Ellen Ku‘uleialohapo‘inaole Pūka‘ikapuaokalani Smith Castillo
Ellen Ku‘uleialohapo‘inaole Puka‘ikapuaokalani Smith Castillo - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 27
Ellen Castillo has been teaching the hula since 1958. She was also a kupuna for the Department of Education, Hawaiiana Program on the Windward side of O‘ahu. Puka‘ikapuaokalani is the name of my tūtū on my father’s side. She received rigorous training in hula and danced only for a select audience. When I was three-years-old as we were preparing to return to Honolulu from one of our visits to Tūtū’s Kaupō home, she decided she wanted me to stay. Although my mother and father were saddened by this separation, the family respected the Hawaiian tradition of hānai. So Tūtū raised me in Maui speaking only Hawaiian, and shared with me her knowledge and love for our culture like lau hala weaving which were a part of our daily routine. My Tūtū Puka‘ikapuaokalani’s name lives on through my hālau. I studied hula with Aunty Bella Richards when I was nine-years-old. She had about thirty students and we danced on her lawn on the side of her house. She emphasized hula ‘auana, and later taught Tahitian dancing. Aunty Bella learned traditional hula from her kumu Bella Kuamo‘o and from Mary Fujii, the mother of Aunty Edith Kanaka‘ole. I stayed with Aunty Bella for fifteen years. I served as her alaka‘i and taught with her for a couple of years as a requirement for my certificate. Aunty Bella wouldn’t let her students teach without first overseeing them. I graduated and received my certificate from her in 1958. Between lessons from Aunty Bella, I received additional training in kahiko from Aunty Emma Kahelelani Bishop, and later from Aunty Kekau'ilani Kalama. Aunty Bella was with me during the first few hula lessons I taught. My initial teaching experience was at her home where she made me teach a new class of thirty students. She also had private students and I would go to their homes to give lessons. After teaching for her, I branched out on my own in 1959 with her blessing. I enjoy watching my students perform. As a kumu you work hard with your students to achieve what you envision. People wonder why you keep entering competition after competition. When I see my students and the finished product presented on stage, I feel very fortunate to be able to perpetuate my culture and preserve the beauty of hula. I try to instill in my students, the same love and respect for our language and culture that I learned from my Tūtū. ‘O ka hula ka‘u makana na ku‘u Tūtū Pūka‘ikapuaokalani. (The hula is my gift to my Tūtū Puka‘ikapuaokalani.) “I enjoy watching my students perform. As a kumu you work hard with your students to achieve what you envision.”
William Kahakuleilehua Haunu‘u Ching
Nā Kumu Hula William Kahakuleilehua Haunu‘u Ching - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 28
In March 1986 William “Sonny" Ching established Hālau Na Mamo O Puʻuanahulu which is currently located in the Kapahulu and Kapālama areas of Honolulu. It was preordained that I would be the one to continue hula in my family. Both my grandmother and great grandmother could foresee it. After I was born, my great grandmother said I was going to be the chanter. At the age of four my grandmother started teaching me some of the chants and we would progress to the dancing. When I was twelve, my father decided that I shouldn’t dance so my grandmother taught me without his permission. Now he is my biggest supporter. My grandmother Lena Pua‘ainahau Eleakala Nahulu Guerrero was my confidant, my roommate, my grandmother, and my best friend. She taught me on a one-to-one situation and we usually did things on a daily basis. We always preceded our training with prayer and because my grandmother was of pure koko and was fluent in the language, she prayed in Hawaiian. That’s how I run my class today. Before we dance, we pray to Akua and to Laka. My grandmother told me I can never set up a kuahu because my hālau is to be dedicated to God. But it was all right to do the chants that honor Laka because those chants need to continue otherwise it would be forgotten. For us this is part of the ritual that prepares us spiritually, physically, and mentally for the hula. This is one of the ways we build our mana. The method that my grandmother used to teach me hula and chant was by imitation. This is also the way I teach today. We just repeated this process until she felt I was doing ii correctly. She chanted, I chanted. She danced, I danced. I was not allowed to write anything which was good because when you learn strictly through memory, things tend to stay with you longer. I had an ‘ūniki with my grandmother in February of 1984. It wasn’t a traditional ʻailolo ceremony but more like a hu‘elepo. It was a private ritual of prayers and food and was held during the day. I was presented and I danced and chanted some of the things I was taught. I don’t think my grandmother felt that I was truly ready to ‘ūniki but she knew that her time was ending and she felt it was necessary to do this. She even told me that though I received her permission to teach that it didn’t mean I was through learning. That for everything I knew, there was a hundred other things I didn’t know! And that I was to go on seeking knowledge. Thus the saving in our hālau, “Ho‘oulu i ka na‘auao” (To grow in wisdom). When I was fifteen, my grandmother gave me permission to experience being in a hālau. That was my beginning with Frank Kawaikapuokalani Hewett. It was incredible to belong to his hālau. The mana within the hālau was and is very strong and you could feel the spirit permeate the air. The students had so much aloha for each other and they were so willing to spend extra time to help you learn. I was never one of his best students. I know that I did not get enough of all he had to offer. He has so much knowledge of the culture; his whole lifestyle lives the culture. This is probably the greatest lesson I have learned from him. Becoming a kumu hula doesn’t mean you just teach hula. Becoming and being a kumu hula dictates your whole lifestyle. It dictates the way you think, your actions, and your view on life. All of these things are interrelated. I danced with Frank for about three years and it was he who gave me the name I use today, Kahakuleilehua. After moving to town however it just became too difficult to continue commuting to He‘eia on the bus with all of my hula implements and my other interests started playing more of an important role in my life. I guess that I did not have the dedication, discipline, and desire strong enough to continue. After about a year and a half I started with Lahela Ka‘aihue. It was Lahela who truly taught me to love the hula ‘auana. She is such a beautiful dancer. I could sit for hours and watch her dance. The style of dancing that we do, especially the men’s ‘auana, is really Lahela. I went through a period where I wanted to be a fashion designer in New York City. Thank God I never pursued that dream. As I got older, I realized the importance of teaching hula. In 1986 Moses Crabb asked me to take over his class at Pākī Park because he was concentrating on his kumu hula training with Robert Cazimero. I started teaching a group of kupuna and ten years later I m still at Pākī Park. Some of the kupuna in my class today are the same ladies from that original class. For any of my students to become kumu hula, they need to be stronger in the language. They need to have a better understanding of the poetry of the chants and to understand the kaona or the hidden meaning of the chants. I require them to learn all of the kuahu chants and the dressing chants. In addition I think it is very important that kumu hula are able to choreograph, create, write, take a chant from the 1600s or 1700s and put it into hula movements today. I cannot say that what we do is what the teachers of old would do. It is good that some hula masters perpetuated things exactly as they were taught to them. And it is through their teachings that we will always have what was from a time before us. But that is not my job. My job is to perpetuate hula in the ancient styles and not be too loud or outrageous in the kahiko movements. It needs to be done within these guidelines. You need to maintain tradition even if it is choreographed today. Most importantly a kumu needs to be strong spiritually. Kumu also means foundation or base and if the foundation is not strong, you cannot build upon it. I believe that hula is getting back to being performed more in the traditional manner. There was a period when the hula was getting a little too wild; too many introductions of other dance forms, especially to the hula kahiko. I think it has turned around due to the revival of other aspects of our culture like the ‘ōlelo, oli, planting, la‘au lapa‘au, navigation, hūnā, lua, weaving, amongst others. I hope that people like myself and my fellow kumu hula are looking to keeping things traditional vet conducive to our times. The hula has changed over time and I think that this is a good thing or it is my belief that the hula would die. I think each of us breathe our own breath into our dance, our haumāna, our hālau. This need is why we are kumu hula. That is what makes each of us unique, different. If we did things the same, there would be no need for different hālau. A handful would suffice and we would be unable to document our times. 28 William Kahakuleilehua Haunuʻu Ching
April Pualani Peeples Chock
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April Chock is currently teaching for the Kaimukī Adult Education Program and the Queen Liliʻuokalani Children’s Center in Honolulu. In 1957 I began taking hula lessons from the late Māʻiki Aiu Lake who had her studio on Ke‘eaumoku Street. Besides the hula, she also taught us other things like how to haku lei and how to wrap a kīkepa in many different ways. We had the best years with Aunty Mā‘iki because she always had time for us. In 1958 I started performing at the Lau Yee Chai Restaurant during the weekends and at the Halekūlani Hotel once a month with Aunty Mā‘iki. I danced at the Queen’s Surf with Terii Rua, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village with Danny Kaleikini and at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel for special events. I worked in Nara, Japan at Dreamland and sang with Ed Kenney in the Tapa Room in Waikīkī. When I wasn’t performing, I was studying with Māʻiki at the studio to puka. But I left when I got married and had children. If you can’t concentrate, you can’t study. I was sad to leave Mā‘iki but she always told us that family conies first. I would go in to help her but not as much as I did before. I was there if she needed me but it wasn't like I was going in every day and opening up the studio. I taught for Mā‘iki in her hālau whenever she traveled to do shows. When I had my second child in 1965, I asked her if I could teach some friends of mine who wanted to learn hula for their wedding. From those four friends my studio grew in number. In 1982 I knew I had to learn more and go deeper into the knowledge so I went to Kamamalu Klein to finish up. On August 18, 1985 I puka with Kamāmalu Klein in Kāne‘ohe. What we receive from our teachers is the kīhei. That is our certificate, not a piece of paper. The ceremony shows what we accomplished throughout the years. We made our own pahu, ipu heke, and ulī ʻulī for these are crafts that teachers should know and be able to explain. It’s a review of all we learned but we keep going to classes because we really don’t stop learning. After I puka, I changed my hula studio name to Hālau ʻo Apelila. In 1992 Kamāmalu gave me another name for my hālau which I use as a signature, “Uluwehikalikolehuaikauanoe.” Her thought was that any student leaving my hālau would flourish and any student in my hālau would have the knowledge of Hawai‘i and would keep it as heritage. Nānā I Na Loea Hula 31
Karen Kaohulani Aiu Costa
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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.”
Ray Kahikilaulani Fonseca
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Ray Fonseca began teaching in 1980 and established Hālau Hula ‘O Kahikilaulani located in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. I started as a Tahitian drummer for Keolalaulani Hula Studio and then with Pauline Padeken and Lokelani Andersen. Aunty Pauline’s and Aunty Lokelani’s group went to Hilo to participate in the Merrie Monarch Festival and that’s when I met Uncle George Nā‘ope. He liked my Tahitian and asked me to come to Hilo to teach at his hālau. So in the summer of 1973 I left Honolulu to live with Uncle George and I didn’t return home until three years later. I learned to dance hula at the age of seventeen while living with Uncle George. I went everywhere with him and that’s how I began taking an interest in hula. Although Uncle George was my kumu hula for many years, he encouraged me to learn from other hula resources. He made me go to workshops and told me who to take from. He directed me to learn from Lokalia Montgomery. I took workshops from Henry Pa and took classes from Aunty Edith Kanaka‘ole and Aunty Eleanor Hiram Hoke. Uncle George wanted me to broaden my horizon and not be limited to learning only from him. In 1977 I ‘ūniki from Uncle George and in 1980 I opened my hālau in Hilo. At that time Hilo did not have too many teachers especially in hula kahiko. I named my hālau Hālau Hula ‘O Kahikilaulani meaning, “The Staff of Heaven.” Kahikilaulani was my hula name given to me at my ‘ūniki by Uncle George. When I am teaching, it is the force within me that drives me. Everything in my life is related to hula. i keep the traditional dances exactly as i learned them from Uncle George. These dances will be carried on. My joy is to see my students perform to the best of their abilities and to do it with full love and understanding of the art. In my hālau we try to do everything ourselves. We make the implements, feather lei, haku lei, and costumes. It gives my students a feeling of accomplishment when they dance in costumes that they made themselves. When I win at competition, I first feel fortunate and blessed. I always tell the dancers to thank the Almighty who allows us to be here. What really matters is that they all come off that stage feeling good about themselves and that they have a greater understanding of the art. Uncle George is my greatest inspiration. He always told me that in hula, the sharing of one’s knowledge enhances one’s own knowledge. So my job was to share what l have learned with the people of Hawai‘i and in turn I would gain more knowledge. If I get stuck on a chant, I will go to him to ask for advice. Until today even if we live apart, I am still with Uncle George in spirit. “My joy is to see my students perform to the best of their abilities and to do it with full love and understanding of the art.” 38 Ray Kahikilaulani Fonseca
Nā Kumu Hula Hōkūlani Holt-Padilla - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 41
Hōkūlani Holt-Padilla started her hālau in 1976 and has been teaching hula for over twenty-five years. She is also the coordinator of Nā Pua No‘eau-Maui. There are several reasons why I chose the name Pā‘ū O Hi'iaka for my hālau. One is for my mother’s family who have always been ocean people. The Pā‘ū O Hi'iaka is a beach plant and it is also a native Hawaiian plant. The story about how this plant got its name comes from the Pele and Hi'iaka myth. It tells of Pele going down to the beach with her baby sister Hi‘iaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele in the early morning. She leaves her sister by the beach and goes into the water to surf. As the sun gets warmer she thinks about her sister and returns to where Hi'iaka lay. She found that a small beach plant had grown to cover the baby to protect it from the sun. So Pele gave that small beach plant the name Pā‘ū O Hi'iaka which means, “the skirt of Hi'iaka. In Pele and Hi'iaka stories the pā‘ū is magical and it can defeat enemies; it was her protection as she traveled through the islands. For all these reasons we thought it was a good symbol to have for our hālau. Hula has always been a part of my life. My first teacher was my tūtū who was Ida Pakulani Long. I was also taught by my aunty Kāhili Cummings and of course my mother Leiana Woodside. Learning from my tūtū and aunty meant being very disciplined: there was no fooling around. You had to watch, listen, and follow. There wasn’t a whole lot of in-depth explanation of what you were doing. You were expected to know it. She explained some things but not like what I do for my students today. Her style was half way between the strong bombastic Hawai'i styling and the more flowing style of O‘ahu. We were encouraged to dance low in the style that is now called ‘aiha‘a. We were also encouraged to move our bodies fluently. Because I lived for a time with my tūtū and my aunty, they would teach me when they were in the mood. My aunty also had a group of dancers composed of my cousins and the people who lived in the neighborhood; we would meet twice-a-week. By the time I was in the ninth grade, I was considered her alaka‘i. She would work out her choreography with me and when the other dancers came, I would be the alaka'i for the class. My interest and my love for kahiko grew because of Aunty Hoakalei Kamau'u. When I was nineteen, the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts began a program in which they were encouraging the development of kumu hula. That’s when I began learning with Hoakalei. She started with about thirty students. She used to teach in different areas like Waimanalo, Kalihi, and Kane‘ohe. As students started to drop out and the size of each class dwindled, Aunty Hoakalei brought us all together in one place up in Nu'uanu. For the first three years we did nothing but kahiko; it was like a regular hālau. We would do a little bit of chanting but learn primarily hula. Aunty Hoakalei taught without any paper or tape recorder. We had to pay attention, listen, and follow. When we got the choreography down, she would pass out papers and we would sit "Learning from my tūtū and aunty meant being very disciplined; there was no fooling around. You had to watch, listen, and follow and do the ho‘opa‘a part and learn the accompanying myth. While I was still studying with her, she came to me and said it was time for me to have my own class. We arranged for the first class to be in Kaimukī. She would come for the first couple of weeks and observe me. She’d give me feedback and she would leave me alone for a few weeks. A few weeks or a month later she would check on me again. The classes were usually held in school cafeterias and they were open to the general public. Observing what other people call ʻūniki, I would say I did not ʻūniki. After returning to Maui I talked to my mother when I was ready to begin my hālau. She told me that it was not necessary for me to do that kind of ‘ūniki because hula was in our family. It wasn’t necessary for me to go through a formal ceremony. She said it was enough that I go ahead and teach because my tutu would have wanted that for me. My tutu had already passed away by the time I started my halau. Although my tūtū never mentioned it, I do recall at family parties I would see' her sometimes eating particular parts of the pig when she thought that no one was watching. She must have gone through a formal 'ūniki herself. I am a third generation kumu hula. Perhaps there are even more generations than that but I’m not sure. My mother comes from a family of fifteen and I have over forty first cousins. All of my cousins learned how to dance but I am the only one right now who is a kumu hula. Becoming a teacher was a conscious decision. First of all I wanted to be a good dancer. Then as I started learning from Hoakalei to develop into a teacher, I found that sharing knowledge with people was something that I liked to do. I always wanted to share my love for the hula with others and to have others love and enjoy the hula as much as I do. Hoakalei taught me how to teach but my mother taught me how to be a kumu hula. She taught me the little things on the quality of movements, the dress, the philosophical behavior of kumu hula, and their relationship to their students. She taught me how7 to take responsibility for the needs of my students. I have my family style of hula: lots of hip and upper body movement in expression. Our tempo is upbeat but not too fast. I try to pass on the dances as they were taught to me by my various teachers but I also feel that what makes a kumu hula grow and flourish is that they have this creativity within them as well. Hula kahiko uses chants rather than singing and is accompanied by traditional percussion instruments rather than contemporary instruments. It is more earthy; its expressions come from the movements of nature. The purity of the movement is what is important; it is a pure movement that has come through the generations.
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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. ”
Nā Kumu Hula PaIani Kahala - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 44
The late Palani Kahala established the Kahala Foundation to perpetuate his original chants and dances. In January 1991 Palani Kahala presented his final performance as kumu hula of the Ladies of Kahanākealoha and the Gentlemen of Maluikeao. There are two styles of hula kahiko. There’s what I term as classical or traditional hula kahiko and then there is a contemporary styling of ancient hula. Traditional hula has been passed down by succeeding generations. For myself and other hula teachers, we should never change chants like "Kaulīlua," “‘Au‘aʻla,” “A Ko‘olau Au.” We should never try to attempt to re-do something as historically valuable as these dances. If it is the way it was performed, say, a hundred years ago, then it should be the same a hundred years from now. Yet in the same light, this generation of Hawaiians are a source of tradition. Like our ancestors, we share the same spirit of creativity. Things we create today will become the traditions of tomorrow. Composing mele are a means by which I can express the whole spectrum of human emotion. Some of my greatest moments of composing have come in times of personal strife. Times when I’m going through an emotional or physical crisis often lead to creative moments that swell inside. I find myself being very creative and wanting to write. I started hula at age seventeen while a student at Kamehameha Schools. My teachers were Robert Cazimero and Wayne Keahi Chang. They came to instruct the school’s Concert Clee Club. Someone came up with the novel idea to turn the training into a formal hālau so members of the group became part of the first men of Hālau Nā Kamalei. I stayed for three years learning hula. I’ve never ʻūniki in the formal sense, yet I’ve maintained an extensive background in Hawaiian culture having taken classes in Hawaiian language to speak proficiently. Included in my training are culture classes in high school and college. What has helped tremendously is the fact that I hail from Kahana, Oʻahu where remnants of Hawaiian culture still exist. In 1980 when I returned from serving as an Intelligence Analyst with the 307th Army Security Agency in Ludwigsburg, Germany, I had no plans to teach hula. I was actually planning to attend college to pursue a career in communications hut things changed. My aunt Verna Wilson encouraged me to teach a group of women and that was the beginning of my hālau. My students are my greatest accomplishments as a kumu hula. When I graduate my students, I expect them to do two things. First, they must develop a sense of discipline. Secondly, ha‘aha‘a or humility and compassion for others. If anything, these are the things that I try to instill in my teachings. As far as the term itself, kumu means teacher/source and of course, with hula it means hula source. There are those who might argue that a true kumu hula comes from a lineage of kumu hula. I say that is correct but there are some very important teachers in the hula world who don’t possess this particular hula genealogy. Their contributions far exceed many who have had that formal link with the past. In many ways these people should he respected and recognized for their works. They’ve earned the right to he called kumu by the amount of work and dedication they’ve put into it. I feel competition brings hula into the forefront of public attention. Performing in competitions has built my reputation. I’d be just another unknown had it not been for the exposure of the Merrie Monarch Festival and other competitions. I felt in the beginning, and I guess its my own immaturity, that winning was everything. At this point in my life, winning is not as important as enjoying what you do. There is a feeling of overwhelming joy to perform. That feeling is more important than the opinions of the competition judges. No one can take that joy away. No one can take away that feeling that you are a winner just for trying. A trophy is merely a symbol recognizing excellence and achievement but that doesn’t mean you didn’t do well. I think I have a definite style of hula. Nothing specific yet there are certain hula moves that can be attributed to me; certain concepts and ideas which I have helped to promote; things people would come back and say, “Hey, that’s very Palani Kahala. I don’t believe in originality. I merely think that what is labeled as original is a recombination of ideas that have been tested before. A good kumu hula takes the very best of what he’s learned and looks at it from another perspective. If that is originality, well, I’m guilty. I do it all the time. In developing style I watch, look, and listen — not only to hula but all forms of dance such as ballet, jazz, other ethnic dances, and I can see the ideas that they’ve generated. "When I graduate my students, I expect them to do two things. First, they must develop a sense of discipline. Secondly, ha ‘ahaʻa or humility and compassion for others. ” 44 Palani Kahala
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.
Nā Kumu Hula Namahana Kalama-Panui - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 48
Namahana Kalama-Pānui is a Hawaiian Studies teacher for the Department of Education, Central District on O‘ahu. She also commutes to Maui where she devotes her time to teach the children of Hāna. When I view my life and the blessings that I’ve received, I realize that I have been nurtured. influenced, inspired, and guided by the Divine, by family, by kumu, by children, and by friends. I am the fruit of their love and I am kumu thanks to all of them. I was born in Guam and lived in a community called the Hawaiian Village. We were of varied ethnic backgrounds but all originally from Hawai‘i. Although we grew up removed from Hawaiʻi, we were not removed from the Hawaiian lifestyle. We shared wonderful experiences together that instilled within me the value of family. While in Guam my parents encouraged Hawaiian ways and I was enrolled in hula. Here I learned to do hula for the love of hula. My love has never ceased. It has sustained me and it continues to bring blessings into my life. Our family moved back to Hawaii when I was eight and my mother saw to it that my hula training continued. She took me to Alicia Keolahou Smith who was teaching at the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) on Richards Street. I walked from Nuʻuanu and Kuakini where we lived to the Y and all the way back. We had no car and money was not used for bus fare. Later when I started to earn my own money, the bus ride was a welcomed treat. Keolahou was firm, yet kind; passionate and compassionate; disciplined, loving and respectful. There was an established order to adhere to and standards to strive for and maintain. I grew to love and respect this tradition, this style, and this kumu. In many ways Keolahou’s teachings were like my parents’ teachings and the hālau became like my home and family. Family was everything in my upbringing. My actions, choices, and decisions were reflections of my family. Some may say decisions made in childhood are short-lived but for me they weren’t. I remember clearly that at age ten, I had decided hula would be my life and I would be a hula teacher. My mother wanted me to be happy; my father wanted me to be a minister. Easier said than done! I believe through the guiding light of my family, of my kumu, of others, and of God, I can say now: I am kumu, I do minister to my students and their families, and I am happy. Blessings came in many forms. At one point in my life I had to leave hula due to a family crisis. Father was working in Guam and Mother was trying to raise the family in Hawaiʻi. Keolahou came to our home and offered to take responsibility for my hula training and my life. My mother entrusted her child into the care of another as a keiki ho‘okama. Although young I understood and a deeper loyalty and love grew for both my mother and Keolahou. In the years that followed this love and loyalty would swell like a spring, continually renewing my spirit and giving me courage to persevere. Within a thirty-year span of my life Keolahou became my teacher, provider, counselor, minister, guide, mother, and friend. Little did I realize the breadth and depth of this tradition. As the years passed my parents resettled in Guam and I stayed in Hawai‘i, first as a boarder at school, then with ‘ohana, and eventually on my own. As the training in ‘ōlapa, oli, ho‘opa‘a, language, and teaching continued, I began to embrace the beauty of this style and tradition, to understand its principles, to appreciate its discipline, and to see the presence of God in hula. During these years Keolahou often sent me to workshops to learn from other masters. She also brought kumu and artisans into the hālau. It was fascinating to experience the diversity of hula and other Hawaiian traditions; yet each was universal in their love, respect, devotion, and dedication. I began to view hula as a way of life. I have been enriched, enlightened, and blessed by what I’ve learned through hula. My training and my rights of passage to become kumu has been spiritual as well as physical. However the spiritual part remains private. What I can share is that hula has taught me about God and God has taught me about hula. I have learned to view the Universe as community, the Earth as home, and all life forms as family. I’ve learned to be an instrument of God’s teachings and do so through ancestral tradition. Most importantly I have received the blessings of God and my kumu. Just as God guided my training, God has guided my teaching. I believe the creation of Nā Mamoaliʻi ō Kaʻuiki was inspired by God. Its name was given in a dream as a gift on my birthday. When I awoke I was inspired to write it in the form of a mele. In its purest form the mele and dream was a call to return to my ancestral homeland and emerge anew. A few years later I was offered a teaching position at Hāna School. Eventually Nā Mamoaliʻi ō Kaʻuiki was born. Our name has many levels of meaning and interpretation. These are shared when one is prepared to receive it, for understanding comes through experience. From its beginning other dreams, visions, mele, and scriptures have followed and have guided our direction. The hālau continues to evolve as a learning center for those who wish to build a sound foundation on God and ancestral tradition. In today’s society success is often viewed by the rewards one receives. My reward has always been the love of children. Our success comes when the students live by the traditions and values taught to them and when they are true to God, themselves, and each other. If my students and their families continue to remember the blessings of life, give thanks for these blessings, and renew the heart, then my life will have been well spent. The hālau and its ‘ohana has enjoyed fifteen blessed years. There were high and low times and none are judged as good or bad but as natural. For the past ten years Iʻve commuted weekly and I do so out of love. I am often asked if I will stop. My answer remains the same; “It is God’s will whether I continue or not. God will always provide; right now it is through me. I remain thankful.” “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify Father which is heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
Iwalani Kalima established Hula Hālau O Ko Lima Nani E in 1986 and is currently residing in Hilo, Hawaii. I was eight-years-old when I started taking hula from Uncle George Nā‘ope in Hilo. Uncle left in 1974 to live in Honolulu and returned to Hilo after four years. During that time I didn’t take hula from any other teacher. I went back to Uncle when he returned and I am still studying with him till today. I’ve been with him for over thirty years. Uncle George’s style of hula was very basic. You had to know your foot movements. There was no half step or a side step. It was a full kāholo and your basic steps were the most important thing. If you didn’t know your steps, you couldn’t do hula. That’s what Uncle always told us. You can see the difference in the dancing today. Before it was one motion for one sentence. Today it’s ten different motions for one sentence. Some teachers try to interpret every word with a motion. Uncle was a very strong hula kahiko teacher. You had to learn the kahiko first before you learned the ‘auana. My first hula was “Liliʻu E” and we learned the ‘uwehe step. We learned the kāholo and ‘uwehe by doing “Kawika.” It taught us timing. Uncle also took us out to entertain at private parties and at the Naniloa Hotel. We first started out performing the hula kahiko and hula ‘auana, and then in later years when I was about twelve-years-old, we started learning Tahitian. He brought over Ray Fonseca and Etua Lopes to teach Tahitian dancing. Etua was the dancer and did most of the teaching and Ray was the drummer and perfectionist. I regard them as my hula brothers. In 1982 Uncle gave me my kumu palapala. It was a special ceremony with a hō'ike and ‘ūniki. Although I wasn’t ready for it, Uncle felt it was the time to give me the paper. I don’t know what the requirements were but in Uncle’s eyes, I was ready. Although I had been assisting Uncle since 1981, others considered me his alaka‘i only after I had my ‘ūniki. I continued teaching with him and in 1986 I opened my own hula school. Uncle was a very hard and a very strict teacher. It was difficult to ask him questions because we were to be seen and not heard. He told you when you were ready to learn this or that and sometimes he would force it on you. At that time I thought he was being mean and nasty and I didn’t want to have anything to do with hula because I wasn’t doing anything right. Today I look back at the nitpicking and realize that he did it so that I would become a better dancer. I stuck in there because I was going to prove to Uncle that I could do it. Today I want the kids to come because they want to, not because they are forced to. I try to teach the girls everything I know about the chant or song. When I was learning, I did the motions but could not even ask the name of the dance. I didn’t realize that there was a time and a place that you could ask him. Now with my students I want them to know everything. It took me fifteen years to learn all those dances and I want them to learn it in five years. When I was growing up, I was a tomboy and I never thought Iʻd be a hula dancer. But hula has taught me to respect my heritage, love my culture, and respect people for what they are. Through my hula, I can show people what I feel inside without saying a word. When you have your own hālau, you must remember that the children are the ones that will perpetuate and keep the hula alive. You must teach them to the fullest of your ability. Love them as if they are your own and teach them to have ha‘aha‘a. Today I am very glad that I started my own school because I see how important the work is. When you live in Hawai‘i, you are Hawaiian. "Through my hula, I can show people what I feel inside without saying a word."
Nā Kumu Hula Rachael Akuu Kamakana - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 52
The late Rachael Kamakana established her hālau on the island of Molokai in I968. The name Hula Hālau O Molokaʻi was given to her by her kumu hula Harriet Nē. My mother used to get very upset because I was a real tomboy. I was more interested in playing baseball and basketball with the boys rather than doing girl things. So I was hauled to Tom Hiona at the age of fifteen to learn how to dance the hula. He was supposed to make me feminine and act like a little lady. They had to drag me to him and it wasn’t a very happy experience for me. I was sent to Tom Hiona because he and my uncle were good buddies. He was doing my uncle a favor by taking me, so I went to his class. I wanted to learn how to dance ‘auana but he said that he would determine what I was going to learn and he only taught kahiko to beginners. I learned all the standard traditional chants like “A Ko‘olau An” and “Aia Lā 'O Pele.” He was very strict during these sessions and he made me cry every time I went to class because I didn’t do it right. After one year I told my uncle that I was pau. I didn’t return to hula until my husband and I came home to Molokaʻi to take care of his father. After I had my last child, I joined Aunty Harriet Nē’s classes in 1962. Aunty Harriet had all her lessons planned. She would have the words to the song or chant done for us. She talked about the song or chant and gave us whatever knowledge she knew. She did not require us to research the mele but she encouraged us to talk to our tūtū and aunties. We were responsible for writing the directions and if you lost your paper, you had to recall it from memory. After about three years she held an ʻūniki: a completion for those lessons given to us. Although we had no paper or certificate, she said it was the old way where she brought witnesses to see that you had completed a certain part of the training. Aunty Harriet was pleased that we had completed the ‘ūniki and she continued to prepare us to become kumu hula. She gave us certain chants and mele to research. We had to teach the basic fundamental steps and a hula number to a new student. She would also require us to do demonstrations at a moment’s notice. Under the State Foundation on Culture and t he Arts, Aunty Hoakalei Kamau‘u started a training program to develop kumu hula in the community. They contacted Aunty Harriet because she was known as the historian for Molokaʻi. She called me and encouraged me to join the program. When I got involved in the class, one of the conditions of receiving the training was that we would have to teach for free in the community for one year. I fulfilled my commitment by teaching on Molokaʻi. However when I finished, there was a great response for me to continue to have classes. I talked with Aunty Harriet about opening a school and she thought it was a wonderful idea. To tell you the truth, I never wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to dance my life away. I saw myself as going from teacher to teacher, just learning and having a wonderful time. But once I started to teach, I was besieged by people who really wanted to learn. To me the language is the important key. It is the key to understanding. The key that can better define a feeling, a sense, and a thought. My greatest accomplishment as a hula teacher is the experience of teaching. I have had to learn to do research and learn all the different aspects of the culture. Now I am able to transmit this information to others.
Pualani Kanaka‘ole Kanahele and Nālani Kanaka‘ole
Nā Kumu Hulas Pualani Kanaka‘ole Kanahele and Nālani Kanaka‘ole - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 54
Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele Daughter of renown chanter and kumu hula Edith Kanakaʻole, Pualani Kanahele along with her sister Nālani Kanaka‘ole received the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship Award in 1993. I have been formally teaching hula for about twenty years. My mother and my sister Nālani taught together first. Then I taught with my mother while my sister was resting. In time my sister came back and three of us taught together until my mother died. Since then my sister and I have continued teaching hula. I first learned hula when I was four-years-old. My teacher was my grandmother Kekuewa Kanaele who taught at her home in Keaukaha. I learned under her until I was nine- years-old then I went to my oldest cousin Mary Keahilihau. She was my grandmother’s oldest grandchild. She and my mother taught until she went to the mainland. My mother continued to teach. My grandmother was the strictest teacher of all. She didn’t want us to play around. When it was time to dance, it was time to dance. She didn’t favor family or somebody close to her. She treated everybody alike. Everybody were students. She would praise you as well as hit you with the kumu nī‘au or the bamboo if you didn’t listen. If you were fooling around or if you didn’t observe well and you didn’t execute your steps well, you would get hit. So everytime we got hit, we would remember that motion well. That’s the way my grandmother taught. I enjoyed dancing. I liked to get into the spirit of dancing and just dance. I also know that in my mother’s later years, she was grooming us to take over. She became more conscious of chanting and started to teach us chant styles in our later years. We already knew that we would have to take over. Each of my three hula teachers added different things to my hula career. My grandmother taught me discipline, to pay attention, to be able to observe what was going on. Observation while you’re dancing is very important. She also taught me the basic movements. While dancing with my cousin we learned a different perspective of hula through entertainment. It allowed our hula to grow. When it came to my mother, her most valuable gift was the time she spent grooming us to be teachers. Besides chanting and the different cultural values, she shared with us what is important about dancing. Towards the end of her years she brought together what we had learned as we were growing up so we were able to understand it better. All of them added something to my life, not only to hula but to being a Hawaiian. I think my greatest accomplishment is being able to understand the Pele and Hi‘iaka saga and putting everything in perspective. When you are dancing, you have to develop imagery. We can see a little more of that story than other people who are just listening to it. You actively become a part of the story when you do the hula. We used to call ourselves hula ‘ōlapa. When they asked, “What are you going to dance?” We answered, “ʻōlapa.” That meant that you were going to dance with the ipu or the pahu. Hula kahiko as we know it today is done with the primary instruments and they’re usually not so literally translated. When you do the hula it is a transcendent of that spirit of that particular hula to the dancer. The dancer takes on another spirit and it is not what you do with your body hut it is what you know and what you feel inside that comes out. When the dancer has that kind of connection with her hula, then the audience will also feel it and see it. Nālani Kanaka'ole Nālani KanakaLole is the youngest daughter of the late hula master Edith Kanakaʻole. Nālani and her sister Pualani Kanahele are kumu hula of Hālau Kekuhi which is known for its powerful and energetic style of traditional hula. Our hula tradition comes from our maternal grandmother Mary Ahiena Kanaele Fujii who was born in the early 1880s. Her birth was special because she was taken to Kaipalaoa for her piko to be cut. Then she was taken to Puna to be raised in a cave. At three she was brought to live with her kumu, Kaholowaa, in Maku‘u along with her two cousins. The three of them lived hula kapu until ʻūniki. She was given away at birth so that her rank would not be that of an ‘a‘ipu‘upu‘u, a kitchen slave, in the ruling family’s house. Hānai’d by her granduncles Keleko and Kapeliela who were well known lā‘au lapa‘au and la‘au kāhea, Tūtū Mary was raised under the kapu ‘ūhū which meant her loins were not to be soiled for any reason. ‘Ūniki came in five years but the kapu was for her lifetime. Her learning was subliminal: when she was asleep her kumu would come into her dream and teach her the hula. In the morning she would dance all that she was taught in her dream. She married at fifteen and had thirteen children from Kanaele. All her children were either raised by her granduncles or hānai. She continued to teach hula and dance and by this time she was closely associated with Akoni Mika. This was about my mother’s time. Mom started hula at age six and there were people like Napua Stevens and the Beamer girls in her papa hula. The term given to the type of hula she was studying was hula ‘auana. They still used a kuahu and they went through kuhi pua‘a and ‘ailolo. They had a sacred pā‘ū for the ‘ailolo event but they were not tied to the kapu of the kuahu. When it was our turn, Tūtū Fujii, as everyone liked to call her, was still teaching but the hālau was taken over by my oldest female first cousin Mary Keahilihau. Cousin took the older students and Tutu took the new students. My grandmother taught with the pūʻili in hand ready to hili the hand, feet or kīkala. Tūtū would also bring in the older women to massage our legs, arms, fingers, and step on our ‘ūhā. Soon after my cousin moved to the mainland so it was decided that my mom would take care of the hālau. I always knew that I was going to teach. First I was the body for my mother. She would chant and I would do the motions. After a few years I did both the chanting and the teaching. Training in our hālau is hard. The first year is strictly kahiko. The body has to be conditioned to dance forty minutes without rest. We do this for the first six months. After the first year I’ll end up with about ten students from a beginning class of sixty. In three years IʻII probably end up with about six students. One thing I do know is that I was fortunate to have known both my grandmothers. They were both opposites but the one thing they had in common was that they both refused to speak English. We were privileged to have been raised hearing the language spoken everyday.
Nā Kumu Hula J. Kimo Alama Keaulana - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 57
Kimo Alania Keaulana is currently a Hawaiian Studies instructor at the Honolulu Community College and runs the Lei Hula Hula School in Waimea, Kaua‘i and Honolulu, O‘ahu. When I was small, my mother did not want me to have anything to do with hula because in the 1960s only girls danced hula. If you danced hula when you were young, it was said that you would grow up to be māhū. But hula seemed natural for me. It didn't tell anybody that I was taking hula. Not even my mother knew. The first time I danced hula was at the age of three-years-old. I used to watch my mother and my older sisters take hula lessons from Mrs. Adeline Bee at the Mānoa Playground. When I was nine, I accompanied my younger sister to her hula classes and I was invited to sing with the other children. Aunty Adeline saw that I was interested and she let me assist her by carrying her 'ukulele and other things. Later Aunty Adeline took me to her other hula classes at the different playgrounds. I learned how to play the ‘ukulele, how to phrase Hawaiian words in chanting and singing, and I learned pronunciation. I learned to be a ho‘opa‘a first. I was with Aunty Adeline for fourteen years as a student and apprentice. I assisted her when she had to give workshops. She was a beautiful singer but she always told us that she did not chant very well. So I handled the chanting and the heavy drumming for her. I had just turned sixteen when Aunty Adeline went to Japan and left me in charge of her hula classes for the Parks and Recreation. I guess she would not have done so if she thought I couldn't do it. So I taught at least a hundred kids for the summer program. I also went to Mrs. Hattie Au off and on for about a year while she was living in Kahana. She was Pua Ha‘aheo’s alaka‘i and she was a very old woman at the time I learned hula from her. After Mrs. Au, Ms. Kauhane was my teacher for about two years. They both taught drumming, chanting, and ancient dancing. While attending the Kamehameha Schools from 1969 to 1973, I also learned and worked with Ms. Winona Beamer. In 1969 Aunty Hoakalei Kamauʻu conducted hula workshops for the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. Out of a total of seventeen workshops, Aunty Adeline and I taught sixteen of them. Because of the large registration, Aunty Hoakalei asked Aunty Adeline if I could teach some classes on my own. I did not have a formal ‘ūniki. Aunty Adeline and I were very strong Roman Catholics. At that time I made a decision in accordance with my beliefs but culturally I would not have minded going through a formal ‘ūniki ceremony. Aunty Adeline told me that I did not need any paper because in the old days they did not give any paper. Their teachers sanctioned them as teachers and I was sanctioned as such by my teacher. In 1974, I needed extra money to buy a car so besides working at the Waikikian Hotel, I decided to teach hula on the side. Before I knew it, my friends sent their daughters and nieces, and soon I had forty students. I left my job to concentrate my energies on teaching hula full time. My hula studio grew and soon I had between two hundred to two hundred fifty students. I was fortunate to have been surrounded by family members who practiced Hawaiian arts and crafts. Hula, music, lau hala weaving, feather lei making, Hawaiian quilting, Hawaiian medicine, implement making, and Hawaiian games were so much a part of my life. I was in my twenties when I discovered that other kids did not play Hawaiian games or weave or prepare lau hala. And when the Hawaiian renaissance came, there was such a hunger to learn the language. I was lucky because my maternal grandmother spoke Hawaiian to me and my teacher’s family and friends all spoke Hawaiian. My advice to the younger hula teachers is to learn the language well because that is the most important tool of our trade. There is a difference between spoken language and poetic language. Not everybody has a command for poetry. A word can have multiple meanings. The composers of days gone by knew how to manipulate the language so well that they could express things that you could not take at face value. If you know the language well, you will know what they are saying. Some people call this “kaona.” We don’t see this in the composers of today. They try lint they do it superficially. “Kaona” is something that is very secretive and very subtle. And as a hula instructor you must know the language and what you are interpreting. Hula is something that you cannot learn in just a few years. And just because you dance well, this is not enough for you to be a hula teacher. To be a teacher you must know the language. You must also know the drumming and (lie chanting. You cannot teach what you cannot do. If you want to teach modern hula, you must definitely know hula rhythm, patterns, beats, and different dance types. You must know how to play an ‘ukulele or at least play a guitar. You must know the names of places and about families for “mele inoa” and about the certain rains and winds. All the different places in Hawai‘i have their own personalities and characteristics. Hula has changed drastically. The hula kahiko today is somehow misplaced. I appreciate the effort of people trying to create something that is in the traditional flavor. But there are beautiful dances that are traditional that I believe should never be rechoreographed or redone just because someone thinks it is boring. What comes from another time should stay in that time because it does not belong to us, it belongs to them. If someone gives you something, whether it be a song or a dance, you do that song or dance exactly the way you were taught because that belongs to them. Just like receiving a present all wrapped up and so pretty. You will treasure it, take care of it, not allow anybody to deface it. We must look to our masters and not be afraid to acknowledge someone else as a master. That’s a part of humbling yourself. I don’t even call myself a kumu hula. I never use that title. I always call myself a hula instructor. If anybody needs my help, I will be glad to share. If I don’t know something, I will tell you that I don’t know. Whatever came down from the past definitely affects our present and what we do in the present affects the future. Be proud of our Hawaiian culture and do not let any other cultures influence us. As much as possible keep our culture uniquely Hawaiian. If you are not sure, seek those who are knowledgeable and to do so very humbly. Always remember to be humble. That is the only way we can learn and pass it on.
Oddetta Kaohikukapulani Kinimaka-Alquiza
Nā Kumu Hula Oddetta Kaohikukapulani Kinimaka-Alquiza - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 58
Kapu Kinimaka-Alquiza began teaching in 1983 and is kumu hula of Nā Hula ‘O Kaohikukapulani in Kaua‘i. I first started hula at the age of five. I came from a very large family of sixteen children and as we grew up, hula was a part of our daily lives. As a young girl I really didn’t enjoy hula. I only did it because my sisters did it. Also during those small kid times when our parents told us to do something, there was no back talk from us kids. Besides when we’d perform, I got five dollars. That was enough for me to get moving. I stuck with it for many years and it sort of grew with me. I never thought however that I would he the one to teach. My first kumu hula was Aunty Lovey Apana. She would teach me and my sisters at her home in Wailua. She was full of energy and was very strict in her teachings. She would teach us kahiko, ‘auana, Maori, and a bit of Tahitian. I remember sitting on her front porch in her little hale near the river. She would always tell us stories of her experiences. I stayed with her until I was about eleven or twelve. She was a wonderful teacher, entertainer, and philosopher. Out of all of my sisters I was the worst dancer. Aunty Lovey used to think that I had two left feet. I remember Aunty Lovey’s sister Shalet calling me “deaf ear and blind eye” because I had the hardest time following instructions. I’m amazed I lasted through all of that as a young girl because today I can remember many of my childhood days as a young dancer. I then went to Uncle Joe Kahaulelio. He was a master chanter as well as an entertainer and choreographer. He taught hula ‘auana and kahiko and was very versatile in other Polynesian dances. Like Aunty Lovey, his style was very traditional: the old style with puffed ‘uwehe, very low, simple, and beautiful. However his ‘auana style was elegant, upright, and proud. I remained with Uncle Joe for many years until I got married and had my children. It was at that time I stopped to raise my family. When I was ready to start again I found out that he had moved to the mainland. I felt lost without him. Many of my hula sisters shared the same feelings. In 1982 I was invited to participate as a dancer in the Merrie Monarch Festival with another Kaua‘i group. I would bring my two-year-old daughter to rehearsals and as she watched us from the back, she would stand up and imitate us as we were dancing. I was impressed with her comprehension, coordination, rhythm, and timing. I knew I had to find a hālau for her. So the search began. I wanted to find her a kumu hula that taught a similar style to Uncle Joe. There wasn’t anyone that I felt comfortable to send her to so my husband asked me, “What’s wrong with you? You’ve done this just about all your life; learning from great teachers of the hula. Go and seek their permission and blessings.” So it was then that I went to express my desire to teach and hopefully to receive the blessings and permission from my kumu hula. Scared to go alone I begged my sister Kaniu to go with me. To O'ahu we went where Uncle Joe, being my last kumu, was visiting with Gramma Woodward. After dinner and a few drinks I finally had the courage to ask him. Being able to teach hula was very important to me. Hoping for him to say yes but prepared for the worst, I finally asked him. And when l asked him if it would be all right to continue his teachings in hula and the culture, he looked me straight in my eyes, put his hand on my cheek and lie said, “What took you so long? I knew you were going to be the teacher. I had tears in my eyes and happiness in my heart. He wished me well and sent me away with his blessings. I knew in my heart that whatever I do, I will do in his name as well as my first kumu hula Aunty Lovey. I started commuting back and forth from Kaua‘i to Oʻahu to visit with Uncle Joe at his home where he would teach me chant and dance. He wasn’t well but he made time to see me. I would call him up for advice and guidance because I didn’t want to do the wrong thing or offend anyone by doing something that was not proper. Soon after on August 6, 1983 I started my first class in my garage at my home in Hanapepe with twenty students. Uncle Joe advised me to stay away from certain rituals to protect myself and my family. At that time I did not fully understand what he meant. I stressed to him that I would like to go into chants because I felt that they are the roots of our culture. He told me to take my steps very carefully and to watch what types of chants I chose. I respected his advice and moved on. Besides Aunty Lovey and Uncle Joe, other kumu hula who have touched my life with their knowledge are kumu hula Palani Kahala who introduced me to an innovative kind of hula kahiko, and Kepa Maly and Pōhaku Nishimitsu who shared with me their traditional knowledge of hula and the Hawaiian culture. They are traditional, simple, and beautiful in their dancing and teachings. I feel most blessed to have had these great people share their lives with me. For it is their knowledge that I will keep with me and share with my students in hopes that many of them will choose to continue to pass on this wonderful tradition of the hula. My greatest accomplishment as a teacher is being able to develop a great sense of patience in myself so I may be able to understand others in their times of difficulty. I think my dancing style comes from a variety of kumu hula but basically it reflects the styles of Aunty Lovey and Uncle Joe. We as students can learn from our kumu hula and duplicate their teaching or their style of dance. When it comes to expressing ourselves, our expression comes from within ourselves. My hula career is dedicated to my kumu hula Uncle Joe Kahaulelio and Aunty Lovey Apana for their wonderful thoughts of wanting me to continue their teachings. They gave unselfishly of their time and love to me. I think the hula today has changed a lot; hula has become very competitive. Some feel it’s okay and others don’t. As for me the love of hula must remain in our hearts in order for its growth to flourish. “We as students can learn from our kumu hula and duplicate their teaching or their style of dance. When it conies to expressing ourselves, our expression conies from within ourselves."
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
Nā Kumu Hula Pi‘i Lani - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 62
Piʻi Lani teaches hula, Hawaiian culture, language and history to senior citizens. She is credited for being the coordinator of the original Waimea Falls Park Hula Competition. My mother Kuʻualoha Terry was my hula teacher. She started teaching me when I was three-years-old. My mother never had a hālau. It was just us. She had her own studio on Aulike Street in Kailua and she taught at Camp Kokokahi in Kāne‘ohe. She learned from Mother Davis. The first few dances that we learned from my mother were the hula dances of ‘ōlapa that introduced basic hula steps. These dances were used as drills for these steps. “Kawika” would be for the kāholo, “Lili‘u E” would be for the ‘uwehe, '"Kalākaua” would he for the Kalākaua step. She drilled us in those basic steps. When we got to the intermediate level, the dances consisted of many different steps in one dance. The form of hula that she taught us was hula ‘āla‘apapa, and we were taught not to kāhea the verses. It was important that you knew exactly what verse came next so there was no kāhea being given. When we got to the advanced stages, some of the dances would be very long. The hand and foot movements of these dances were given to her and had not been changed for over a hundred years since the 1860s. So we were very careful to teach these dances exactly the same in word, melody, timing, hand gestures, and feet as they were in 1860. We come from a hula line. My grandmother on the maternal side was a hula dancer in the days when they danced without their tops. Grandma was from Hāna. Her name was Elizabeth Kawahineke‘oke‘ookala Ka‘anana. There are some pictures in the Bishop Museum of Grandma and her sisters sitting on the palm drum wearing no tops, just skirts. Grandma never told us that she was a dancer. She became very Christian and although she was pure Hawaiian, she frowned upon too much hula. She wanted us to be Christian but she did make sure that my mother learned from family to continue the hula line. My ʻūniki was held at my home in Hauʻula. I did ʻūniki along with my two sisters. We had completed the ancient hula course taught by my mother. The ʻūniki was finalized by a lūʻau where we each did solo performances as well as some dances together. When I married, my husband didn’t approve of me dancing so I decided to teach because the hula was such a force in me that I could not stop doing it. It had been with me practically my entire life and it is very much a part of me. I’ve been teaching for over twenty years now. I kept my mother’s dancing style but I also allowed myself to grow as a kumu hula. I have composed many chants and have put my dancing styles and melodies to them based on the foundation I was given by my mother. This is the 1990s; the hula is evolving; it is still growing. Although I keep the dances I learned as they were, I don’t like to be stagnant. I teach my students everything that I can: the hula steps, how these hula steps got named, the mana‘o, and background so that they become better at what they’re doing because they understand the hula. I give them chanters’ training so that they can become ho‘opa‘a. I teach them oli so that they learn the difference between mele hula and olioli and kepakepa. I teach them about the ancient Hawaiian games and the reason the Hawaiians played them. We make our own hula implements and I teach them as many crafts as I know of. When something is new or very old, we research or learn from someone who knows. We’ve had formal language classes so there is a lot of Hawaiian spoken in my hālau. My understanding of a hula teacher is like a spring that shoots forth; someone that’s going to help expand, preserve, and protect. If they don’t have background skills, then they go nowhere. They’re just going to teach the same ten dances they know from somebody else. They have no way of going forward.
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.
Peter William Kauaimaka Lonoae‘a
Nā Kumu Hula Peter William Kauaimaka Lonoae‘a - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 68
At the age of twenty-one, Peter Lonoae‘a started teaching hula through workshops sponsored by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, he is presently a teacher at the James Campbell High School in ‘Ewa Beach. My first formal hula lessons were taken from Aunty Sally Wood Naluaʻi when I was attending college in 1969. She was teaching at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Keith Awai, Cy Bridges, Sunday Mariteragi and her sister Ellen Gay, and I were part of her select group that branched out from the night show. Other students came and went but the five of us were the steadies. Unfortunately after I graduated I left to teach school on Lānai. I didn’t know Aunty Sally would begin a training for an ‘ūniki. As fate would have it, that was her last ‘ūniki. I missed out. Aunty Sally’s style of dancing is a really straight back and dancing tall style which I try to teach my girls. We do bend but it’s not real low, not in the ‘auana anyway. When she taught us “Kaulīlua,” she said that it was Pua Ha‘aheo’s step for this particular move. She taught us specific motions for the girls and specific motions for the boys for “Kaulīlua.” She went into the kaona behind the words. It was interesting to learn things like that especially since I was still young. She had different drum beats but she used one specific style and that’s the one that l use. My knowledge broadened while attending the Church College of Hawaiʻi and when I participated in the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts program with Aunty Hoakalei Kamau‘u. I danced with her and her son Wailana. I taught at the workshop because they didn’t have too many male teachers at that time. Through these workshops l met other instructors like Aunty Eleanor Hiram Hoke, Uncle Henry Pa, and Lokalia Montgomery who I considered very interesting. It was a learning experience for me. I was a traveling resource teacher for the Department of Education. In 1976 I taught hula kahiko for Aunty Elaine Ka‘ōpūiki on Lānai. After one year on Lānai l taught music and performing arts to preschoolers up to the seventh graders on Moloka‘i for four years. From Moloka‘i I went to Hana where I taught the intermediate and high school students for six years. In 1987 I returned to O‘ahu and have been teaching at James Campbell High School ever since. My dancing style is a combination of Aunty Sally and John Kaʻimikaua. We wanted to perform Molokaʻi numbers at the Merrie Monarch Festival which were unique to Molokaʻi so we asked John Kaʻimikaua for chants. He introduced basic steps and I have incorporated some of his basic styles with the style that I already had. So it’s a mixture now. The students who are in my class either come from a hālau or have no hula knowledge at all. They just come to my class thinking it’s an easy class. A lot of my former students asked me to start a class for them but I always told them that my classes were their jumping off point. I still tell them that after you see what I have to offer and you want more, then seek out other teachers. I have never thought of opening a hālau because I did not ‘ūniki. I don’t feel proper. I do have hō'ike for my students. The requirements are almost the same. You have to create a chant, create motions, teach other students, and everything else except you will not ‘ūniki. There are so many young kumu hula that I don’t even know their names. The only time I see them is at competitions. Although they have Hawaiian roots, not all of them are Hawaiian even the ones I consider real good. Some of them don’t even have an ounce of Hawaiian blood in them but they’re so into the culture that they I have adopted it and it has become a part of them.
Nā Kumu Hula Edward Etua Lopes - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 71
Etua Lopes is kumu hula of Hālau Hula Na Pua Uʻi O Hawaiʻi and has been teaching hula on the grounds of the Hulihe‘e Palace in Kailua-Kona since 1984. It was through Lokelani Anderson that I met Uncle George Nā‘ope. He had come to teach us to paʻi for the girls in her show. Originally I went to Lokelani’s hālau to become a Tahitian drummer. I was fifteen-years-old and my first hula experience was watching the girls dance. I just fell in love with the hula. I stayed with Lokelani for about three years and in 1971 I left Honolulu and went to Hilo to learn from Uncle George. That’s when my focus on learning the hula began. I’ve been with Uncle George ever since. Uncle George had the most influence in my hula. He taught me that I can’t be exactly like him so he sent me to different teachers. Because of Uncle George Eve met a lot of very well known hula masters. I was able to take a few classes from Henry Pa, Lokalia Montgomery, ‘Iolani Luahine, Edith Kanaka‘ole, and Eleanor Hiram Hoke. Aunty ‘Iolani did not teach me to dance but she gave me a lot of the history. For four years my hula brother Ray Fonseca and I spent every weekend with Aunty ʻIo in Kona. At that time she was the curator of the Hulihe‘e Palace and she lived in the house where the gift shop is now. On Sunday we would take her down to her Napo‘opo‘o home and spend the day with her. Ray and I were always around when Aunty ʻIo and Uncle George did oli, blessings, and other rituals. We gained a lot of knowledge by listening and watching Aunty ʻIo and Uncle George. When Uncle George returned to Honolulu and taught hula for the Kalihi - Pālama Culture & Arts Society, Inc., Ray and I were alaka'i for his classes. The Society also sponsored classes such as feather lei making, lau hala weaving, implements and drum making. We attended all these classes to help us prepare for our ‘ūniki. Ray and I had our ‘ūniki at Farrington High School in 1976. The day of our ‘ūniki was very exciting. We were the first two males to ever ‘ūniki from Uncle George. The days before our ‘ūniki were spent gathering laua‘e, palapalai, maile, hau, ‘ohi‘a lehua, and ʻilima. We met him at Farrington’s auditorium and we set up the lele for Laka made from ‘ohi‘a. Laka was made of lama. Uncle explained to us the different kino lau that went on the kuahu and the meaning of each plant. We opened that evening with pule and oli and then hula palm such as: “Kaulīlua I Ke Anu O Wai‘ale‘ale,” “A Ko‘olau,” and “‘Au‘a ‘la,” followed by ‘ala‘apapa with ipu heke and implements, and finishing with the hula ma‘i. Ray and I took turns chanting while the other danced. When Uncle George chanted, we both danced. After a short intermission we had fun with the hula ‘auana. That evening is special to me because it’s when I became kumu hula. I still teach and carry on what Uncle George taught me. But I feel that I have my own style because I was also inspired by another man that I really respect in hula, Uncle Henry Pa. Our kupuna are very important. They are the source and we must go back to talk to them. Kumu hula must learn from the masters. If you need help as a young kumu, you must seek their knowledge. Seeing my girls in their costumes on stage is worth all the months of hard work even if it’s only for a five-minute performance. Just to see them on stage and to hear the audience’s applause for what they have done is my reward. As a kumu hula you deal with not only your problems but also with the keiki and their problems at home. Some of the children have a hard time at home and it reflects in class. I try to work with them and encourage them to do their best. I’ve been teaching for over seventeen years. Although I am not ready to ‘ūniki any of my haumāna eventually I would like to have them go through the same process that I went through and have an ‘ūniki. I would expect the same things from them as my kumu expected from me. However things have changed. When we first learned how to dance, it was basic ‘ōlapa. Today when you listen to the ho‘opa‘a play the ipu heke, they’re just slapping away. We had definite beats that we had to use. In comparison the hula kahiko of today is very flamboyant. One of the reasons why I decided to become a hula teacher instead of a Tahitian drummer is because I love children. I made my decision and went into the hula all the way. Being around children makes me happy. To me the children are our future. If we teach our children right, they are going to carry on the tradition of our people.
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.
Kumu Hula George Pulamahia Maile - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 75
Presently employed by Aloha Airlines, George Pulamahia Maile graduated as kumu hula in the “Papa Lehua ” class from Māʻiki Aiu Lake in 1974. I must have been about seven or eight when I first took hula lessons from Aunty Mary Pukui at her house on Birch Street. There were two cousins and three other members of Aunty’ s family. I took on and off for about a year until Aunty cancelled the lessons when the cousins stopped coming. My next teacher was Momi Auwae-Yaw who I stayed w ith for two years. She studied under Ruby Ahakuelo and she taught us strictly ‘auana. It wasn’t until years later that I started with Aunty Māʻiki Aiu. I was twenty-four when I started with Aunty Māʻiki and I stayed for over twenty years. I came and never left! It was really a chance coincidence that I got into her hālau. We were all at a wedding reception when I was persuaded to go up to dance. I was going to die. It was years since I danced. After I finished, Aunty Māʻiki said, “Where did you learn that? You did my whole routine. You’re coming into the boys’ class next week!” So that’s how it started. I had picked up her whole routine without even realizing it by going into her hālau to wait for my friend and by talking story with Aunty Māʻiki. I guess I was just absorbing all these things. In 1970 the kumu class was opened up to the public. We started with ‘auana and then the kahiko was slowly interjected until we actually studied to become kumu. The name of our class was “Papa Lehua”. I was asked by Aunty Māʻiki to be in this particular class for kumu. I think there were twenty-four in our class and we all became kumu. We trained for four years to become ho‘opa‘a and then we trained to become kumu hula. The first student in “Papa Lehua” to become kumu was Ho‘oulu Cambra. The rest of us puka as ho‘opa‘a that year and we followed as kumu the next year. The first ‘ūniki was at Ulumau Village in Kāne‘ohe. It was an overnight thing. We had our ‘ailolo ceremony the next day but we went through the meditation and the preparation the night before. Many people were there to watch: Ka'upena Wong, Aunty Sally Wood, Aunty Alice Nāmakelua, Aunty Lani Kalama, Aunty Lokalia Montgomery, and Uncle Manuel Silva. Our class performed in mass at the ‘ūniki. As part of the ʻūniki process, we had to compose and then put a mele to it. Some were to be kept private and some were performed. After the ‘ūniki I continued with Aunty Māʻiki. I’ve never had my own hālau. I stayed with Aunty Māʻiki forever and a day. At first I stayed on basically as a performer and a student. Then I started to teach in the hālau. When I teach, I try to be as close as possible to how Aunty Mā‘iki taught it and try to keep her style of dancing. The only time I taught outside of the hālau was with Kealoha Wong and her sister when they were teaching for the May Day program at Maryknoll. I also taught the Aloha Airlines promotion team and I did four Hula Bowls’ half-time shows. Sometimes I wonder where they got the foot movements for the hula kahiko today. I feel a lot of influence came from other Polynesians especially in the male kahiko. I remember watching the gentlemen dance thirty and forty years ago and I see nothing the same today. I think that it was prevalent with the old masters that if they thought that you weren’t ready, they wouldn’t give and you couldn’t ask for it. There was no way that you could say, “I want to learn this, please.' You wailed until it was given to you or until the time was right. And sometimes that’s sad because these masters took half of it with them when they passed on. Nobody got it.
Victoria Sunday Napuananionapalionako‘olau Kekuaokalani Mariteragi
Nā Kumu Hula Victoria Sunday Napuananionapalionako‘olau Kekuaokalani Mariteragi - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 76
Sunday Mariteragi, a physical education instructor at Kahuku High School, teaches hula on the grounds of the Polynesian Cultural Center. I took hula from Aunty Sally Wood Naluai when I was five- years-old. The only time I stopped was when she went to the mainland. Aunty taught in Kane‘ohe but I also remember traveling with her to places like Kalihi, Waimanalo, and the North Shore. I was fourteen- years-old when she went to teach the college kids at the Polynesian Cultural Center. She would use me as her alaka‘i and sometimes she actually left me to teach her classes in Kāne‘ohe. Before any kind of refinement in hula, Aunty’s first and foremost concern was timing. The fundamental steps were next and then the graceful refinement of the hands. Movement came with kahiko; you had to bend. But your body still had to flow and your arms always had to be projected so everybody could see your motions. Those were her thoughts. She was never one for dancing too close to herself. It was always an open style. It was in 1980 that my sister Ellen Gay and I had our ‘ūniki. The ceremony was held at Aunty Sally’s home in Kahaluʻu and we had to explain the different traditional chants like “Kawika,” ‘“'AuʻaʻIa,” “Ku‘i Moloka‘i,” “Ua Nani ‘O Nuʻuanu.” We had to explain and dance all of them. We had to describe the many uses of the ti leaf and make our own haku for the drum and for the ipu. And then we had to do many hula ‘auana and we had to explain each song and describe the different narratives of each song. This was in front of family and close friends. I started teaching hula in Kāne‘ohe as early as 1970. I had finished college and I was living at my family’s home in Kāne‘ohe. I taught physical education at Kailua Intermediate School and included hula in the curriculum. I also held hula classes after school. Traditionally, ancient dances were not done too fast. Now the dances are so fast. Sometimes you don’t have enough time to see motions. You’ll see movement maybe but not specific things where you can pick up a communicated idea. But I don’t think anything is wrong with that. Hula kahiko started as a ceremonial dance recalling genealogy and histories of the past. Kahiko can also be mele that are done with accompaniment such as an ipu or drum. It can also be a newly created chant of the present. Hula played a major part in giving me confidence. I love to dance. I feel it’s my one talent that I’m most comfortable in doing. I can appreciate all styles of hula. What lʻve learned from Aunty Sally: the consistent training, the patience, and the tolerance, has helped me as an educator. I thank my aunty for her patience and tolerance with me and for being my source of encouragement. 76 Victoria Sunday Napuananionapalionako'olau Kekuaokalani Mariteragi
Paleka Leina‘ala Mattos
Nā Kumu Hula Paleka Leina‘ala Mattos - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 78
In 1982 Paleka Leina‘ala Mattos established Hula Hālau ‘O Kamuela in honor of her uncle and mentor Samuel Nae‘ole. My roots of becoming a kumu hula began at the age of six-years- old. I studied under Hula master Sam Nae‘ole. He was my mother’s brother and I graduated from him in 1976. My uncle Sam studied the hula from various teachers where he had acquired a combination of different styles of hula. Although he was a hula teacher, it didn’t mean he stopped learning. He still had so much more to learn from the older people who knew more about hula. He put all this knowledge together and lie formed his own style. My ʻūniki ceremony was held in Waimanalo under a lūʻau tent. Some of the most prestigious people in hula today attended. Another girl was to ʻūniki as an alaka‘i and I as a kumu hula. The dressing ceremony for the ‘ūniki was done by my uncle. Prior to my ‘ūniki I had learned numerous oli, chants, and dances which I performed on the stage. It was a simple ceremony for us. My uncle said I didn’t have to go through all the other rituals because we were Catholics. Even today we respect the hula and the Hawaiian culture but I’ll go to church and say a little prayer before I go to the Merrie Monarch Festival. That was my uncle’s way and I do the same. Part of my style is my uncle’s but another part is my style. I stayed with Uncle Sam until he passed away in 1981. It was at his funeral that a lot of his students asked me to “take over.’ I said, “No, I’m not going to take over, but l might continue where Uncle left off.” So in 1982 I said to myself, “This is it, Paleka. Let’s do your thing. ’’ I first went into what is commonly known as “contemporary Hawaiian,” meaning that I started to jazz everything up. I thought this is what the people wanted. At the time I had come out full bloom, many hālau were jumping all over the stage doing fabulous fast- stepped kahiko. So there I was going wild; just like them. It was awesome to look at but it was not really hula. It took me a long time to realize that I must return to the basics where I originally started from. It was only a matter of time before I got that “contemporary” style out of my system. I remember going to my first competition. I had been teaching hula for only six months when I entered the Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition. There I overheard someone say that Paleka was fabulous in Tahitian but she knew nothing about hula. I said to myself, “I’ll show you. Although my hālau came in third or fourth that first time, I was disappointed because the children were so good. To prove to myself that the children were good in hula, the following week I went to the hula competition in Maui and won first place in all divisions. I just knew hula was my calling. I can teach hula everyday for a hundred years. That’s how much I love it. My greatest accomplishment in hula is being able to teach the students who have a hard time learning to dance. Every child does not have t lie same learning ability. Hula teachers have to realize it and work at a slower pace. Some are not as quick as others. That’s where being patient comes in. I just know that I can make anyone love hula as much as I do and eventually teach them to dance this special art. Hula goes through periods of change like a circle of life. The style of hula changed from traditional to a more innovative and fancy style. It made the keiki come back to hula because it was exciting and fun. Today the students having learned to love the hula, have embraced tradition. Through this desire to learn and dance the hula, it made its circle and became traditional again. Hula will never lose its tradition as long as kumu like myself are teaching to children. We all will go through our little sporadic experimentation but we will always return. Right now I’m settled into a more traditional line. But who knows. Two years from now a hālau might come up bursting with something new and everybody will follow the train. 78 Paleka Leinaʻala Mattos
Beverly Healani Sun Lan Apana Muraoka
Nā Kumu Hula Beverly Healani Sun Lan Apana Muraoka - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 83
Beverly Muraoka, sister of kumu hula Lovey Apana, has been teaching hula on Kaua‘i since 1988 and is the founder of Healani's Hula Hālau & Music Academy. My father bought a fifteen - dollar guitar from Sears and that is how we started to learn how to play and sing. I played music with people like Aunty Genoa Keawe, Uncle Benny Bogers, Victor and Ku‘ulei Pūnua, and Uncle Joseph Kahaulelio. I also played with Peter Ahia and Uncle Val Kepelino. Everybody expected die Apana Sisters to dance and play music. Kutchie Kuhns was a Polynesian entertainer who came to live on Kauaʻi. She asked my mother if my sister Lovey and I could learn hula from her. I was nine-years-old at the time and we probably would never have started otherwise. Aunty was known for her comedy. She was a feisty hula teacher who loved fast comical numbers. The first dances we learned were “Hula Lōlō,” “Tūtū E,” and “Princess Pupule.” In 1961 Aunty left Kaua‘i because she wasn’t feeling well. So we joined the Kapa‘a Mormon Choir where we learned hula and singing under Jane Kina Goo, Inoa Aniu, Puanani Smith, and Germina Quereto. Through them I learned to dance the slower dances that I m known for. Not bragging but in my time I have been known to be the smoothest, slowest dancer. Moving to Honolulu I learned from Aunty Sally Wood Naluaʻi who was the Hawaiian instructor at the Church College of Hawaiʻi. In the meantime I also became involved in singing and dancing with Aunty Genoa Keawe. She gave me more instructions and I consider her my mentor. Returning home people asked me to teach but I was working for the government and couldn’t do both. Also Lovey owned a hālau and I didn’t think it was right for two sisters on the same island to compete. Later Lovey became ill and asked for my assistance. When she totally left the hula, people were still asking me to teach so I consented. I left the government and embraced the hula. Hula has made me blossom and become more humble. It has taught me to endure hardships but has also given me many blessings. My hālau is small compared to others but I love each student very much. My husband helps me create designs and is our manager. To me the hula that I see today is kind of mixed tip. It can be confusing. You are not too sure if the dancers are dancing anciently but dressed modern or dancing a modernized kahiko. When we were growing up, we were told to use only greens and to keep our costumes simple. Today you see baby’s breath and other modern flowers intertwined in the kupe‘e. Nānā I Nā Loea Hula 83
Naleialoha Napaepae-Kunewa
Nā Kumu Hula Naleialoha Napaepae-Kunewa - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 84
Naleialoha Napaepae-Kunewa is the executive director of Kahua Na‘au A‘o Ma Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau NHP. Inc. and is the kumu hula of Hālau o Kaleiho'ohie o Kona. Mrs. Lokalia Montgomery was my only hula teacher. She was the curator of the Hulihe‘e Palace in Kona from 1951 to 1971 and my mom worked there. She would take me to Mrs. Montgomery’s house located next to the Palace on Saturdays for hula class. In keeping with tradition the teacher selected the student and Mrs. Montgomery chose me. I started when I was seven and stayed with her until she retired in 1971. I was very fortunate. Mrs. Montgomery would sit with me at her dining room table. She would sit at one end and I would be on the other. The only instruments I was allowed to use were the ka lā‘au and ʻiliʻili. “Kū Ka Punohu,” “Kona Kai ‘Opua,” and “‘Aihea ‘O Kalani” were my first dances. All the rhythms were done on the dining room table without ipu or pahu. She never danced. I followed her directions and performed accordingly. Mrs. Montgomery was very knowledgeable in knowing what best suited each person. She didn’t have set standards that you had to learn this and that by the first year. She believed whatever a student was able to comprehend, that’s what she would teach. She really enjoyed working on a one-to-one basis. It was a relaxed but serious situation and it was easy for me to sit with her for long periods at a time. I felt very comfortable with her. Although stern she was a kind and gentle-hearted person. Sometimes we would just sit and talk story. I remember l had my ‘ūniki at twelve years of age. It was held on the Palace grounds. The preparation included red fish and sweet potatoes. She told me not to eat the night before. I arrived before sunrise at her house and stayed with her all day. I napped on her lanai and after I awoke, we reviewed the ceremony. I ate everything she served me and I performed for her and her kumu Mary Kawena Pukui. There was an evening celebration, and I participated in a week long performance at the Palace. In my hālau I teach using Mrs. Montgomery’s method of teaching the steps, hand gestures, and voice. I've kept traditional hula such as “Hole Waimea,” “Kaulīlua I Ke Aim O Wai‘ale‘ale,” “‘Au‘a Ia,” “A Ko‘olau Au” exactly as I learned them. I have incorporated her teaching with original compositions and traditional mele learned later on. I remain true to Mrs. Montgomery’s style. I am a firm believer that I am a carrier of the exclusive style of Mrs. Montgomery and her teachers. Whatever she taught me I keep the same. Hula is a part of me. Hula is Kanaka Maoli. I am Kanaka Maoli therefore I am hula. 84 Naleialoha Napaepae-Kunewa
Nā Kumu Hula Nathan Napoka - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 87
Nathan Napoka, currently employed by the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, has been teaching since 1975. Hula has been in my family for generations. My great-great-grandmother was Ke'ele-hiwa Napoka, a famous court dancer from Maui who went to Kā'u to perform. Manuel Silva, a relative of my grandmother, learned from Ke‘elehiwa Napoka. My grandmother’s sister Elizabeth Kalehuawehe Chun Ling studied with Kumanaiwa who was a famous hula master on Maui. It is said that my family from that side of Maui performed what was called the Haleakalā dances which were done for Pele because she lived in Haleakalā up until very recent times. Everyone thinks of the Pele dances as coming from the big Island but there is a long tradition of Pele dances on Maui where she was still erupting in the 1700s. These dances were being performed until the 1900s. I did not formally study hula until I returned to Hawaiʻi from college in 1972. At that time I was enrolled at the East-West Center as the Hawaiian Renaissance was just starting. Aunty Edith McKinzie was a student with me at the University of Hawaiʻi and she told me about the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts’ hula classes. Aunty Hoakalei Kamau‘u was the director of the program and Aunty Edith was teaching the beginning men’s class. After one semester with Aunty Edith, I moved into Aunty Hoakalei’s classes and I’ve been with her ever since. I studied with Aunty Hoakalei with the understanding that she was going to prepare me to become a teacher. I was soon teaching all the beginning men’s classes for Aunty Hoakalei. I learned to be a ho‘opa‘a by chanting while sitting in the back of the advanced class. Aunty was in the front showing us how to dance and I followed. We also had a special class for the teachers to learn to oli. I was coaxed into teaching. I was interested but I was afraid to teach. Through Aunty Hoakalei I learned that there is a whole way that you learn to become a teacher just like you learn to become a dancer or a chanter. For that reason I was very fortunate that she was (here to help me make a smooth transition from being a student to eventually running the class. She would come in and critique my teaching front the back and guide me through my classes. When she knew that I wasnʻt doing so well or when I was down emotionally, she’d come in and move me through the class. I had her guidance and her very strong presence to support me. That really gave me the confidence to teach: otherwise I would have never taught. I later travelled throughout the state with Aunty ʻIolani Luahine and Aunty Hoakalei for about three and a half years with the Artist in the Schools program. I was very fortunate to have spent time with Aunty ‘Io. Aunty Hoakalei said only two men have ever danced professionally with Aunty ʻIo. I was one of the two. The other was Joseph Kahaulelio. There was a part of our program where I danced alone so that Aunty ʻIo could change clothes and then there was a part where Aunty ʻIo and I danced together. Although Aunty ʻIo wasn’t actually teaching me, we were doing the same motions because it was all coming from the same source. Aunty ʻIo was Aunty Hoakalei’s teacher. Aunty Hoakalei doesn’t ʻūniki. Aunty Hoakalei didn’t ‘ūniki from Aunty ʻIo. ‘Ūniki is something for those people who are deep into the Hawaiian gods. In order to go through a formal graduation ceremony, you have to keep the gods in an altar. In order to keep the gods in an altar, you have to, what the Hawaiians say, “feed the gods" and that meant that you have to be a non-Christian. You cannot feed the Hawaiian gods today and forget about them tomorrow. If you dedicate your life to those gods, yon have to keep them for your whole life and not only when you want to dance hula. If you don’t keep them, they turn on you. Spiritually, they devour you. ‘Ūniki today is different than ‘ūniki yesterday. For people who are in traditional hula, a traditional ‘ūniki is nearly impossible because of the kapu system that existed when ‘ūniki was originally practiced. Today it has taken on a different meaning. Rather than the really strict traditional ceremony, it means a recital or a kind of graduation from one level to another. Like all healthy cultures, our culture is evolving. My reason for dancing has always been to perpetuate these dances and to keep the culture alive. I’ve been very fortunate that my job has kept me financially secure so that I have never had to use my hula to make money. My hula has been something very special. It’s my identity; it’s my culture; it’s my expression. Once in a while my work and hula have crossed paths. One such instance led me to Pat Bacon. Aunty Pat and I worked on indexing mele at the Bishop Museum for two years. During that time I was fortunate to learn more about ancient mele as well as my own hula background since Aunty Pat learned from Keahi Luahine, Aunty Hoakalei’s kupuna who was Aunty ‘Io’s hānai mother and teacher. Aunty Pat has generously given her time and brownies toward my development. I think the hula has changed but I don’t think change is necessarily bad. The only thing that I see that’s bad is if we confuse our traditional hula with modern hula and if we don’t keep the classical hula and the contemporary hula separate. We have to safeguard what is traditional. To me hula kahiko is the classics; the motions and the voice that have been passed on from one generation to another, through one human being touching another human being. If you ask most kumu hula today what they have in their repertoire that’s traditional, most of them don’t have much. They find the words in the archives and they make up the motions and the tune. Although it’s not bad, everyone should have some exposure to where they have come from as a people; where we have come as Hawaiians over all these millenniums of time. Nānā I Nā Loea Hula 87
Nā Kumu Hula Carolee Nishi - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 88
Carolee Nishi has been a full- time volunteer for the Nuʻuanu YMCA Hawaiian Youth Program for close to thirty- years. Besides working for United Airlines as an Executive Services Director, she is a kupuna for the Department of Education Hawaiian Studies Program. The beginning of Hula Hui O Kapunahala began in 1968. While working on contract in the United Airlines Red Carpet Room, a co-worker asked me to teach hula to her daughter and four of her friends who attended Kapunahala Elementary School. We gathered every Sunday morning at their home in Kāne‘ohe for hula lessons. Soon after our small hui was invited to participate in Expo ‘70 in Osaka, Japan. To provide information for the billing we were asked the name of our group. Since the students came from Kapunahala, the Japanese Expo officials immediately provided us with calling cards bearing my name as director of the Kapunahala Hula Club. When we returned to Hawai‘i, the word “club” was substituted with “hui” and we were renamed Hula Hui O Kapunahala. I started hula at age five. In the late Forties my sister and I attended weekly classes at Eunice McLean’s Kalihi home. We were not taught the words but practiced diligently to the tune of many 78-speed recordings. I also took hula at the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) and eventually spent many years in Kaimuki at Mamo's Hula Studio. Hula ‘auana and hapa haole songs were very popular at that time and all the numbers we learned were choreographed by Aggie Auld. We entertained a lot for the military and went all out for the Waikīkī ho‘olaule‘a. In those days Genoa Keawe, Pua Almeida, Harris Kaleikini, Buddy Hew Len. and Val Kepelino were among our regular musicians. In the Fifties around the time of the opening of the International Market Place in Waikiki, my uncle owned and managed a saimin stand next to Don the Beachcombers. In true ‘ohana fashion my parents helped my uncle and consequently the Market Place became my hangout. I was very familiar with the Beachcomber staff, all the small shop owners, members of the Martin Denny’s group, Buddy Fo & the Invitations, and even performers with John Piʻilani Watkins Polynesian Review who featured Al Barcarse as a Maori dancer. I sat through all the shows daily and I knew the routines like the hack of my hand. Most inspiring to me were the fire dancer Kimo Lee, the model/hula dancer Mamo Howell, and the strong voice of Ron Jacobec. After my graduation from Roosevelt High School I attended University of Hawai‘i. Throughout my college years I continued to dance, learned to sing, practiced the ‘ukulele, and studied the language. In the Sixties I joined the Hawaiian ethnic studies group, studied Hawaiian chorus under Dorothy Kahananui Gillette, Hawaiian history with Pauline King Joerger, and learned hula kahiko from Ho‘oulu Cambra. I even dedicated some time to Tahitian and Maori dancing with Bella Richards in Kailua. I spent a lot of time with Aunty Alice Nāmakelua. I was fortunate to have three years of semi-private lessons with Aunty Alice. She taught me to play slack key guitar and to sing many traditional Hawaiian songs. At the same time I became a very close friend to Genoa Keawe. Through the years she has been the one who taught me the most. Through her influence I learned to do a lot for myself. There were many years of guidance and even today if I need her kokua, she’s always around. She has a generous attitude towards helping others. She’s a good role model and I love her. My husband’s best friend, Alan Masuda, strongly suggested that I volunteer my talents at the YMCA. Alan’s brother Robert, who was the executive director of the Nuʻuanu Y, asked me to start an outreach program. That was the beginning of my affiliation with the Y. Aunty Genoa, Kawai Cockett, Huʻi Park, and my mother helped me through my initial years setting up the program. As the program stabilized, membership was opened to the public. Today we have a strongly committed hui who assist me not only in keeping the members active in Hawaiian studies but keep me abreast of community events. Some of these personalities, namely Sherilyn Fukuji, Calvena Moe, Robyn Nishi, Dora Yamamura, Alyssa Malo, Kapiolani Chang, and Nalani Ke‘ale who began membership from the beginning of their elementary school years, are true volunteers keeping the aloha spirit alive by passing down their knowledge of the culture and art of Hawaiʻi. Together we’ve learned that a good kumu haumāna relationship is beneficial to the entire hui. Today they stand strong with the YMCA system working to keep the foundation of our volunteer group pa'a and moving in a positive direction. I know for certain: you get out of life whatever you put into it. The returns have always followed in far greater numbers. Money cannot buy experiences, opportunity or aloha. And for that we say “mahalo ke Akua no Hawaiʻi; lucky we live Hawaiʻi.” Collectively we are blessed not only with the most beautiful sand and sea but also the unique feeling of ‘ohana despite our various cultural differences. I like the words of Haunani Apoliona as she depicts the Hawaiian tradition in her song “‘Alu Like.” “E nānā aku i ke kumu, e ho‘olohe mai, e pa‘a ka waha, e hana me ka lima”* We do need to focus on taking a little more responsibility in keeping the Hawaiian language and culture alive and giving our community a better understanding of its origins. For our children’s sake, Hawaiʻi and all that it stands for needs to be forever, keep the tradition. *Lyrics from “‘Alu Like” 88 Carolee Nishi
Nā Kumu Hula Pohaku Nishimitsu - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 90
Pōhaku Nishimitsu is a Hawaiian Studies resource teacher for the Department of Education and a lecturer for the Kaua‘i Community College. He also conducts teacher workshops in Hawaiian culture for the University of Hawaiʻi School of Continuing Education on Kaua‘i. I have been teaching hula since 1979. The name of my halau is Kani Ka Palm o LohiʻPau which is a traditional name that comes from Kauai and is part of the Pele-Hi'iaka cycle. It was given to me by my kumu ‘olelo Hawaii and kumu mo‘olelo Rubellite Kawena Kinney Johnson, a Kauai native. When I think of traditional hula, I look for a mele that has a real connection to nā kupuna kahiko. Hence it has a solid foundation; it has a concrete link with the past. Traditions are like an unbroken piece of thread. It connects every era and that thread is going to continue stringing us into the next century. It will be linked back to us and back to our kupuna who came before us. Tradition has a grounding, a basis in the past, and is carried on for the future generations. I was a sophomore in high school on the Island of Kaua‘i when I started hula with Aunty Ku‘ulei Pūnua. She was teaching in Kapa‘a and Llhu‘e. She had trained under old time kumu hula Kent Ghirard and lolani Luahine. These two kumu hula were really diverse; one being modern and one immersed in the old. But both were very strict and rigid in terms of discipline and protocol. This was passed on in their teachings. I learned a number of traditional hula from Aunty Ku'ulei so I had a good foundation to grow from. I left her because I finished high school and my schooling took me to O‘ahu. I continued with my hula training and learning more about Hawaiian culture and arts. I majored in Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa with a strong emphasis on ‘ōlelo Hawaii. While on O‘ahu I started hula with Nathan Napoka and Aunty Hoakalei Kamau‘u when they were teaching in Nuʻuanu. It was special to listen to Aunty Hoakalei and the way she chanted. Her vast knowledge sparked an interest in my wanting to continue my hula education. I stayed with her for at least a year and a half. Uncle Henry Moʻike-haokahiki Pa was kumu hula for the King Kamehameha Civic Club and I started taking hula from Uncle Henry. I thought that his wealth of mana‘o and style was really neat because he was one of the oldest kumu hula still teaching. It was fabulous being able to learn things from someone who had been doing it all his life. After Uncle Henry I moved to Darrell Lupenui and Waimāpuna. It was very different because I was usually in a combined men and women class and now I was in a group made lip of all men. They were robust and able to do totally different styles of hula from what I was doing before. Darrell was founded in traditional mana‘o and styling but he was also very innovative and he tried to meld the two to make a pleasing kind of picture so that the kupuna would not find his hula offensive. After a year Darrell, Thaddius Wilson, and O'Brian Eselu found it necessary to go their separate ways. A bunch of us went with O'Brian and Thaddius and formed Na Wai ʻEhā O Puna in the summer of 1978. I stayed with them for three years. I have a great deal of respect for Uncle Henry Pa and Aunty Edith Kanaka‘ole because they taught with great aloha and humility and they conveyed what they believed through what they did. Their actions proved they were living what they talked about. Also both of them were fluent Hawaiian speakers so they knew of the nuances and things hidden away to those not maʻa i ka ‘ōlelo makuahine (not familiar with the mother tongue). They were gifted. Through them I learned that the ‘ōlelo is of vital importance to hula. Without proper ‘ōlelo, how can you have proper hula? “Pono nō e a‘o mai i ka ‘ōlelo Hawaiʻi; ‘oi‘a ka mea nui. A e a‘o mai i ka hula o kou ‘aina ponoʻī.” Language is the key that opens doors. These passages shed light on things of the past; some of which are no more. We may never know everything but that’s the beauty of the hula and the mele—its subtlety. Now more so than ever I am very happy to be able to watch other people do their hula and enjoy what they are trying to do and share because of this resurgence i ka ‘olelo Hawaiʻi. 90 Pohaku Nishimitsu
Nā Kumu Hula Iwilani Silva Ohelo - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 93
Iwilani Ohelo is kumu hula of the Hālau Hula 0 Na Pua Mokihana and the Kalihi- Pālama Culture & Arts Society's community hula and Polynesian dance classes. I began learning the hula at three years-old. During that time there were only a few kumu hula who taught hula to children at that young age. I was fortunate to have kumu hula Mrs. Rose Look, a family friend, invite me to join her beginning children’s hula classes which were held at her home on 6th Avenue in Kaimuki. Mrs. Look studied with renowned hula masters including Alice Keawekane Garner, Kamuela Nae‘ole, and Lokalia Montgomery. She focused her instruction on the fundamentals of the hula. It was she who helped develop my basic hula foundation. After three years of hula training Mrs. Look stopped teaching and relocated to the ‘Ewa district of O‘ahu. Prior to closing her Kaimuki hālau, she assisted her students with referrals to other kumu hula in the area. She recommended me to Mrs. Rose Joshua, the kumu hula and proprietor of the Magic Hula Studio on Kalākaua Avenue. I found Mrs. Joshua to be a sincere and beautiful person as well as an excellent hula instructor. She was very caring, patient, nurturing, and especially loved teaching children. Learning the Hawaiian culture and hula under her tutelage was the most rewarding and enjoyable part of my life. Mrs. Joshua used a holistic approach in teaching and taught us to be well-rounded dancers. Not only did we learn the hula kahiko and ‘auana dance stylings, we were also taught the oli and other chanting techniques. We learned the mo‘olelo, the Hawaiian and English lyrics to the mele hula, and were trained as ‘olapa and ho‘opa‘a on the use of traditional musical instruments to accompany the hula as well as appropriate costuming and adornments. Her teaching methods were thorough and enabled us to gain important knowledge and an understanding of the dances we performed. As part of our learning experiences we were required to conduct our own research on selected chants and mele. The research included studying the Hawaiian lyrics, knowing the composer, the historical significance of the song and possible kaona, if any. Mrs. Joshua’s hālau was noted for its unique hula styling. Her styling is graceful, elegant, and expressive of the dancer’s inner spiritual beauty while embracing a love for the hula as a cherished legacy of an ancient and proud Hawaiian civilization. It is a dance styling born of tradition and inspiration from the Heavenly Creator to entrance and capture the hearts of those honored with its presentation. This is the hula which I wanted to preserve and perpetuate as a dancer and a teacher. As a haumāna of the Magic Hula Studio, I was privileged to also learn hula kahiko and chanting techniques from hula master Henry Mo'ikeha Pa who shared the Magic Hula Studio as a partner with Mrs. Joshua. In addition we also received instruction in Maori, Tahitian, Samoan, and Tongan traditions, culture, music, and dances. Each year Mrs. Joshua would host special workshops and classes conducted by notable Polynesian cultural resources visiting Hawaiʻi and the Polynesian Cultural Center who would teach at the studio. These sessions enabled me to gain an appreciation of my Hawaiian and Polynesian heritage. After studying the hula with Mrs. Joshua for over twenty-one years, I was selected as one of five haumāna who were chosen to ‘ūniki. This was such a very special honor for me because Mrs. Joshua had not given certificates to any students in all of her forty years of teaching hula. The ceremonial presentation of the certificates was held as part of a hula hō‘ike to which other kumu hula were invited. As she awarded me her certificate, Mrs. Joshua gave me her blessings and encouraged me to carry on her hula styling as a kumu hula of my own hālau. She passed on shortly after the graduation ceremony. I first started teaching the hula at the early age of thirteen. While attending St. Patrick’s School I taught my classmates hula which were performed during the school’s May Day programs and Aloha Week festivals. During my high school years I voluntarily assisted in teaching hula for the May Day programs at Kalani and Kaiser High Schools. After graduating from high school I began teaching hula classes in various hotels, schools, church, and community facilities. In 1980 while I was already married, I decided to open my hālau in our family home in Kapahulu. A few years later I began teaching hula and Polynesian dance classes at the Kauluwela Recreation Center under the auspices of the Kalihi-Pālama Culture & Arts Society, Inc. Next year our hālau will be celebrating seventeen years of sharing hula and Polynesian dances in Hawai'i. When the time comes and I feel that my haumana have earned the opportunity to graduate from my hālau, I will ‘ūniki those deserving students. However they must assure me that they will uphold the quality standards of my hālau, cherish my legacy, and w ill teach only what is “pono." They will need to have sufficient knowledge of the Hawaiian language, an appreciation for the positive values of our Hawaiian kupuna, and be able to translate a chant or mele, as well as create an entire interpretive hula using traditional hand gestures that authentically enhance the poetic meaning of the lyrics. They w ill need to celebrate the hula as an art and as creative expression of life. Hula is my life and my life is hula. The knowledge imparted to me by my kumu hula and cultural mentors is a precious legacy which I shall always cherish and endeavor to perpetuate wit h aloha. I see the hula changing. There appears to be more hula steps being performed now than the traditional hula foot movements that I learned during my hula training. Today’s kumu hula have added their own creative expressions to this art which often excite an audience but also frequently raise the question of whether tradition is being preserved or sacrificed. The kumu hula’s creativity is the signature of a hālau styling. I believe that we as kumu hula can be creative within the realm of tradition as long as we preserve the integrity of the culture and authenticity of the dances as shared with us by our Hawaiian ancestors. The hula is a celebration of the life of the Hawaiian culture and will live forever as long as we continue to share this legacy. Nānā I Nā Loea Hula 93
Minerva Kalauhiwaokalani Pang
Nā Kumu Hula Minerva Kalauhiwaokalani Pang - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 94
Minerva Pang has been teaching hula in her home since 1958 and presently works as a kupuna in the Pearl City area. I’ve always loved dancing especially the hula. My grandfather wanted me to study instead of dance because he said hula will not take me anywhere. So I used to hide to take hula lessons. My cousin taught me the hula when I was three-years- old. At age seven I took hula ‘auana from Rose Kuamo‘o whenever I visited Hilo. I took two summers from her while living in Kaʻu. When I moved to Honolulu, I took from my kumu hula Emma Moniz. She taught me hula ‘auana and a lot of implement numbers. The kahiko I learned was more modern, like dances about King Kalākaua and Queen Lili'uokalani. As a student my goal was to take hula from Aunty Emma for two years and get a certificate to graduate. I had to learn the language, the dance, and get a certificate if I wanted to become a teacher. You needed to understand the Hawaiian words and the interpretation of the mele to he able to create your own hula. Aunty Emma said it would take years hut it was necessary to learn the language. I got my certificate at my ʻūniki in 1945. Before I started to teach hula, I thought I needed to take more dancing so I took children’s hula from Kuulei Stibbard. I also took private lessons from Puanani Alama and learned some implement numbers and other hula ‘auana from George Nā‘ope. At first I taught my own children and then my neighbors’ children. I felt that if they could learn from me, I could teach others. Then my friends came and soon I had over twenty children and it grew from that. I taught for five years before I had my first recital. I used to have a couple hundred children but now my class is smaller because I am in the kupuna program and I have less time. I call myself a hula teacher but kumu has the same meaning. I teach old Hawaiian songs about places, islands, love, and songs that were written before the children were born so they can learn about them. Some of our young teachers are not ready. But I cannot say much because when I opened my studio, I was very new. Everybody learns from their mistakes and improves by learning all the time. Definitely the hula of today is different. The steps of today are faster especially the kahiko. Traditional hula today is too perfect not like I used to know, simple with feeling. Today’s children have different ideas and sometimes they get easily bored with the old ways. So to keep them interested, you have to create new ideas. 94 Minerva Kalauhiwaokalani Pang
Nā Kumu Hula Elizabeth Hu‘i Park - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 97
Remembered as a beautiful and accomplished dancer, the late Huʻi Park taught hula for seventeen years. Her daughter Coranne Park-Chun is continuing her legacy at the Huʻi Park Hula Studio I learned the basics of hula at the age of eight while attending the Parks and Recreation program at Lanakila Park in the summer. During the weekdays I took hula ‘auana from Aunty Sally Wood at Likelike School. My greatest influence however was Joseph Kahaulelio with whom I studied under for fourteen years. There were about fifteen girls in Uncle Joe’s class. He would always tell us the story and translation of the chant before teaching us the dance. We had to learn the chant by memory then he would go into the basic steps and hand motions. He taught just four of us to pad and that’s how I learned to pa‘i with my finger and thumb. I danced for Leilani Alania for a year and a half before my cousin Flo Koanui asked me to dance for Aunty Vickie Iʻi Rodrigues. There were ten of us who danced for Aunty Vickie and we were called the Hauʻoli Girls. We were the best dancers on the Islands, entertaining in the hotels and on the boats during the Sixties. Aunty Vickie’s forte was hula ‘auana so she did the ‘auana portion of the show. Uncle Joe, Kawai Cockett or George Holokai did the chanting for us. My cousin and I taught the girls who didn’t know kahiko. Like Uncle Joe, Aunty Vickie didn’t allow us to write down the words to the song she was teaching. Rut I wrote it anyway because when you get older, you forget. She told us what the dance was about and let everybody have an input in putting the motions to the dance. We would try it this way or try it that way. By doing this, she knew which students would become teachers and carry on. Aunty Vickie has given me so much. She inspired me to grow as a person and taught me to be a lady. She polished us to be beautiful hula dancers. Although I danced for Aunty Vickie for seventeen years, my style of dancing is still Uncle Joe’s and Aunty Vickie was pleased with me for keeping his style. I don’t believe in ‘ūniki and my teachers never believed in ‘ūniki. In the old days you had to live with the kumu. You had to abstain from sex and only concentrate in learning the hula. I remember Eleanor Hiram Hoke telling stories about her ‘ūniki and why we cannot go through those rituals anymore. I didn’t realize that I was going to be a teacher until Aunty Genoa Keawe asked me to teach hula for her. At that time I had to say “no” but the second time she asked me, I said “yes” because I had planned to quit my job to help my daughter take care of her baby. I taught at the Genoa Keawe's Hula Studio for one year and then the following year in 1975, she turned it over to me. On my fifteenth anniversary of teaching I graduated six students who had been with me from ten to fifteen years and they were given a certificate of accomplishment. For five years they had to teach the basics to a beginners’ class. I gave them a hapa haole number to create into a hula. Before every girl graduated, she had to earn a paper certifying t hat she knows how to make a ti leaf skirt, haku or kui a lei, and do everything else I taught her. My joy is having the respect and dedication of a student who has become an accomplished dancer. She is my final product. It’s a feather in my cap that someone else wants my student and I feel great that she can go on to other things. In my opinion kahiko is telling stories of old through a slower medium. I teach only girls so in my kahiko the dancers are soft. They don’t jump all over the place. That’s how I was taught from the very beginning at Lanakila Park and from Uncle Joe. Nānā I Nā Loea Hula 97
Denise Ka‘uhionamauna Kia Ramento
Nā Kumu Hula Denise Ka‘uhionamauna Kia Ramento - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 98
Denise Ramento founded Aloha Pumehana O Hawaiʻi Nei in 1972 and is currently teaching hula and Tahitian dance in the Waipahu area. I began to learn hula at the age of seven-years-old. My first teacher was John Piʻilani Watkins who taught at his home in Kaimukī. He was not really into traditional hula. John was very theatrical. He liked using a lot of cellophane. He also taught us Tahitian, Samoan, and Maori dancing. I spent the next nine years with Aunty Luka and Aunty Louise Kaleiki at the ʻIlima Hula Studio. It was through their lessons that I got more involved in the hula. Aunty Luka did most of the teaching. Aunty Louise did the paper work for the business and she was the disciplinarian. I concentrated so much in hula that I never got a chance to go to football games. Aunty Luka and Aunty Louise were very strict; if you missed one performance, you couldn’t dance. I remember a few of us never went to our proms because there was hula. I graduated six years after joining Aunty Luka and Aunty Louise. There were six of us that were up for graduation. All of the dancers who were graduating had to learn a number of their own. Aunty Luka and Aunty Louise chose each song and the girls learned their particular song privately. I learned hula kahiko from Uncle Henry Pa when he came to the hālau to teach Aunty Luka. Before we started the kahiko, he sat and explained about the dance. He met with us for three years and during the last year he taught us hula kahiko for our ʻūniki. All the students from the halau participated in the graduation lū‘au held at Ka Makua Mau Loa Church in Kalihi. The graduating class danced hula kahiko chosen by Uncle Henry Pa and each of I he graduates had to dance her special song. My song was “Kau‘ionalani." Aunty Luka and Aunty Louise asked me to become an alaka‘i but my parents sent me away to Maui to attend Lahainaluna High School. Because I missed my hula, I started at the Royal Lahaina Hotel as a solo dancer under the direction of Robert Kalani. I performed Aunty Luka’s songs and choreography. After living in Maui for a year I returned home and went back to Aunty Luka. But all my hula sisters had left and there was a kind of emptiness so I decided to rest. I was eighteen-years-old when I was asked to teach some teenagers in Waipahu. I began with Tahitian because I was stronger in that area. My twin brother Dennis took care of the drumming and I taught the dancing. I also taught hula but when we were asked to do shows, they usually wanted Tahitian dancing. Aunty Luka and Aunty Louise had the most influence on me. Besides teaching me, they gave me the desire to move on and to learn more. They were the biggest inspiration on my hula career. My advice to the young teachers is to know what you’re doing. Learn the language. Respect the kupuna and our culture. We all have different styles because our kumu hula all learned from different people. Don’t over elaborate the hula. Just take it from the basics and don’t forget the roots. 98 Denise Ka‘uhionamauna Kia Ramento
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 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
Nā Kumu Hula Holoua Stender - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 106
Holoua Stender has been teaching Hawaiian chant and dance classes as part of the regular curriculum at the Kamehameha Schools since 1979. I was raised by my maternal grandmother and great-grandparents. Together with my paternal grandmother, they spoke Hawaiian to me when I was little. When I attended St. Louis High School, I studied Hawaiian language with John Lake and I continued learning the language throughout my years at the University of Hawaiʻi where I graduated in 1979. I took hula from John Lake in 1970 when I was fifteen. He was a wonderful and exciting teacher. He motivated the students to want to learn. He must have had over sixty students who came to the after school rehearsals to study chant, music, and dance from him. He had a charismatic way of teaching. He used to take us all around the island to learn from different kumu hula. We studied with Aunty Alice Nāmakelua, Pua Dela Cerna and Aunty Hattie Au. He provided us with many opportunities to learn hula and we performed and watched performances by hula greats such as ʻIolani Luahine and Edith Kanakaʻole. After high school I went to the University of Hawai‘i where I took hula classes from Hoʻoulu Cambra and language from Sarah Nakoa and Larry Kimura. In 1973 I joined Ka Pā Hula Hawaiʻi under John Kaha‘i Topolinski. Kaha‘i had the greatest influence on my hula career because of the depth of his teaching and because I was with him the longest. He would take chants and break them down to reveal the different levels of meaning inherent in the language of the chant. Each dance took a long period to learn because of Kaha‘i’s care and scholarship. Sometimes we would visit Mrs. Mary Kawena Pukui to ask her questions about different chants and she would unravel the hidden intricacies of the language. In 1977 1 left Kaha‘i and went to learn from Darrell Lupenui. Darrell was a very loving person. I have special memories of him and the way he taught. He would sit on the floor and he would teach us by describing the motions to us. He wouldn’t perform the motion but he would tell us what to do and the dances would become so perfect and beautiful. He hardly ever changed things. He had a mental picture of the dance in his head and he described and translated his mental images to teach us. It’s like someone who is a genius at creating music. They create the music in their heads. He would explain it to the alakaʻi and they would then show us the motion. Darrell Lupenui was an artist and perhaps a genius in hula. He worked within the parameters of hula and he created art right inside his head. When Keliʻi Tau‘ā asked me to join his kumu hula class, Darrell was very gracious and released me to go with Keli‘i. My entire two years with Keli‘i was spent training for graduation. Part of our training for graduation was to compose mele. Keliʻi invited Manuel Silva, Henry Pa, Kalena Silva, and other renown kumu hula to witness our graduation. They came to watch and comment on our choreography and our compositions. We performed at the Star of the Sea on the evening following our formal graduation ‘ūniki ceremony held at Sand Island. Charles Ka‘upu and I were fortunate to have graduated as kumu hula by Keliʻi Tauʻā in 1979. I teach Hawaiian chant and dance at the Kamehameha Schools. Randie Fong and Wayne Chang work closely with me to create special dance productions for the school. Three hundred students show up for our auditions and we’ll select maybe forty or fifty of the most talented young men and women. They must demonstrate exemplary skills in music and dance. We teach our students, “‘A‘ohe pau ka ‘ike i kāu hālau,” which means, “all knowledge is not found under one roof.” We ask students not to change or forget what was taught to them by other kumu hula. We try as much as possible to teach them a new style and enhance their dancing causing them to strive for greater personal achievement. We are fortunate that most students come to us with experience and we don’t want to dampen that experience. We want to give them another hula challenge and teach them to excel in performance. Students begin class outside on the lānai. They line up at a designated time to chant their oli kāhea. If we feel that the chant is sincere, they will be welcomed inside. At times they may continue chanting for twenty minutes to half an hour. When they walk in, it’s perfectly quiet. We practice the basic steps for anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour. After the basics we break up into three groups and each kumu will teach a different dance. I studied hula because of language. I could see the beauty of the poetry and beauty of the Hawaiian language through dance and chant. That’s what made me interested in hula because hula demonstrates the beautiful soul of the Hawaiian language. 106 Holoua Stender
Harriet Kuuleinani Sheldon Stibbard
Nā Kumu Hula Harriet Kuuleinani Sheldon Stibbard - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 109
The late Harriet Kuuleinani Stibbard was a public elementary school teacher for forty-one years before retiring. She opened Kuulei’s Hula Studio in October 1931. Once while dancing on stage, a Hawaiian woman said, “What is that haole lady doing up on stage?” I have Hawaiian blood in me and I am proud of it. Her remark encouraged me to do better. When I was young, my parents did not want me to dance the hula but I was determined to learn. I did not learn to dance however until I was twenty-one-years-old and married. I was teaching school on Maui when I met Alice Garner, my first hula teacher. Alice was a soft-spoken and beautiful person from whom I learned kahiko and 'auana. After five weeks of lessons she told me, “Harriet, I don’t know why you are coming to me. Your talent is God-given. I just can’t teach you anymore.” When I started my classes, I taught ‘auana first then kahiko much later. I had my own style and it was very different from other hālau. My costumes, pā‘ū, holokū, and ideas came naturally after I visualized my songs and dances. After I went on my own. I asked Aunty Daisy Boyd to translate the Hawaiian songs for me. Language to me is very important in hula. If Aunty Daisy Boyd did not translate for me, I would not have been able to do anything. My best memories are of the children. Some were as young as three-years-old. I always said to them, “Do not waste your parents’ money if you don’t want to learn.” After taking hula for about six months, the children were given a certificate with a picture of myself for learning good manners, good feelings, attire, and discipline. My advice was to put their heart and soul into what they do, work diligently, and set goals. I also taught at Punahou School. After three years they wanted me to give up my studio to teach full time for them. I refused because I wanted to keep my studio in Honolulu. After one of my recitals in Hilo, Mrs. Helen Desha Beamer said that she would send her granddaughter to me for private lessons. That was a great honor to have Mama Beamer trust me. I take pride in the fact that the students of Kuulei’s Hula Studio were on the cover of “Paradise of the Pacific,” “Time,” “Newsweek,” and inside of “Collier’s Magazine.” All of these articles and dates are in a book that my granddaughter Maunalei Love is using in her hālau O Kuʻulei Aloha. The newspaper articles about my keiki were tremendously rewarding. The hula has changed a lot. When I look at the ‘uwehe of today, we never opened our legs. Old Hawaiians were rascal and naughty but in a clean way. I love kahiko but I never composed because I felt I was not an expert to do so. I prefer ‘auana songs especially “Mī Nei.” I am very honored to be recognized today. It is a compliment when somebody reminds me that I was his or her teacher and that I was teaching their granddaughter. What a beautiful reward for me. My greatest joy is what I gave to the children because it lives on today.
Victoria Hanaka‘ulani-0- Kamamalu Holt Takamine
Nā Kumu Hula Victoria Hanaka‘ulani-O-Kamamalu Holt Takamine - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 111
Kumu hula of Pua Aliʻi Ilima, Vicky Takamine also teaches Hawaiian chant, dance and culture at the University of Hawaiʻi- Mānoa and the Leeward Community College. When students come To me, the first thing I tell them is that I might not be the right teacher for them. So if they don’t care for the way I’m teaching or they’re not getting anything out of my classes, l don’t feel badly if they want to move on. If they come and they want to adapt to my style then the first thing we do is train in kahiko. I also teach them the text of a song because the important thing about the dance is not just the movements, it’s the text. Just teaching feet and hands have no meaning. It is not Hawaiian. I teach them a song right away to get them moving and to get them involved. I want them to feel that they can accomplish a chant or a song in a short period of time. I want them to feel very confident in their own ability. I started dancing at a very young age by watching television and watching my mother dance. She used to dance with the Alama sisters. I took formal lessons with Aunty Māʻiki Aiu at the age of fifteen when she was located at Ke‘eaumoku Street. I studied with her until I graduated from high school in 1965. For five years I was going to hula off and on. In 1970 Aunty Māʻiki opened her hula classes for kumu hula and a year later I started with her again. The first thing we learned with Aunty Māʻiki was basic hands and feet. She had a special song that she had created just for us, and she taught us the basic hand gestures and foot movements that went with the song. We won Id start learning to speak and understand the language from the first day we walked into class. We always had a test at the end of the month. So if we were in the Friday class, the last Friday of the month was set aside for words and translation for whatever mele or song we had learned that month. You had to keep on your toes because she would pull things out of the hat that we learned several months before. We were expected to learn the words to the songs and the translations. We wrote all of the movements down and kept it in a folder along with the research on all of the songs that we learned and the places that we studied. It was quite intensive. I didn’t know that I was going to be a teacher when I started dancing with Aunty Māʻiki. I just had this love for the hula and the Hawaiian culture. But when I came back to study with her, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. In 1975 I graduated as ‘ōlapa, ho‘opa‘a and kumu hula from Aunty Māʻiki. My hālau started in the backyard of Aunty Verna Wilson. She got a group of students together and I gave my first lesson in her patio in ‘Aiea. The joy I get from teaching hula is being able to share different experiences with my students and to watch them develop as a dancer, develop self-confidence, and develop grace. It’s satisfying to nurture somebody who wall want more of the Hawaiian culture and the language instead of just the movements to the dance. Because Aunty Māʻiki was my only teacher, I don’t think that I could get away from her style of dance. That is always going to be with me. Of course when I left Aunty Māʻiki, I developed my own ways but the basic foundation that she’s laid for me will always be there. Hula kahiko is not the same as it was fifty years ago or even twenty years ago for that matter. We as people have evolved and have changed and therefore our likes and our dislikes have changed. We tend to keep things that we like and set aside things that we don’t like. So if we learn something that we don’t care for, we won’t carry that on to the next generation and those things will be lost. Nānā I Nā Loea Hula 111
Nā Kumu Hula ‘Iwalani Tseu - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 112
‘Iwalani’s School of Dance originated in Wahiawa on August 1974 and is now located in Mililani and Waipi‘o Gentry; O‘ahu. Hō‘ae‘ae Ranch, O‘ahu’s first macadamia nut orchard has a significant place in my life. I was born there in 1950 and raised in Honouliuli, a town noted for its ‘ilima flower farms. At the age of six I enrolled in Auntie Ku‘ulei Clark's hula class at Hans LʻOrange Park in Waipahū. To me she was the matriarch of the hula; she was Hawaiʻi. Auntie Ku'ulei taught us first to be ha‘aha‘a (humble), aloha kekahi i kekahi (love and respect each other), and most of all, to respect yourself. She taught us that it would be wise for each haumāna to keep in mind the wise saying of our kupuna, “A‘ohe pau ka ʻike i kāu hālau" (think not that all wisdom resides in your hālau). Under Auntie Kuʻulei l learned the basics of the hula kahiko and hula ‘auana. In my days of learning, hula ʻauana was popular. Although we did some kahiko, I prefer ‘auana. The art of hula fascinated me as I watched the older girls dance. The unity and aloha they expressed gave me the incentive to work harder for I wanted to be as good as they were. My mother helped me to be aware of how vital it was to protect the inner beauty of a mele. She encouraged me to flow with each mana‘o so that the story could be felt as well as viewed. I became a professional dancer and traveled to the mainland and all over the world. I was offered to do a two-week promotion for American President Lines on the passenger liner steamship, President Cleveland. This promotion developed into a commitment which lasted nearly three years. Traveling to exotic countries brought rewarding memories and an opportunity to share our Hawaiian culture. Hawaiian composers have always taken time to write songs and chants about whatever caught their eyes and hearts: the beauty of a pretty girl, a handsome male, flowers, lovers or ‘ohana. Many of my hula follow the same tradition. I think of my childhood, of people and places, glimpses of moments that express the Hawai‘i I’ve known. To me the hula is the ability to express one’s most inner feelings. It should not be a copy of someone else. Today I’m still seeking more knowledge. I’m fortunate to have mentors such as Kimo Alania Keaulana who unselfishly continues to share his expertise and mana‘o with me, and Uncle George Nā‘ope who inspires and guides me. The art of hula is recognized throughout the world for it is a dance form as well as the history of our kupuna. Their mana‘o is transformed within our body through songs and dances as a way of expressing our cultural heritage. This is the wealth of our Hawaiian Islands which make us so unique. This is the true meaning of aloha.