day I decided to be the teacher and I had the girls dance as I chanted and beat the drum. She returned sooner than I expected and she told me from that day on I would have to learn both the chant and the dance. One night there was a chant I really wanted to learn so I sat in my room in the dark and beat my pahu softly and chanted to myself. After awhile I got so involved I began pounding my drum and chanting full-voice. Before I knew it the door was open and my grandmother was standing there. Up until that evening no one in my family had any idea I was learning the hula pahu and I thought that was it for me. I told her about the piggy bank and Lokalia and she began to cry. She told me that her father had proclaimed that their future lay in the Christian world. No one was encouraged to go into the Hawaiian culture. But he prophesied that despite all this suppression, one of his descendants would come out of it and I turned out to be the one. I was sixteen at the time and my grandmother said she wanted to meet this Lokalia. Under Lokalia we were never allowed to write anything. We never received a copy of a translation; she just taught and we just listened. Her descriptions and translations were all in-tune with nature. Lokalia said her mentor was Kawena Pūku‘i and there were no teaching differences between Keaka Kanahele and Lokalia so I consider my hula kahiko to be a continuation of the Keaka Kanahele-Kawena Pūku‘i- Lokalia Montgomery line. In preparation for our ‘ūniki our last practice was held at midnight before the next day’s ceremony. Sally Wood Nālua‘i was married and so she was permitted to go home but the rest of us had to spend the night at Lokalia’s home. All of our implements were made by Timothy Montgomery, Lokalia’s husband, and our clothing was made by Lokalia. On the day of the ‘ūniki we had a little pā‘ina in the living room which was followed by a public ceremony to which all of our friends and relatives were invited. I began to teach the hula in 1948 in the parish hall of the Blessed Sacrament Church in Pauoa as a means of adding to my family’s livelihood. I was married and I was starting a family and 1 taught the parishioners of the Church. Through the years I have kept myself involved with the hula but always my first obligation was to my family and my husband Charles Kalama. I consider myself a contemporary hula teacher and not a kumu hula. I think the word kumu is used too loosely today. I’m only a branch of the tree. My teachers were the real kumu. To be a real teacher you cannot have two lives. You cannot be married or have a family because your life has to be dedicated to your students. I am grateful to many people who shared their knowledge with me. My mama Hoakalei deFries had patience with me, Pilahi Paki gave me a foundation in the Hawaiian language, and Gertrude Makini and Harriet Kepelino gave me my training in hula ‘auwana. Someone told me that people have to express their creativity and you have to have modern thinking today. But I feel we have to remember the past. That doesn’t mean we remain in the past but without our traditional ways we have no foundation. The question that is repeatedly asked today is how do we know what is traditional? There are a few people who lived during those times and were taught by the hula masters of yesterday. I am asking the kumu hula of today to have faith and a belief in them.
Nā Kumu Hula Johnny Lum Ho - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 72
For over twenty years Johnny Lum Ho has been teaching hula at the same location in downtown Hilo. He named his studio Hālau Ka Ua Kani Lehua which means “the rain that patters the lehua. ” When I used to sing for George Nā‘ope and Edith Kanaka‘ole, I would enjoy and admire the hula gills during their performances. I never took hula lessons. I just watched and started my own. My mother who spoke Hawaiian was there to help me when I needed the meaning of a word. From there I made my own motions. The steps I teach are basic steps and yon can pick it up fast. So long you have the basic steps, know the words and think about it, and the music, the hula will come together. I have my own style but I do not think I deviated from the hula. To me it is exciting to do something not like the others. I always thought that if they can make their rain one way, I can do rain my way. You must be yourself. You cannot be another ʻIolani Luahine. God did not make everybody to be the same. I teach my children songs that I composed and I usually teach them the way I feel I want it to be. I sometimes have something in my mind, like a pig, and I tell the girls to try to imitate a pig. I will look around and everyone will do their own and I will see the one I like. Everybody in the hālau takes part in the choreography. I do not take the credit alone but together all of us help. My dances express my feelings of the song that I composed. If people like it, good. If not, they can look at another hālau because for me I am happy with what I do. My joy in my teaching is knowing that what I composed has been completed when the dance and the music come together. For a competition I take time to choose the song and I already know which girl I want because I can see how her expression and moves are going to be. That is how my Miss Aloha Hula is chosen. To me the judges are just a little portion of the whole crowd who paid to come and see you. And if I captivate them all, right on! When the crowd appreciates you, you know you’ve excited them. You know that you came across to them just the way you wanted to. To compose, a simple thought may come as I am driving. Somebody mentions something in Hawaiian that I like and I think this will be good for a dance. I remember when Mama was alive. She mentioned the wahine pou pou pau hana nu‘u. I think, “Oh, that sounds nice.” I know it will be nice in a dance. So with a story and a simple word, the music and dance will come together. And with those words, I already know which girl will dance the song. To me my compositions are in the old style because it is an old story with old words made into a dance, but some people will say no because it is not a song that was handed down. To me it is an ancient story even if you write it and dance it now. That’s kahiko. There is no one alive today from the ancient times to put old stories together as it was when they were alive. If they were alive today, I would gladly ask them. The clothes and style one wears might be old but the body that wears it is young.
John W. Keanuenue Ka‘imikaua
John W. Keānuenue Kaʻimikaua John Kaʻimikaua began to formally teach in 1977 with the establishment of Hālau Hula O Kukunaokalā. I was but a very young boy of fourteen years standing six feet tall when I first met my benefactor of Hawaiian knowledge. Her name was Kawahinekapuheleikapōkāne and she was ninety-two-years- old. She stood erect and tall, six feet four inches to my six feet, like a young woman in an old womans body. She asked if I was interested in my Hawaiian culture to which I answered in the affirmative. She told me she had in her possession a compiled record of hulas, chants, and stories of our Hawaiian people and no one in her family was interested in learning them. She then told me she had been waiting and praying for a very long time for someone to come so that she could teach and pass on this knowledge. But each year passed and no one approached and she thought the knowledge she possessed would die with her. The woman was extremely well-preserved. She had short, white hair, a rather dark complexion, and very dark, piercing eyes which made one feel as though she were looking into the very depths of your soul and comprehending everything about you. Her voice was captivating, and when she chanted in the oli fashion she didn’t have to tell me what the oli was about for her voice tones were made to sound like the waves washing over the sand or airy like the winds above a cliff or whispery like the soft rustling leaves. She made me feel as though I were a part of the very essence of nature itself. To me, I was the earth, the wind, the seas, and the skies. For two years I met with her at her home everyday after school. She taught me well and I was fortunate to be able to absorb all she had to teach me in the very short time we had. In 1975 at the end of my junior year in high school she passed away. I never knew if she had an English name or even what her family name was. I never knew if she had any family because when I visited with her she was always alone. All I have left to remind me that she lived are these chants, hulas, and stories from Molokaʻi and a genealogy of my line of kumu hula ending with her. During my time of study with her, Kawahine explained the genealogy and told me of the descendency of my line of kumu hula which reverts all the way back to Laka and five more generations beyond her. She further explained that for every two kumus on the genealogy chart, the time span marks a hundred years. With the genealogy I possess; the chants, hulas, stories, and historical records she shared with me would date back to 900 A.D. Each kumu in the genealogy kept a record of what transpired during their lifetime. They recorded the births and deaths of ali‘is, chiefs, and other notable people in Hawaiian history. They recorded events, wars, and life-styles of the people. They wrote of the foods planted, the animals in abundance, the work labored and the changes in the land. All this and more was recorded in the chants and stories left me by my benefactor, all written in Hawaiian, some translated to English. One of the most significant treasures of information which Kawahine imparted to me was the knowledge that the race of people the Hawaiians descended from, once had an ancient written language that long prevailed in their record keeping and everyday communication. It consisted of symbols representing nouns and verbs, and read from top to bottom. The sentence structure was ordered from right to left. This written language was taught to each kumu in the genealogy line as a means to preserve this art, for the language soon disappeared from the people because of a lack of use as the life-styles of the people changed. The stories and beliefs of the early Hawaiians regarding extraordinary animals, people, and events were based on realistic happenings and factual accounts. Today they are regarded as myths and legends. For example through the chants, it relates how Molokaʻi at one time was over-run by huge mo‘o or lizards. The kumus recorded these lizards to be the size of mountain ridges. These creatures had an almost human-like intelligence and had the ability to communicate with man. Another aspect recorded in the chants tells of giants who once lived and thrived on the land. The events that are recorded in some of these chants are unbelievable but then our world today would be just as unbelievable to other people in the past or in the future. The combined land area of all eight Hawaiian Islands today are but a tenth of what the lands of Hawaiʻi once were. The extent of the land at one time was so great that it supported a population of millions of inhabitants. There were no separate islands per se but all were connected. The separation of this land occurred through mass destruction generated by earthquakes and other natural occurrences which resulted in the sinking of nine- tenths of the land and much of the inhabitants into the ocean. But I turn my thoughts to Molokaʻi again and relate the significant aspect of this epistle. It was on this island of Moloka'i that Laka was born and taught the hula by her older sister Kapoulakīnaʻu. At that time only the family of Laka possessed the knowledge and artistic skills of the hula and it was retained and taught only to the members of her family. It was only after Laka attained this knowledge and art that she spread this art form to every island. First to Ni'ihau, then Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Maui, Lānaʻi, and lastly to the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. Wherever she traveled, academies of dance were started and the traditions were carried forth by her ardent students. When age crept upon her, Laka returned to Molokaʻi where she spent her remaining years enmeshed in her dance and died in the place called Kaʻana. What is sorely missing in the ancient hula today is the purity of spirit within each individual kumu and dancer. Ancient hula is spiritual. When we perform we are indeed re-enacting the past life of our forefathers, and we must be clean from the inside-out in order to spiritually satisfy and represent the hula according to tradition. The hula was held sacred and was a means of expressing the life-styles and culture of our forefathers. It was not entertainment but their way of communicating effectively. Our whole Hawaiian culture: its lifestyles, government, temple ceremonies, genealogy, and interests were preserved in these chants. When Kawahine gave me her knowledge, she did so with these words which long have remained imprinted upon my mind. She said, ‘I give you all that I have which is pure and true and all that now remains, for this knowledge of sacred records once flourished like a tree with many branches from Kaʻana and extended far into the corners of our lands. But eventually the branches withered and died and only the aged trunk remained. My predecessors foretold of this breaking away and so we (the kumus) have carefully guarded and nurtured the trunk of this tree. This I give to you. The true knowledge of our Hawaiian people.’ The hula is the inspiration that will enable the Hawaiians to rise up from the dust out of obscurity. It is the last hope that can make us feel Hawaiian and remember our culture and forefathers. The dance will thus be the last of our cultural strongholds that may well preserve our dying heritage.
John R. Kahai Topolinski
John R. Kaha‘i Topolinski Kahai Topolinski, kumu hula for Ka Pā Hula Hawaii, has taught traditional hula on O‘ahu for the past ten years. Mrs. (Kawena) Pūku‘i told me that hula is not only for our people. It is for anyone who has the desire. You do not have to be Hawaiian to dance. If you want it to live, you must give it to everybody so that it can create a better understanding about Hawai‘i and the culture. The fact that non-Hawaiians want to learn the dance should be a compliment. When I went away to college on the Mainland, I was asked to dance at a “get together” of Hawai‘i students. And I couldn’t. The remark was of course, I am Hawaiian but can’t even do the national dance. That was the spark that told me to come back home and learn to dance. In 1971 I met Aunty Mā‘iki Aiu Lake and she became my first kumu hula. I studied under Aunty Ma‘iki for two-and- a-half years and she was a very positive influence on my life. She was very strict in her hālau but at the same time very giving. She would explain the dance out thoroughly, clarifying the abstract motions and meanings and giving us the background on the kaona of each mele. I graduated traditionally from Aunty Mā’iki in 1973 and I went on to study informally under Henry Pa, Sally Wood Nālua‘i, and Kawena Pūku‘i. Looking back I feel that all my kumu were equal in their influence on me because they each opened up a facet of the hula that I was unaware of. Mā’iki gave me the confidence that I was kumu hula material and she gave me my foundation in the hula. Uncle Henry showed me how to create variations in the dance by combining foot movements to create a nice, balanced picture. Sally Wood Nālua‘i trained me in the drum techniques of Pua Ha‘aheo, and Kawena Pūku‘i passed on to me an in-depth philosophy of the hula. Her daughters Pat and Pele taught me how to chant and create in the traditional framework using traditional Hawaiian motions as opposed to Western dance motions. Of my kumu I have been with Mrs. Pūku‘i and her family for eight years which has been my longest training relationship, and my most memorable experience. There have been many times when I have been troubled and searching for knowledge and her family has always been there for me. My kumu taught me that in the hula you must treat everything, animate and inanimate, with respect or you will be defiling them. I saw the disloyalty of some haumāna as they abused what had been freely given to them, and I don’t think some of my kumu ever understood these changes of loyalties. It made them apprehensive of opening up and sharing their knowledge. I began to teach in 1973 because I wanted to restore the male image in the hula that had been lacking for so many years. The greatest change in the hula had been the influence of Western ideas and dance movements on the traditional hula. Women were dancing like men and vice versa and that is the change that I strongly opposed. I had been taught that the Hawaiian traditional dance is based on the ethic that the male and female are opposites. They exist to complement each other like the Oriental yin and yang. In 1973 there were too many of these changes that were coming into the hula that were not Hawaiian, and I felt the traditional hula was becoming lost and unrecognizable for the generations to come. Today we’ve reached a plateau in the Hawaiian culture and I forsee our future as being a battle between preserving tradition as opposed to its dilution. How can we keep the creativity of our young, individualistic kumu within the context of the traditional hula? The new kumu of Hawai‘i are no longer masters of their art. They are creating a new traditional hula that appeals to the appetite of the masses. Today the masters of the art of the traditional hula is the public.