John Keolamaka‘ainānakalāhuiokalani Lake
description: John Keolamaka‘ainanakalāhuiokalani Lake Born on Maui, John Lake moved to Oahu in 1954 to attend the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and is currently a member of the faculty of St. Louis High School. There is a tremendous clash today between the old values and modern values of Hawai‘i. With the creativity of the new styles and interpretations, the question today has become what is considered traditional hula? Today you have a lot of creative dances that exist for the sake of rhythm rather than the sake of language. Rhythm gives way to movement, movement gives way to theatrics, and theatrics give way to confusion. My first kumu in the formal training sense was Aunty Mā‘iki Aiu Lake. I had studied informally at the age of six under my great-grandaunt but my real training in the kahiko began under Mā‘iki. She taught me that the beauty of the hula is to come to terms with the essence of one’s self. She said that the Hawaiians call your inner light the manaʻo and it is the real source of your dancing. Your body is simply an expression of your manaʻo. When I joined the hālau in 1964 there were only two other male dancers enrolled in the school. The emphasis and public attention was on ‘auwana but my interest was on the traditional hula and I found Mā‘iki to be both gracious and steeped in knowledge. The central theme of the hālau was humility. Through humility everything is given to you. She defined the hula kahiko as the basic steps and styles passed down through the generations and we were expected to humble our own personalities to the dances. We were taught that hula expressed every sense: sight, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling. My affiliation and work with Aunty Edith Kanaka‘ole through many years, brought me to understand the value of Hawaiian traditions, the respect of self and others, and the dignity of our Hawaiian values and heritage. She taught me much in chanting as to the projection of voice, control over the language and breathing, and essentially the…

Ma‘iki Aiu Lake and Coline Kaualoku Aiu Ferranti
description: Mā‘iki Aiu Lake Mā’iki Aiu Lake, teacher of the hula for thirty-seven years, is recognized as a mentor for many of Hawaiʻi’s outstanding young kumu hula. As far as my family was concerned the hula was a closed book. I came from a straight- laced, Christian family and most anything Hawaiian was not condoned. But in my family was a grandaunt named Helen Correa and to her the hula was great people accomplishing heroic deeds in everyday life. In the old days pageants were known as tableaus and she would be called upon by churches to organize Hawaiian tableaus because she knew the protocol. My tūtū taught me the mannerisms, the attitude, and the gentleness of the actual dance performance but my first formal teacher was Lokalia Montgomery. As I studied under her I learned that the kahiko could be performed without all the rituals. I didn’t have to be afraid and I didn’t have to compromise my Christian faith. I went to Aunty Lokalia at fifteen and at eighteen I was graduated traditionally as a dancer. In those days nobody carried the title of kumu hula. They were all musicians or composers or performers and when the elders were no longer around some of the teachers would improvise and put their own feelings into the dance. After my ‘ūniki I was trained by Lokalia to be a teacher and by the time I graduated I had started my family. I would dance in between my family life with Pua Almeida, Lena Guerrero, Andy Cummings, and anybody who needed a dancer when they entertained. In 1946 I was asked by my grandaunt to teach the church members at the Blessed Sacrament Church. I was so grateful for the extra money because now I could buy my children the little things besides only saving money for their education. I was still a young teacher feeling my way through classes and I would go home and try to remember the things that I was disappointed with in my education. When I studied with Aunty Lokalia there was no paper or pencil so when I’d come home I’d cry at the table trying to ret…

Adeline Nani Maunupau Lee
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Adeline Nani Maunupau Lee - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 1 Page 87
description: Adeline Lee has dedicated twenty-nine years as a Hawaiiana instructor for the Department of Parks and Recreation, City and County of Honolulu. She currently resides in Kapahulu, O‘ahu. The best thing about my life today is that I am able to pass on my knowledge to an alaka‘i. The knowledge and tradition of the culture was given to me only to give out. How will people learn about and respect the culture if no one tells them about it? The responsibility of the kumu hula becomes then to choose someone who will be faithful to what is being passed down. I come from a family of eleven and we were all taught to sing and play instruments from childhood. My father Thomas Kananiokeaupunimālamalama Maunupau and my mother Eunice Keolamauloakamō‘i- wahineokamālamalama Molaka Maunupau taught us that you can be raised in a Western world but still remain a Hawaiian. We were all sent to Catholic private schools where we were told never to speak Hawaiian but when we arrived home the language was spoken fluently and constantly. My first kumu was my aunt Mrs. Baker. Family members would come and share with us any knowledge and training they had. I was trained at a very young age and we were taught to sing the Hawaiian mele by memory with the correct enunciation and pronunciation. In 1950 I joined the Department of Parks and Recreation and this was how I began to teach the hula. There was a required hula course that all the instructors had to attend and this was how I was able to learn under some of the great kumu hula of our culture. Nona Beamer taught us dances aimed specifically for children and more than that she showed us the joy of children and childhood. Tom Hiona taught us the names and styles of the different drum beats, and we were trained by Alice Keawekāne Garner in the comic side of the hula. Because we had to teach all ages of students, Aunty Mary Kawena Pūku‘i taught us a wide variety of traditional hula that was suitable for children and adults. In addition we were train…

Kathleen Malama Leleo
description: Kathleen Malama Leleo Kathleen Leleo served as alaka'i to the late hula teacher Samuel (Kamuela) Nae‘ole of Waimanalo. She currently is affiliated with the Kalihi-Palama Culture and Arts Society as a hula instructor. When I think of traditional hula I think of Lokalia Montgomery and George Nā‘ope. There would have to be limitations on creativity if one is to go strictly traditional. The old style of traditional hula is vanishing and most of our kupunas that practiced it are gone. The hula of today is exciting but there’s not enough people alive today to show us or teach us what ancient hula was really like. It’s difficult to say what it is and what it is not. I became interested in hula at a very late age. My children were grown and all in school and there was nothing else for me to do. So I became a member of the Kalihi- Pālama Hawaiian Civic Club which my late brother founded. I became very interested in Hawaiiana and at this time, George Nā‘ope began his hula classes in Kalihi and the members of our club were encouraged to join. This was my start in hula. I studied with Uncle George for five years and I was trained in hula kahiko, hula ‘auwana, and chanting. We were never told what the chant was about so we did research on our own time. At the end of my fifth year of training I was graduated by Uncle George as a kumu hula. I went on to train under Samuel Nae‘ole and I found him to be someone who really cared about his dancers and how well each one did. He helped me to better myself in the hula ‘auwana. I remember when we went out to perform, Uncle Sam would charge a quarter for every mistake we made. He trained five of his students to become kumu hula and I was very fortunate to be one of those students. He stressed the importance of the mekona and the ‘okina, and he started our training by focusing on memorizing the chant, proper pronunciation, translation, expression, and significance of the chant or dance. Uncle Sam gave us the resources and we did the researc…

Bill Ali‘iloa Lincoln
description: Bill Ali‘iloa Lincoln In 1947 Bill Lincoln ran the largest and most influential hula studio in Hawaiʻi, employing such teachers as Ida Wong, Barbara Johnson, and Alice Keawekāne Garner. It wasn’t until I went to school for the first time that I began to speak English. The same was true for the Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese students who attended the country school called Pohakuloa. The Hawaiian students would talk to each other in Hawaiian and the other students would converse with each other in their mother tongue. One group would be able to talk to the other group in broken English and today it is called pidgin English or as a Hawaiian would say namu-pa‘i-ʻai. The teachers told us to forget our languages and just speak the English language. This seemed impossible at that time but today it is the spoken language. My father was a rancher and foreman on one of the ranches in Kohala and that’s where my whole family was born. I was the last of four boys so I had a better chance to further my education. I went on to finish high school and that’s where I became interested in music. In those days it seemed like music was the only acceptable outlet for the Hawaiian culture. I began to listen to records by people like Sol Ho‘opi‘i, Sam Ku, George Kainapau, and Madame Alapa‘i. And a man named James Asia started to put on Hawaiian tableaus in Kohala that I thought were terrific. He started to give me singing parts in his tableaus and that’s when I first got interested in the hula. When I graduated from high school in 1931 I had decided to become a teacher. When I turned twenty I came to Honolulu but I didn’t have the money to get a degree so I started playing music' with Sam Alama and Johnny Almeida for five dollars a night. I met a man named Clarence Kinney who also produced Hawaiian tableaus and I began to appear regularly in his shows as the “Prince” opposite a lovely girl named Dorothy Dudoit. I was living in Waikīkī back then and some friends told me to open u…

Joan Lindsey
description: Joan Lindsey Joan Lindsey, a niece of the late hula instructor Caroline Tuck, currently has her hula studios in Pearl City and Waipahu on O‘ahu I was always interested in the hula but I was raised by my Korean grandparents and they didn’t want anything to do with anything Hawaiian. When I was young I would go to Caroline Tuck’s studio and watch her conduct classes. At seventeen I asked her if I could enter her classes and this is how I started. Caroline never seemed to let anything bother her. She was interested in everybody and she had a tremendous amount of patience and encouragement. People would make derogatory statements about her but she would never turn around and reply. My aunt told me that if I could not respect other kumu and dancers that I would kill whatever enjoyment I had for my own work. I stayed with Caroline for two years until I had a chance to join Lena Guerrero. This was during the war time and she needed dancers so I auditioned even though I wasn’t very graceful. I think she kept me on because I smiled and looked like I was having fun even though I didn’t know what I was doing. Lena’s troupe was like a partnership with Lena as the director and Mae Loebenstein and Alice Keawekāne Garner directing us on certain numbers. After three years I went on to Lena Machado who wanted to go all out for showmanship. She would drive me to the point where I would ask myself why am I here and then we would all sit down at a pā‘ina and forget about all the scoldings. I studied under Lokalia Montgomery and I found her to be a brilliant and warm person but my training was informal and it was nothing like what Mā‘iki Aiu went through. The last kumu I studied under was an old man who came to me and who I only knew as Tutu Sam. Because I am a Christian I went through an incomplete ‘uniki with Tūtū Sam where we chanted prayers back and forth to each other in the hālau. I began to teach at the age of nineteen with my aunt because I admired her so much. She seemed to rea…

Rose Look
description: Rose Look Rose Look has taught the hula for twenty-seven years and resides today in Ewa Beach, O‘ahu. In 1945 she produced an album and a single entitled “Darling Kuʻuipo” which became a theme song for her in the late 1940s. When I was growing up my father was very close to a Hawaiian family who lived on Pensacola Street called the Lamberts. My father loved to play his ‘ukulele and sing Hawaiian songs. His influence prompted me to learn the hula under Alice K. Garner at the age of thirteen. She was my first teacher and she was strict in the sense she made sure you danced the correct way. Her system was built on fundamentals and she was continually drilling us on the basics. I studied with Alice from age thirteen all through my intermediate school years until I graduated from high school. She was my biggest influence because she was my first and longest kumu. She was what I felt a dancer should be. Aunty Alice had an inner beauty that radiated out through her gestures and in her relationships with people and that’s what attracted me to her. I wanted to go into ‘ōlapa in a deeper way. At that time in ‘ōlapa dancing they did not take Orientals but Kamuela Nae‘ole talked to Lokalia Montgomery and so she interviewed me and accepted me into her class. Lokalia’s studio and home was on Charles Street. She would sit with me first and we would talk about all the ancient chants and Hawaiian history, then we would go into her hālau and she would explain the dances to me. I studied with Lokalia in private classes for one year and then I took a three-month course with Aunty Kau‘i Zuttermeister. Along the way as I was learning I realized that there was nobody who could say which kumu, which method, which step was the correct way. The Japanese have a classical line of dancing, the Chinese have a line, but what does the hula have? Who is to say which hula style is the right way? There is no one and this is sad. I began to teach in 1956 because I wanted to teach hula kahiko and ‘auwa…

Howell Kali‘ula Māhoe
description: Howell Kali‘ula Māhoe “Chinky” Māhoe established his halau Kawailiula four years ago and is presently teaching in Kailua, Oʻahu. The hula kahiko of today is a modernized form. To me, nobody knows how the hula was danced in ancient times. People can only retrace so much and what they recover has been interpreted to them by somebody else. When you enter some competitions today they categorize the kahiko into a certain period. To me the boundaries they set up are very ambiguous and inconsistent. Are you going to limit kahiko to the Kamehameha reign or set the limits at the Kalākaua reign? Why should one be included and the other excluded? Somebody at that time had to dream up the motions and the steps so why can’t the kumu create now because today’s kahiko has to be a combination of modern ideas and traditional movement. We wouldn’t be doing anything different than the kumu of fifty or a hundred years ago did not do themselves. After I graduated from Kailua High School, I began to work at the Kāne‘ohe Marine Base. I started to fall into a rut and I looked at all the people around me, and I told myself I was too young to be growing old. I worked at the Kāne‘ohe Marine Base for two and a half years and then I quit. I went down to the beach and I just wanted to be a bum. I bodysurfed, grew my hair long, and played ‘ukulele. After seeing a performance by Robert Cazimero’s Nā Kamalei, I went to see Robert and later Kaha‘i Topolinski to enroll in hula. I didn’t know that there were specific times for new members to be accepted into their hālaus and both told me to wait for the next registration. I was so anxious that I started training under Uncle George Nā‘ope at Kalihi-Pālama Culture & Arts Society. Uncle George would show us the motions and foot movement and we would just follow his lead. At that time I didn’t know anything and it was very hard for me to take in so much. Uncle George made the class a lot of fun. It wasn’t pressured and that’s what I needed at that time. A…

Kevin Michael Kapilialoha Mahoe
description: Kevin Michael Kapilialoha Mahoe “Chubby” Mahoe is the son of Arthur Keanahou Māhoe, Sr. and Abigail Kahiwalani Ka‘aloa Māhoe. He has taught the hula in Hawaii for the past thirteen years and is currently affiliated with the St. Andrews Cathedral of Honolulu and the Christian Hula Academy. I think I have to go back to an age when anybody starts to remember which was about three to four-years-old. Being at family parties I was always attracted to music and to rhythms. I was always attracted to sweet music, to music with heavy percussion. I listened to Harry Owens Orchestra, the chang-a-lang music of Elmer Lee and Uncle Jimmy Wong, and I found all of this music so refreshing. My father was invited to many of these kamaʻāina parties so I saw people like Flora Hayes and Uncle Rennie Burks dance; elegant men and women dancing. This respect for the classical Hawaiian music was instilled in me at a very young age but we were never taught the ancient ways because we were baptized and raised as Christians. I started off my training in the hula by watching my sister learn the kahiko in Kalihi Valley from a lady named Daisy Bell Young. We would make fun of my sister as all brothers will do but at the same time we were watching and learning. My first kumu was George Nā‘ope. When I was a fifth grader, he came to Pu‘uhale School to teach us a popular song for a pageant we were having. I met Nalani Kanaka‘ole when I was working for Waiākea Village and I learned two chants from her. It was many years between George and Nalani so in the interim I just watched other people dance and I watched their interpretations. There were very few male dancers because it was considered māhū to dance. So I admired the few men that did dance because their spirit seemed to transcend this type of criticism. I trained informally under hula master Henry Moikeha Pa while a member of the Prince Kūhiō Hawaiian Civic Club. In preparing for a concert Uncle Henry wanted us to build a kuahu for Laka, the godde…

Nina Boyd Maxwell
description: Nina Boyd Maxwell Nina Maxwell taught hula for the past nineteen years and is the kumu hula of the Pukalani Hula Hale in Maui. When I was young I was always nagging my father to let me learn the hula. He bought me a piano instead. I learned the piano but I kept nagging him. In the late 1930s and ’40s, hula was in a bad state of affairs and was not really respected. My grandmother was a lady-in-waiting for Lili‘uokalani so my father had seen the culture change tremendously. I don’t think he wanted me involved with hula because he had been so pained by the changes in the culture. Finally he took me to Elizabeth Lum Ho who was from the “old school”. There was no funny business in her class and my father was hoping the strict regimen would make me quit. Mrs. Lum Ho taught at home in Wailuku and she would begin the class by singing a mele. She would then tell you the story of the mele and then interpret the story with the dance. If she felt you should learn the entire mele then you would stay the entire day and if it took you three months to learn that one mele, you would be assigned that same mele for three months. Mrs. Lum Ho taught me traditional and modern hula and I studied under her for five years. After I graduated from Mrs. Lum Ho, she left Maui for O‘ahu and I went on to Emma Sharpe who trained me in hula ‘auwana. My kumu never really differed in their teaching style. Everything had to be perfect especially the enunciation and pronunciation of the mele. The knowledge was taught by constant repetition and we were expected to retain everything simply by watching and listening. Aunty Emma held her classes in a hall in back of the old Wailuku Gym. I was with Aunty Emma for four years and I was trained informally during this time by Aunty ‘Iolani Luahine in olioli. In 1964 my husband Charlie encouraged me to open a halau, so with the permission of Aunty Emma I began to teach on Maui. I wanted to teach because the hula is the record of Hawaii’s cultural past and the k…

Edith Kawelohea Kapule McKinzie
description: Edith Kawelohea Kapule McKinzie Edith McKinzie is a member of the faculty of the Honolulu Community College and is researching, lecturing, and publishing in the area of Hawaiian culture. I first became interested in the hula because I grew up in a musical Hawaiian family. I was performing with my family before I ever entered formal training and my Aunty Mary who was a dancer for the hula master Antone Ka‘ō‘ō encouraged me to take up the hula. Since that time I have trained under several different kumu hula and each one had his or her influence on me and my style of the hula. I trained under Joseph ‘Īlālā‘ole for three years at Pālama Settlement, at Kulamanu in Kāhala, and at his home in Kapahulu. This was my first formal training and from him I learned hula kahiko. This entailed learning the basic hand motions and foot movements along with the names and symbolic references contained in each motion. The discipline under which this training occurred went beyond just a certain amount of time spent working at the dance. It included personal carriage, personal attitude, presentation of gestures and the necessary respect involved in the tradition of the dance. I am not certain who ‘Īlālā’ole’s teachers were; that was not an important question at the time. Later I trained under Eleanor Hiram Hoke for eight years, dancing professionally for her, performing in tableaus, and learning the drumming and the dances associated with the hula pahu, which was her specialty. Eleanor held classes at her studio in Mānoa. She had been a student of Keaka Kanahele and during the period I studied with her, she was occasionally assisted by Katie Nakaula. Upon completion of my training, I went through the process of an ‘ūniki. After a long period away from training in the hula, I returned to take lessons with Hoakalei Kamau‘u whose teacher has been ‘Iolani Luahine. This was a period of renewal and excellent reinforcement for me in hula kahiko. Hoakalei was the Director of the State Council on…

Samuel (Kamuela) Nae‘ole
description: Samuel (Kamuela) Nae‘ole The late Sam Naeʻole taught the hula in Hawaii for twenty-six years. He was affiliated with the Kalihi-Pālama Culture & Arts Society as a kumu hula and is credited with pioneering the hula in the Hawaiian Homestead of Waimanalo, O‘ahu. My mother and aunty were dream translators in the Hawaiian community and I told them I had dreamt I had been taken to a great house. Within the house was an old man who beckoned me to come in. They told me that this was a sign that I was the chosen one to carry on the spirit of the old man’s body. The next day I went to hula class and Lokalia (Montgomery) told me to stay late. She drove me out of Kapahulu and we came to the same house that I had dreamt of the night before. When we entered the home she was greeted by an old man who introduced himself as Joseph ‘Īlālā’ole. He was dying at the time and he had asked Lokalia to bring him a male student to train. My aunty Mary Ho was a kumu hula and my parents were musicians at the old Home in The Garden, but I wasn’t interested in the culture and when 1 graduated from Farrington High School in 1949 I knew nothing about it. I moved to Los Angeles and in 19511 came back home for a vacation. I was asked by other Hawai'i people in Los Angeles to study hula so I could come back and teach. So I went to the phone book and looked for a male teacher and the name I found was Tom Hiona. His studio was located on Maunakea and King Street and he charged twenty-five dollars a lesson. Tom had been trained by Kau‘i Zuttermeister but he was something original and extraordinary. His mind was always filled with ideas that raised the hula to higher ground. As far as I know he was the first person to produce tableaus and pageants that dealt with the culture in a deeper and more profound way. I stayed with Tom until 1952 when he closed his studio, and I went on to Ho‘oulu Davis in Kailua but within a year she left and I was out in the cold again. After Ho‘oulu I informally studied under…

Sally Moanike‘alaonāpua and Makahikina Wood Nālua‘i
description: Sally Moanike‘alaonāpuamakahikrna Wood Nālua‘i Sally Wood Naluaʻi graduated from the same hula class of Lokalia Montgomery that produced Māʻiki Aiu Lake and Lani Kalama. When I returned from Monterey in 1960 I really had forgotten everything. I was told I would lose my talent if I didn’t continue to study and it was gone. When I came home I hugged my drum and ipu, and I said a little prayer and began to pah. And nothing came to me. I drummed and drummed, and then I started to hum along and as I continued I began to remember “Kaulīlua”. I was born on the island of Maui in the little town of Paia. I was brought up by my granduncle and grandaunt whose name was Kekuo‘okalani. We left Maui when I was eleven and in those days there were no planes but they had ships. The only ship I remember was the Claudine. This was an inter-island ship. We didn’t have money to pay for rooms so we stayed downstairs in the steerage with the selamoku and they fed us fish and sour poi. My cousin Hattie Au gave up her home in Kahana Bay for us to live in and when she moved to Lā‘ie, I went along with her. Lucy Munson was a friend of my cousin and she stayed with a family called the Logans down in Lā‘ie. Mr. Logan was her friend so she let Hattie rent a little house. This was where six of us women learned ancient hula under Lucy Munson and her two friends, Keaka Kanahele and Katie Nākaula. My training with Lucy Munson lasted three months and she gave us thirteen chants to study in thirteen classes. I was fifteen going on sixteen and when they started building a kuahu for the graduation, my grandaunt made me return to Kahana. In those days Kahana Bay was famous for fishing. There was only one store in the area but we could get a really good meal from the sea. I would go out with the people in the boats to fish and we would pull the nets in. We would go up into the mountains and catch ‘ōpae and ‘o‘opu, and we would haul taro down and pound it into poi. My grandaunt taught me how to work and I r…

Alice Ku‘uleialohapoina‘ole Kanakaoluna Nāmakelua
description: Alice Ku‘uleialohapoina‘ole Kanakaoluna Nāmakelua Alice Nāmakelua, long recognized as the first lady of the Hawaiian slack-key guitar, retired in 1969 after teaching hula in the Honolulu City and County Department of Parks and Recreation for twenty-four years. I, Alice Ku‘uleialohapoina‘ole Kanakaoluna, the widow of the late Solomon Nāmakelua Nāhulanui of the island of Hawai‘i, was born on August 12, 1892. I grew up among the men who had survived the battles of Kamehameha to bring the islands under one ruler and some of these survivors were related to my parents and great-grandparents. Some of these men while relaxing would sing and reminisce about their life on the battlefield. These men had documented what they had gone through by putting their experiences into chants and these menfolks were the early dancers in the community. The men would hum a little tune and chant the stories of the battles. The only stringed instrument I saw used was the ‘ūkēkē. There was no such thing as a hālau in our community but one of my family who was pretty good at chanting started teaching a few of us little children to do a few simple dances. We lived in a lumber house near the bottom of Maunakea mountain faraway from any big town or city, so my companions were the birds by day and the kāhuli in the evenings. My parents were not entertainers but they sang for themselves and family gatherings. Our family had prayer services in the mornings and evenings and that’s when I learned to sing. In 1899 I moved to Kihalani above Laupāhoehoe where I was trained briefly by my uncle Joseph ʻĪlālā‘ole, in the hula. In 1901 I came to Honolulu and at the age of nine I was trained by my uncles. Back then there was no such thing as a studio and hula teachers were predominantly men. It wasn’t until after the arrival of the missionaries that women were allowed to dance hula so it was very hard for me to be trained in the hula outside my family. Through church socials down in Kaka‘ako I met Keahi Luahin…

Harriet Nē
description: Harriet Nē Harriet Nē has taught the traditional hula on the island of Moloka‘i for the past twenty-two years. I was brought up in an atmosphere where male hula was taught. This was in the valley of Pelekunu on the east coast of Moloka‘i. I was born on O‘ahu but at four months I was taken back to Moloka‘i. I became interested in the hula at five because I had the opportunity to walk in and out of the hālau and watch the male dancers train. I had three uncles who had a hālau so I was permitted entrance. I learned to take my first steps to the beat of the pahu drum. My first kumu was Ka‘ō‘ō of Moloka‘i. He taught me that you cannot do anything unless you have the right feeling within you. You can feel the vibration when your thoughts about the hula are correct. Ka‘ō‘ō would get inspired by going down to the ocean and then up into the mountains. Sometimes I would play by the seashore and watch him. One time I asked him what he was doing and he said he was waiting for the spirit to come into him and inspire him so he would know how to express the words. I was five-years-old when I started with Ka‘ō‘ō and he believed in training early in the morning. We would begin to train when the sun rose in the east. He would tell me that the sun is shining and another day is beginning where you are going to learn something new. Your heart and mind must be wide open to the acceptance of these teachings and that means you must discipline yourself to be open. I stayed with Ka‘ō‘ō for nine years and then my family moved to Honolulu because Moloka‘i did not have a high school. We lived in Kaimukī on 9th Avenue and I went to a kumu named Kapele who was a big, husky hapa Haole who lived out in Kahalu‘u. Kapele gave every student special attention. He would encourage our strong points in class and work on our weaknesses out of class. I was confused at the time because my father was a Christian minister and he said I couldn’t be a Christian and dedicate myself to Laka at the same time. So af…

Odetta NeSmith
description: Odelta NeSmith Born on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi and raised in Kalihi, O‘ahu, Odetta NeSmith has taught on Kaua‘i for nineteen years. I think we have to appreciate that the hula has been passed down to us through the hundreds of years and that it already has been altered and changed during those hundreds of years. We should let the new kumu take their turn in trying to improve it. Maybe what they’re doing is not an improvement but they are recording the modern influences of their time and I cannot believe our ancestors did not do the same when the kahiko was passed to them. I became interested in the hula because my parents were entertainers. I was born on the Big Island but we left in 1940 before the war and we lived with my aunt in Kalihi. In 1941 we moved to Kāne‘ohe where my mother sent us to Eleanor Hiram Hoke who was teaching at the Kāne‘ohe Community Center next door to Honey’s Inn. Entertainers need dancers and I came from a big family of girls. My mother said she wasn’t about to beat the bushes looking for dancers when she had them right in the house. I was thirteen at the time I was sent to Eleanor and the transition between child and teenager was a rebellious time for me. I grew up ashamed of being Hawaiian. I didn’t know what I was because I certainly didn’t enjoy being Hawaiian. I was lost and my parents couldn’t even help me understand who I was because they were just as confused. My mother often told me about the confusion she went through growing up. At school she was forbidden to speak Hawaiian and at home she was forbidden to speak English. In order to try and save her children from that kind of confusion we were not taught Hawaiian. I studied kahiko and ‘auwana under Eleanor for two years and it was a settling process for me. Because we were musicians, Aunty Alice Nāmakelua was a constant visitor at our house and I studied hula ‘auwana informally under her between 1950 and 1954. My last kumu was Pearl Keawe who has been my greatest influence. She …

Puluelo Park
description: Puluelo Park Puluelo Park was born in Hoea, Kohala and moved to Watertown, O‘ahu at the age of nine. She established the Puamana Hula Studio in 1952 and currently resides in Kailua, O‘ahu. I remember when I was nine- years-old I went shopping with my mother down on Fort Street. I heard a man’s voice chanting and I followed it to the old Princess Theatre. I sat inside that dark theatre for hours listening to a man who turned out to be Tom Hiona while my mother was going crazy outside looking for me. As a youngster growing up in Kohala I was trained informally by my aunties, but my first formal teacher in the hula was Caroline Tuck of Honolulu. I was trained in hula ‘auwana and I was fascinated by her classes and her teaching techniques. Caroline would have her students flat on their backs with only their arms and hands extended upward, and in this position they would go through the motions of a dance. When I turned eleven I learned kahiko from a teacher that was so strict that I lost all interest in the hula for a period of years. After I married and began my family, I started to realize that the Hawaiian side of my children would be neglected if I didn’t bring our hula culture to them at a very tender age. So at the age of thirty I began to train under Lokalia Montgomery who lived in Kapahulu on Charles Street. I loved Lokalia’s way of teaching because what she taught me was free from the kapus and so there was never any fear of the hula when I studied with her. A usual class with Lokalia would begin with a talk session. She would tell me the story background and meaning of the particular mele we were going to learn that day. There was no sense of rush like today where we want the children to learn as much as possible in a certain amount of time. Not those days. She would chant the first three lines of the mele and I would repeat the lines back to her. After every three lines she would stop and give deeper explanations of each line and we would not go on to a new po…

Liffie Keonaonaoku‘uipooleolani Johansen Pratt
description: Liffie KeonaonaokuTiipooleolani Johansen Pratt Leolani Pratt has taught the hula in Hawaiʻi for over twenty years and is a retired member of the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation, Hawaiiana Unit. She currently makes her home in Hawaiʻi Kai, O‘ahu. I was born in Kalapana, Puna, Hawai‘i, and was reared in the ways of old Hawai‘i. My mother, a native of Ka‘ū and Puna, was a full-blooded Hawaiian who saw everything through spiritual eyes. She had taught me at a very early age the spiritual aspects of Hawai‘i. We were told that we were the “offspring” of Pele and so we were very special children. My mothers maiden name was Elizabeth Waia‘u Waipā. My dad, from Oslo, Norway, learned the Hawaiian language before English. He brought his “old country” ways along with him because he was very strict with us. We were not allowed to dance or play the ‘ukulele around him. The desire to do these things was always with me but it was unheard of in my family. My mother had allowed me to have hula lessons but this was done in secrecy without my dad’s knowledge. At the age of six, I was taken to my first kumu hula. Her name was Aunty Mary Keahilīhau. Aunty Mary lived right next door to Edith Kanaka‘ole in Keaukaha and they would share the same hulas. After two years with her I went on to Rose Nuhi who also lived in Keaukaha, and I was taught the use of implements as well as more hula kahiko and ‘auwana. After Aunty Rose I moved back to Kalapana and lived with my granduncle Nāpua Kaukini. He, along with my mother, taught me a lot of chants about the land and Pele. At that time, all of the people of Kalapana and Ka‘u were related in some way and like me, they grew up respecting Pele as a grandmother and kupuna figure. Everything about her was beautiful. Later I studied the ‘ohelo dances under kumu hula Victoria Nuhi Wright in Pāhoa. Then I began to travel with my cousin, kumu hula Martha Waipā Ka‘iawe, with whom I had my ‘uniki in a modern ceremony. I studied informally under Ge…

Mary Abigail Kawena‘ulaokalanihi‘iakaikapoliopelekawahine‘aihonua Wiggin Pukū‘i
description: Mary Abigail Kawena‘ulaokalanihi‘iakaikapoliopelekawahineʻaihonua Wiggin Pūku‘i Mary Pūkuʻi, a living treasure of Hawaii, has published many books illuminating the Hawaiian culture. Among them is the Hawaiian Dictionary which she completed in 1957 with Dr. Samuel Elbert. Mentor of hula exponents such as the late ‘lolani Luahine and Lokalia Montgomery, she is widely recognized as the premier resource of the Hawaiian culture. Because of health problems, Mrs. Pūku‘i consented to having her daughter, Mrs. Pat Bacon, share her story with everyone. Kawena was born and raised in Ka‘u and her grandmother was a court dancer for Queen Emma so her mother and aunties danced and she was surrounded by it as she grew up. Her teachers ranged from her immediate relatives to Emma Fern, Keahi Luahine and her cousin Kapua, and Joseph ʻĪlālāʻole. Kawena’s father was from Salem, Massachusetts. She has always been grateful to him for allowing her to be raised Hawaiian by her grandmother. At the same time he would constantly entertain and educate her with stories of Salem and all of New England. In the days of her childhood, Hawaiian culture was suppressed and children were raised in the Western culture. My kahu hānai was one-half Haole and one-half Hawaiian, and was equally proud of each heritage. Today the young people look upon their Hawaiianess as something that has to be emphasized and accentuated. In my mother’s era the Hawaiian identity was something that was understood and even taken for granted. She always knew she was Hawaiian. Her whole life was centered on the preservation of the traditions of the Hawaiian culture. I think that was her motivation for learning the dance. She was always trying to save this and save that by telling the family don’t let that get lost. Her mind worked that way. People came up to her frequently because she was fluent in the language and asked her to do a lot of choreography and that’s how she began to teach. She began to teach in the early Twenties. …

Ku‘ulei Punua
description: Ku‘ulei Pūnua Besides teaching hula on Kaua‘i for the past twenty-eight years, Kuulei Pūnua also entertains at the Sheraton Coconut Beach Hotel with her children. At the time of our learning we just did what we were told. We didn’t ask questions. I can remember very well that all of the dancers were very, very disciplined. We had to have a keen sense of memory. There were no tape recorders. We just practiced and practiced and practiced. When I was two-years-old I was taken by my mother to Elizabeth Pahukoa Lewandowski of Ke‘anae, Maui and she was my first kumu. She was one of the original Leilani Village dancers on Kūhiō Avenue. This was during World War II and she would teach me in her apartment. I studied with Aunty Elizabeth for a year-and-a-half and then I was taken to Ruby Ahakuelo. She had her studio on Smith Street and I would go to class after school. When I was nine-years- old I was taken by my mother to ‘Iolani Luahine who was in Kaka‘ako in the Forties. I had not seen anything like the training we were put through under ‘Iolani. We had to prepare ourselves by going to the ocean and gathering seaweed and we had to be very cautious that no one had their ma‘i at this time. Nothing was explained, we just did whatever we were told to do. Aunty Hoakalei Kamau‘u was a young girl at that time but she was the one that taught us the dances. What I remember most is that nothing was explained to us. I suppose it was because of our age so we were being protected. Background was not freely given so we had to learn everything by observing. We just learned whatever our kumu felt she wanted us to know. Everything depended on sound, memory, and our senses. When I was about twelve- years-old I graduated traditionally with Aunty ‘Iolani and the presentation was held at McKinley Auditorium. At the same time I was asked by Kent Ghirard to join his hula troupe. I learned everything I know about kahiko from Aunty To. When I went to Kent Ghirard, I learned everything about entert…

Bella Richards
description: Bella Richards The late Bella Richards, a respected hula resource, taught hula for over forty years. Born on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, she later founded the Bella Richards' Hula Studio in Kailua, O‘ahu. I went through ‘ūniki exercises with Bella Kuamoʻo of Keaukaha. It was just a presentation. I graduated as a dancer, not a kumu. I studied with Bella for three years. We went to her house because in those times there was no such thing as a hālau. Hālau was not a freely-used word like it is today. It meant a very choice group of people. In a real hālau the students had to live with the kumu, eat and sleep with the kumu. I believe only those people can call themselves students of a hālau. My first teacher in the hula was my mother and she has been my most important influence because she was family. Her kumu was Elizabeth Beamer and I was taught piano and Hawaiian bass along with the dance. When I turned eight my father passed away and my mother said nobody must mourn. She packed us all up and sent us to Bella Kuamoʻo. Bella taught us the ten basic ‘ōlapa steps but she gave us no instruction in chanting. After several years of in-depth study with Bella, I was graduated as a dancer. Then I was sent to Mary Fujii, the mother of Edith Kanaka‘ole, who I studied under for the next two years. I learned a lot from Mrs. Fujii because her style of teaching was very strict. We would sit on the floor and the kumu would stand on our legs. Then we would stand in the doorway with our hands outstretched and ‘ami to the floor then back up. This was all to make our bodies flexible enough to dance the way our kumu expected us to dance. In those days you could not question the kumu. You just had to do what you were told. You had to listen to every word and watch every motion because when it came time to dance the kumu gave you little if any help. I began to teach in Hilo with my mother in 1935. What I remember about teaching was that the Hawaiian people I taught never took notes or wrote…

Emma Kapiolani Farden Sharpe
description: Emma Kapiolani Farden Sharpe Emma Sharpe is a member of the Farden family of Maui and today makes her home in Lahaina. Mrs. Sharpe is credited with helping to pioneer the renaissance of the hula throughout the island of Maui. As a little girl of eight, I lived in the village of Pu‘unoa in Lahaina with a lot of Hawaiian families surrounding us. There was always a lot of dancing and a lot of music. I used to love to listen to their singing. But going towards the fence and looking over I would see people doing the hula. And I would always want to learn what they were doing. I would always see kupuna coming together and having a party and singing and dancing to their songs. That’s what really interested me since my dad couldn’t send me to a dancing school. You see what I was always interested in was the ballet. Since I couldn’t go to a school for ballet then I wanted to go to a school for hula. My family being musical with instruments such as the guitar, ‘ukulele, autoharp, mandolin, and piano; it was natural for me to want to be a dancer. I didn’t study with a kumu until I was fifteen-years-old because my father didn’t want me to dance. His only exposure to the hula was what was being danced on Lahaina Street and he didn’t want any of his children ever becoming involved with that. I wanted to learn the hula so badly but at that time the only hula that was performed was done at private parties. As far as I can remember I don’t think there was one hālau on Maui at that time. A neighbor of ours told me about her mother- in-law Kauhai Likua who was a dancer at the time of King Kalakāua’s reign. I went to see her but she refused to teach me. Kauhai at that time was a minister for the Church and she said she had danced once but she was doing God’s work now. I told her we were both children of God and when she died she would take all her knowledge with her. That helped to change her mind and for the next three years she taught me in secret because of her position in the Churc…

Alicia Keolahou Keawekāne Smith
description: Alicia Keolahou Keawekane Smith Alicia Smith in collaboration with Mae Loebenstein, founded the Halau O Nā Maoli Pua located in Kalihi, O‘ahu. I go back to my na kupuna of the Kuni‘ohana of Waialua, O‘ahu, who were well-known at that time for their beautiful pageants and tableaus. Here I was born and as the saying goes, “I learned to dance before I could walk.” I grew up in the ‘ohana style of observing and learning quietly so everything would sink deep into the na‘au. I was taught not to be nīele or maha‘oi but to minamina and cherish the sense of values that was being passed on to me. I am the adopted daughter of Amos and Alice Kuni Keawekāne Garner whose father was the Reverend Joseph Kuni. Grandpa Kuni taught the ‘ohana to sing and dance and they traveled from island to island raising funds for the church. This was the start of mom’s hula and entertaining career. Singing and dancing was a means of livelihood for our family. Mom gave me the basic introduction and interest in the hula. My mom played music with Aunty Mae (Loebenstein) and Aunty Lena (Guerrero) and I became a dancer for Aunty Lena’s hula troupe. This was during World War II. We danced for the USO (United Service Organization), entertained at private parties, and performed at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. At the age of fifteen, I was hired as a hula instructor at the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) in Honolulu. Here I taught modern hula for twenty years until I resigned to open my own hula school called the Alicia Smith’s School of Polynesian Dancing. I taught almost every kind of Polynesian dancing there is. This continued for three years and at the end of this period I experienced a deep desire to improve my knowledge of my own Hawaiian culture. I searched for help in learning the old way of hula. It was then that I turned to Aunty Mae for help and I have learned a stronger discipline and spiritual guidance with her teaching. Together we started grooming seven little girls, the nā maoli pua,…

Pearl Keawe Souza
description: Pearl Keawe Souza Pearl Souza, daughter of Pearl Keawe, teaches hula in the Kalihi Valley area on the island of O‘ahu. I believe we have just scratched the surface of hula kahiko. In the coming years the modern kumu will progress to an even deeper level than today and it will be done more openly. The halaus today are performing dances that I have never seen before and I find it fascinating and admirable that they have brought out so much. I began with my aunt Caroline Tuck when I was three-years-old. I learned basic footwork, how to bend our knees and stay flat on the floor. We then learned the hand motions and interpretation. I learned mostly ‘auwana from Caroline and she taught me that in the hula the story is everything. The motions are there only to project the story. I am trying to carry on Caroline’s definition of the hula in my teaching today. I went on to my mother when I turned ten and it was from her that I learned my ancient hula. Back then kahiko and ‘auwana were not used to define the hula. It was ancient and modern. My mother carried on exactly what Caroline Tuck had been teaching me. The basic principle throughout my training was not to be selfish with the knowledge that I was being given. Whatever I learned was to be shared and passed along to whoever wanted to learn. It had to be shared or it would be lost. After three years I joined Kent Ghirard’s Hula Nani troupe where I was fortunate to meet Pauline Kekahuna, Nāpua Stevens, and Vickie Iʻi Rodrigues. Kent taught me the commercial aspect of the hula. We performed for tourists and we projected to them the Mainland image of Hawai‘i. I saw the better part of him come out when we performed in front of local audiences and he performed as you would expect from a true Hawaiian. He was Haole but his love for the hula was genuine. He taught me that there was a time and place for everything and there are things that can and cannot be said in the hula world. I began to teach in 1976 because I felt as a dancer…

Keli‘i Tau‘ā
description: Keli‘i Tau‘ā Keli‘i Tau‘ā has taught the hula on O‘ahu for the past five years and currently makes his home in Kihei, Maui. I think the biggest stumbling block for the modern Hawaiian is the definition of who is and who is not Hawaiian. Many people still believe it is strictly a matter of race. Today being Hawaiian has more to do with a sincerity of feeling towards the fate of Hawai‘i than anything else. In 1970 I was teaching Hawaiiana for the Department of Education at Waimanalo Intermediate School. Aunty Nona Beamer was serving as my consultant. I was required to learn hula for teaching purposes and so Aunty Nona invited me to train under her informally. I stayed with her for a year and in 1972 Aunty Mā‘iki Aiu publicly announced that she would be holding classes for hula teachers. The hālau at that time was on Ke‘eaumoku Street and after some practices, I could hardly walk down the stairs of the second- floor studio. The “Hawaiian Renaissance” to coin a phrase of that time, was just starting to turn its wheels. Anything that was Hawaiian was a joy to learn. I think the greatest thing that I came to recognize was that hula was not just motions but Hawaiian life, language, and folklore. That was the greatest joy, being in a place where I was learning not only the dance but something about myself in relationship to the past Hawaiian culture. What was there, and what it could be in the future. More answers came from another kumu named Kau‘i Zuttermeister. I started studying intensively in 1973 with style and a feeling that I still possess today and transfer the stylings of Aunty Kau‘i to others. I started to teach in 1975. Two of my former classmates in Aunty Mā‘iki’s hālau, Robert Cazimero, and John Topolinski were really getting into men’s hula and it was exciting to me. There had been men’s hula when we were learning but there weren’t hālaus as we understand it today. They set the pace and helped to establish respectability for men to dance. My approach was to sh…

John R. Kahai Topolinski
description: John R. Kaha‘i Topolinski Kahai Topolinski, kumu hula for Ka Pā Hula Hawaii, has taught traditional hula on O‘ahu for the past ten years. Mrs. (Kawena) Pūku‘i told me that hula is not only for our people. It is for anyone who has the desire. You do not have to be Hawaiian to dance. If you want it to live, you must give it to everybody so that it can create a better understanding about Hawai‘i and the culture. The fact that non-Hawaiians want to learn the dance should be a compliment. When I went away to college on the Mainland, I was asked to dance at a “get together” of Hawai‘i students. And I couldn’t. The remark was of course, I am Hawaiian but can’t even do the national dance. That was the spark that told me to come back home and learn to dance. In 1971 I met Aunty Mā‘iki Aiu Lake and she became my first kumu hula. I studied under Aunty Ma‘iki for two-and- a-half years and she was a very positive influence on my life. She was very strict in her hālau but at the same time very giving. She would explain the dance out thoroughly, clarifying the abstract motions and meanings and giving us the background on the kaona of each mele. I graduated traditionally from Aunty Mā’iki in 1973 and I went on to study informally under Henry Pa, Sally Wood Nālua‘i, and Kawena Pūku‘i. Looking back I feel that all my kumu were equal in their influence on me because they each opened up a facet of the hula that I was unaware of. Mā’iki gave me the confidence that I was kumu hula material and she gave me my foundation in the hula. Uncle Henry showed me how to create variations in the dance by combining foot movements to create a nice, balanced picture. Sally Wood Nālua‘i trained me in the drum techniques of Pua Ha‘aheo, and Kawena Pūku‘i passed on to me an in-depth philosophy of the hula. Her daughters Pat and Pele taught me how to chant and create in the traditional framework using traditional Hawaiian motions as opposed to Western dance motions. Of my kumu I have been with Mrs. Pūku‘i…

Alexa Vaught
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Alexa Vaught - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 1 Page 139
description: Alexa Vaught studied hula from the age of eight till when she married at twenty-one. She currently makes her home in Kihei, Maui. When I was in the third grade, Aunty Emma Sharpe was one of the third grade teachers. I was raised by my grandparents so one day I went home and I told my grandfather that I wanted to take hula. Being from a big family, my grandfather told me there wasn’t any money for hula lessons. I told him don’t worry, if I have to work I’ll work for it. I later discovered that Aunty Emma’s husband was a relative of my grandmother. Aunty Emma told me that because I was family she would not charge me. Instead I would pay her a dollar a year and I would help her load her car for class and dust the room. In this way I would pay for my lessons. When I got to high school, I assisted her in training men, boys, tūtūs, and whoever needed help in her classes. This was my way of trying to repay her. She would have classes in Wailuku. I would take one room and hold class while she would take another. I think Aunty Emma taught mainly ‘auwana because nobody in the Forties and Fifties wanted to learn kahiko. If she planned any kahiko classes, students would just cut the class. Aunty Emma was strict but yet she had a lot of patience and that’s what I admire her for. If she found someone that wanted to dance but couldn’t afford to pay for the lessons, she would give them the opportunity to dance. She has been the greatest influence in my life. She was a positive person and she constantly tried to encourage the good points in a person to bring out the positive side.

John Pi‘ilani Watkins
description: John Pi‘ilani Watkins The late John Piilani Watkins, born in ‘Ewa, O‘ahu in the area which today is Honolulu Airport, became interested in the hula at the age of ten and was trained by his grandmother Lokalia Kaahumanu Ho‘oulu. He was the star of the Germaine Polynesian Luau Show until his death in 1983. When I was starting out in the hula and for a long time after, it was not considered right for a man to be teaching the hula. People would talk and there was a time early in my career when I wanted to leave the hula. But I always felt that this was a gift from my ‘ohana and as long as I was unmarried I would carry this talent. This is the reason I’ve remained single till today. I think it was the music that brought me into the dance. When I heard the chants I immediately felt it was something that I should learn because it was so beautiful. Grandma knew she was getting old and the tradition in our family was to pass the knowledge on before you die. My grandmother was the keeper of the keys for Luka the Queen, and she interpreted dreams and signs for the Queen. She had a book filled with history and chants and traditions that was supposed to go to me at her death. She had tried passing it on to the whole family but nobody wanted it so I was her last chance. I lived with my grandmother for awhile and I remember very vividly another lady coming to visit my grandmother and together the two of them would chant. Everyday they would wear their hair up but when they chanted they would let their hair down and it would fall all over their bodies. My grandmother wanted me to learn kahiko because I was the next in line to be the caretaker of Kamehameha’s body. I was supposed to learn the chant that would allow me to cross the waters and then I would have to rub his body with oils. I was very young at the time and I really didn’t understand the kahiko but my grandmother told me not to worry because it would all come to me when it was time. She said that when she was living she c…

Leiana Long Woodside
description: Leiana Long Woodside Leiana Woodside is the daughter of Ida Pakulani Long of Maui and the sister of Mae Loebenstein and Kāhili Cummings. She is currently affiliated with the Queen Emma Summer Palace in Nuʻuanu, Oʻahu. I was the seventh of seven girls in my family and was born and reared on Maui in an area called Kauahea; the same area which Kahekili used as his practice ground for combat. Our house was situated just below Kahekili’s heiau Hale Ki‘i. My father Henry Keao Long was originally from Kilauea, Kaua‘i, and my mother was Ida Pakulani Ka‘aihue-Kaianui Long. Mama was a Maui girl and in her early years she was a hula student of Kamawa‘e of Maui. Later she became a kumu hula herself. Therefore, I don’t suppose I had a choice about learning the hula. Everyone in the family, brothers and sisters alike, learned the hula under Mamas tutorage. Mama was a very strict kumu hula but I suppose I have yet to meet someone of my vintage or earlier whose kumu hula was not strict. We had to dance with bended knees, elbows up, head turned toward the extended hand, with eyes looking up beyond the fingertips. If our basic hula exercises were not exactly as she taught them then the pū‘ili was the next boss. It came flying so quickly, I used to swear she had the fastest hands on Maui. As children, my sisters and I would dance the hula on the heiau Hale Ki‘i. Tom Hiona lived down the road from us, and I remember seeing him as a young boy dancing the hula on the same heiau. I remember asking my mother about her hula training. I had not yet heard of the book The Unwritten Literature of Hawaiʻi on Maui and she unfolded a story which seemed to me at that time to be embarrassing, strange, and exotic. She mentioned the ‘ailolo ceremony and while I did not see the ritual, I did see her on several occasions, picking at the po‘opua‘a and eating the lolo. She also mentioned the cleansing rituals of bathing in the sea at midnight and returning to the hālau which was an open lanai with coconut…

Pattye Kealohalani Wright
description: Paltye Kealohalani Wright Born and raised in Missouri, Pattye Wright arrived in Hawaiʻi fifteen years ago and has taught the hula in Kailua, O‘ahu since 1973. Bella Richards has been my greatest influence. Her style epitomizes my ideal of hula - very low, very soft, very fluid. The highest compliment I can receive is for someone to approach me after watching my dancers perform and tell me they know that Bella was my kumu hula. When I arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1968 from the Midwest, my first hula experience was to see Beverly Noa dance. I was so moved by the experience that I decided I wanted to learn the hula. I studied informally with Carolyn Miller as an introduction to the dance for newcomers. Soon I realized my interests were much deeper and more compelling. At this point I saw a performance of the Kailua Madrigals and Bella was introduced as the teacher and choreographer of the group. I was so impressed that I telephoned her the next day to ask if she would take me into her classes. She informed me that she did not accept adults because ‘they don’t practice, they don’t remember, and they don’t have stamina.’ She preferred young people because they didn’t have as many distractions in their lives and because they had bodies that could more readily be molded. I kept pleading and begging until she finally consented to my attending the next class session. The first great accomplishment of my dancing career was merely surviving my early months with Bella. When 1 arrived that first morning she placed me in the front row with her senior dancers. We practiced from nine a. m. to three p. m. without a break. I was literally on my hands and knees when I got home. I felt so ignorant because of the gaffes and errors of protocol I made - mistakes that seemed so obvious to everyone else. These were things that a kumu and a haumāna know by osmosis but that I had to actually study and learn. I studied with Bella as a formal student until 1975. It was about this time while attending …

Jan Kahōkū Yoneda
description: Jan Kahoku Yoneda In 1975 Jan Yoneda, a Hawaiian resource teacher for the DOE Central O'ahu District, along with her hula sister Marilyn Leimomi Ho co-founded their hālau Pōhai Nā Pua O Laka. My first kumu hula was Mrs. Anna Like who was like “family” to me. We lived in Kalihi at the time and her daughter Edna had a small group of performing dancers. The hula I learned back then was primarily ‘auwana, and most of what I learned was performed in hula shows and family parties. Anna taught me from age three to about age twelve but as a teenager I lost interest in hula. I went on to college but it wasn’t until I turned twenty-one that I renewed my interest in the hula. I signed up for hula lessons with Mrs. Danie Hanohano who was teaching at a satellite session for Aunty Hoakalei Kamauʻu in Pearl City. I was with Danie for about six months and it was from this session that I got my first introduction to the foundations of hula kahiko. I was referred to Aunty Hoakalei by Mrs. Hanohano and I began to study and learn various hula styles and mele under her direction. She shared with me her knowledge of the chants, the hula movements, and most importantly the discipline that was required in hula. She was forever challenging me to be better than I thought I could ever be. I continued under Aunty Hoakalei for six years until she decided that I should become a kumu hula for the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. I never wanted to be a kumu. All I wanted to do was dance. I enjoy dancing and learning about the chants. The body motions and mental requirements of hula excite me and that was enough for me at the time. So I talked with Aunty Hoakalei and told her of my reluctance to become a kumu hula, and she looked at me and said it’s not my decision to make and we left it at that. I believe that there are forces in my life influencing me to go in a certain direction or take a certain path. In 1975 Aunty Hoakalei was in charge of the State Foundation’s hula conferences and s…

Keith Kalani Akana
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Keith Kalani Akana - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 8
description: Keith Kalani Akana A teacher for the Hawaiian Immersion Program at Waiau Elementary School, Kalani Akana is kumu hula of Ka Pā Hula Hoʻoheno Hawaʻi established in 1987. In school I didn’t consider myself a good hula dancer and I didn’t think I had a strong voice since I flunked concert glee. But I listened to the chanting of Ho‘oulu Richards, Nona Beamer. Hoakalei Kaniauʻu and Kalena Silva and they became my models. It wasn’t talent but I believe it took hard work and dedication that developed my voice. When I was a sophomore at the Kamehameha Schools, I was hired by my teacher Sarah Quick as an aide for Hawaiian language but I also helped Hoʻoulu Richards teach hula to the students in the school’s Explorations Program. I was really shy but she compelled me to teach. She ingrained poise and confidence in me. Watching the effect she had on the students kindled my interest in hula as a teaching tool to reach children. Shortly after, my relative Palani Kahala, a fellow Hawaiian language student and classmate, persuaded me to learn hula from him. One afternoon in Aunty Nona Beamer’s room, he started teaching me the rudiments of hula. Aunty Nona was very supportive of us by giving us access to her files and her advice. She even entered us in a hula competition at St. Andrews Priory in 1974. That’s where I first saw Kahaʻi Topolinski’s men perform. They were masculine and powerful. After graduating in 1975 I wanted to paddle canoe but I saw a newspaper ad for hula classes from Ka Pā Hula Hawaii. Remembering Kahaʻi’s men’s hula, I signed up and traveled all the way to the Waiāhole Poi Factory where the classes were held. Kahaʻi has been my kumu ever since. Kahaʻi engrained in me the love for the traditions of hula; particularly how it’s passed down from kumu to kumu and through family. I was especially touched by his treatment of his family chants. I could see the direct tie between kumu, family, and the past. As a history buff he brings a great knowledge to each of his hu…

Cecilia Kawaiokawa‘awa‘a Akim
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Cecilia Kawaiokawa‘awa‘a Akim - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 10
description: Cecilia Kawaiokawa‘awa‘a Akim Cecilia Akim has taught the hula for over twenty-five years and is presently teaching at the Nuʻuanu Day Care Center with her kumu hula, Hoakalei Kamauʻu. How do you teach somebody who does not know the language? I’ve seen a lot of misinterpretations of dances. They don't understand the beauty of what the chant is talking about. Our old chants are in Hawaiian and today s students need to understand the Hawaiian language to know what they’re dancing about especially because the motions are very simple. “Kawika” is a beautiful chant because the vocabulary is there, the poetry is there, the history is there. The romanticism, an important part of our cultural heritage, is there. It’s all there. As a dancer you’re painting a picture. You put into motion our oral history. My mom took me to learn hula from Aunty ʻIolani Luahine when I was three or four-years-old. I stayed with her for about six years until she retired from teaching and moved back to Kona. The girls she taught were eight to twenty years older than me. She had me dance with all of them. We performed all over Waikiki and different places. I learned both kahiko and ‘auana from Aunty ‘Io. She taught us dances like “Little Brown Gal” so we could learn basic hula motions and how to be a little more graceful. We learned our kāhea and mele while learning the dance. It was very repetitious. We would go over it again and again. When Aunty ‘Io retired, I went to Aunty Pele Pukui. I think because I was so young, Aunty Pele gave me private classes. Her fundamental steps were the same as Aunty ʻIo’s. Aunty Pele reviewed the dances that I had learned with Aunty ‘Io so that she knew which ones I had learned. With her I learned more numbers, many with implements, and she worked on my chanting for the hula noho. After about a year and a half she suggested that I go to another teacher. So at fourteen I went to George Nā‘ope and stayed with him for over seven years until he moved back to Hilo. Tha…

Leialoha Amina and Nani Lim Yap
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Leialoha Amina and Nani Lim Yap - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 13
description: Leialoha Amina Leialoha Amina resides on O‘ahu and travels to the Big Island to instruct at the hālau with her sister Nani Lim Yap. My first kumu hula was my mother Mary Ami Neula Lim. It was on our veranda that Nani and I first got our introduction to hula. She showed us various hula numbers but the one that I fondly remember was a hula noho with one pūʻili. To watch my mother sway to and fro, to hear the rhythm of the pūʻili, and the melodic chanting was inspiring. I desperately wanted to learn. The first day with Mother was fantastic. But in the days thereafter she introduced the concept of discipline by whacking us with a bamboo when we were not doing the steps or hand motions the way we should. I know I was in shock the first time she hit me on my leg. I cried because it stung! Eventually Mom and Dad decided to send us to our Aunt Margaret Moku Tahlit. She had a hula studio in Kohala and at times would need to use the gym to teach because she had between thirty to forty students. Her forte was not hula kahiko so she encouraged her students to learn from other instructors. Her first recommendation was to take a six- week hula kahiko workshop from ʻIolani Luahine. Attending that workshop had such a profound effect on me and has been a major contribution to the form of hula you see in our hālau. The workshop began by Auntie ‘Iolani introducing herself. She then prepared to dance the first number we would learn, “Aia Lā ‘O Pele.” She stood there with a searching look in her eyes as if trying to see something. I remember building up with anticipation to see her dance as she held that stance for what seemed like minutes. Finally she signaled with a finger to the ho‘opa‘a to begin. I watched her transform before my eyes from a little sweet-talking, gray-haired Hawaiian lady to the most graceful moving, story-telling hula dancer. Her eyes and facial expression along with her body movements told you the story of Pele. It was as if her feet were not touching the ground. …

Lola Yolanda Caldito Balubar
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Lola Yolanda Caldito Balubar - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 14
description: Lola Yolanda Caldito Baluhar Lola Baluhar founded the Hālau Hula ‘O Keola-Aliʻiokekai in 1975. She has taught in her home, the Salvation Army Hall, Central Maui Youth Center and is presently at the Wailuku Industrial Park. My friends knew me as a dancer. During my high school years I danced al local night clubs, hotels, and lūʻau. My dad was a politician and whenever I went to rallies, I was always asked to do a hula. My love for hula lives on and I am proud to carry on the culture through song and dance. My mother’s kumu hula was Elizabeth Lum Ho. Mrs. Lum Ho was also my first kumu hula. She was a Chinese- Hawaiian lady who trained us from the basics in learning the foot steps and making sure we learned the name of each step. If we had a hard time doing the ‘ami, for example, she had us place our hands against the wall, bend our knees, and push our hips making sure we moved only our hips. I remember kneeling down and she would push against one of my thighs with her foot to strengthen the thigh muscles. I also remember she used the pū‘ili to correct us. Just a tap on our hips, elbows, knees or feet to remind us to concentrate on doing our steps correctly. I was very disappointed that after the ‘ūniki, I was unable to return to hula because it was too expensive. Later when I was in the sixth grade, Aunty Becky Ka‘ōpū‘iki taught my sister, Charlene Rodrigues and me with her daughter in her yard in Naska. We learned implement hula, Polynesian dances, hula kahiko, and ‘auana for performances at the local hotels. Although I was only in the seventh grade, Aunty Becky Ka‘ōpū‘iki gave me confidence to be creative in my hula. I was very fortunate to have studied under kumu hula Uncle Johnny Hokoana and Uncle Robert Kalani. Uncle Johnny Hokoana concentrated on hula ‘auana and comical hula. Uncle Robert Kalani taught hula kahiko, implement numbers, and Polynesian dances. My husband suggested I stay home and care for our son and start a dance studio. I put an ad in the local pa…

Al Makahinu Barcarse
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Al Makahinu Barcarse - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 17
description: Al Makahinu Barearse Al Barearse has realized his dream of building a Hawaiian village on the grounds of the Samuel Wilder King Intermediate School where he is employed as a Hawaiian Studies teacher. I was born and raised in Waimea, Kaua‘i and attended Waimea High School. Hula was taught to us in the sixth grade as part of the school curriculum. My actual formal training began in 1951 with Leolani Rivera, Larry Riveraʻs sister. She taught hula kahiko, ‘auana, Maori, and Tahitian dance and in 1957 I received my kumu hula certificate from her. After graduating from high school I attended tin; Church College of Hawaiʻi and continued my hula training under Christina Nauahi, a kumu hula in Lāʻie who also taught a lot of Maori dances. While attending the Church College I formed a group and taught them hula. We first performed at school functions and then for the hukilau at Lā‘ie Bay. Our group became a regular special guest for John Piʻilani Watkins’ show at the Club Aloha. Then in 1959 we started performing at Don the Beachcomber Show, our first professional gig. In 1959 Rose Joshua contacted me because she wanted to learn Maori. I taught Maori at her studio and she in turn taught me hula. I took formal lessons from her for two years and then informally for five more years. Whenever she needed me, she would call. Besides dancing and teaching Maori. I also chanted for her. Both George Holokai and Henry Pa were affiliated with Rose Joshua and as a result I learned some chants and dances from them as well. In 1963 Jack Regas hired me as his assistant choreographer for the Polynesian Cultural Center. Aunty Sally Wood was in charge of the Hawaiian section so I studied under her for two years. Because Aunty Sally and Grandma Rose Joshua were hula sisters, their styles were basically the same. I got involved with teaching school kids when I was at Kalani High School. I was student teaching and I organized a group call the “Na Makahinu to do shows at the Outrigger Canoe Club, Se…

Ulalia Ka‘ai Berman
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Ulalia Ka‘ai Berman - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 19
description: Ulalia Berman, a resource teacher with Department of Education, Hawaiian Studies-Kupuna Program, is kumu hula of Ulalia Hawaiian School of Dance located in Kailua-Kona. Hula was taught to me at the age of one and a half years by an aunt. Because one of my legs was shorter than the other, hula was an exercise to even out my legs. At three-years-old my brothers and sister took me to Puʻunui Playground where Bose Lane was teaching hula. She taught hapa haole songs, a lot of ʻauana, and no kahiko. Aunti Alice Nāmakelua also taught at this park. I thought she was so strict. Little did I know that she would be a great influence on me and many of the hālau. At the age of seven Daddy wanted me to learn from his cousin Kuulei Stibbard but by this time, I was enrolled at Hula Hālau ʻO Māʻiki and on my way to the life that gave me so much. I was fortunate to have learned how to do the business end of the hālau while in high school. I took care of registration, collecting tuition, checking who had which costumes, and who was ready. I learned from the ground up. When Aunti Māʻiki was called away, I taught for her. And to teach your peers when you are still in high school is not easy. So I learned all these teaching techniques before I became a kumu. The teachings of Aunti Māʻiki enriched us all as she shared the love of her mentors. We were surrounded with people and love for all that life has to offer. I have so many memories of concerts, lūʻau shows, boat arrivals and departures, Aloha Week, and holokū balls. We were one of the first young children to dance in what is known today as the “Gibson Mūʻū.” Everyone called them pajamas. But Aunti Vicky Iʻi gave Aunti Māʻiki that high neck “Mother Hubbard” style and it became an insignia for the hālau. And of course we would perform with hula skirts made with one hundred fifty ti leaves, two pua melia lei and a head lei, or cellophane skirts, or red and white sarongs that people called the “Dorothy Lamour look.” When I moved back to …

Leilani Bivera Bond
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Leilani Bivera Bond - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 20
description: Leilani Bond started teaching hula to the children of Kauaʻ i in 1981. Her hālau now includes adult women with classes held in Wailua and Pō‘ipū on Kaua‘i, and in Reno, Nevada. Kauaʻi was such a good place to grow up in. As a child I had many wonderful experiences and met several famous people who came to Kaua‘i because I helped my dad Larry Rivera with his shows at The Coco Palms Resort and in Honolulu. He began working at the Coco Palms in the early 1950s and he composed and performed many songs that have become famous. “Wai‘ale‘ale” became really popular and I remember that we were invited to perform it at The Waikīkī Shell. In those days the tourists came on the ocean liners and my dad frequently sang “Love and Aloha,” which talks about the Lurline sailing away. My sister and I were photographed holding a lei up so that one of the ships could be seen through the middle. That photo became famous. I started taking hula lessons from Aunty Kuʻlei Pūnua when I was three-years-old. I really enjoyed the Hawaiian music, the stories, and the many ho‘olaule‘a we participated in. There were no stressful competitions then; the gatherings of musicians and dancers were a lot of fun. I tried my best to learn as much as I could. I decided that I wanted to teach hula too but I knew I had to work really hard to learn the meanings of the words and the spirit of the dances. After I graduated from high school. I started Hawaiian studies classes at Kaua‘i Community College but soon decided to postpone the rest of my education in order to assist my parents with the shows. I also put on shows of my own for conventions and other hotels and entered some competitions. I began working in guest services at Coco Palms and got to know and learn from Mrs. Grace Guslander, Aunty Sarah Sheldon, and Aunty Sarah Kealamapuana Malina Kaʻilikea about Hawaiian culture and arts. In order to educate tourists about our culture, I did a lot of research on hula and Hawaiian music while I worked in the hist…

Cy M. Bridges
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Cy M. Bridges - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 23
description: Cy M. Bridges, the great grandson of Kuluwaimaka who was a court chanter during the reign of Kamehameha II to Kalākaua, is a Bishop of the Hauʻula IV Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and has been employed at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Lāʻie for many years. Hula is a bit different today. We’ve all seen movies of hula dancers of the past. All you have to do is pop in a video and you can readily see how much it has changed. Mele hula and mele oli were once the textbooks of Hawaiʻi. The History and words that were carefully woven into the chants were very important. Today the words at times become secondary while the motions take on the primary role. Crowds go wild when they see certain movements. They may not know what the words are saying but the moves are so electrifying especially in the kahiko that the audience get carried away. There are some things that I have enjoyed watching and yet would not dare incorporate into my own teaching. Our hālau hula began with four kumu hula: myself, Bill Kauaiwiulaokalani Wallace, Enoka Kaina, and Keitli Kalanikau Awai. William Cravens, who at the time was the President of the Polynesian Cultural Center, called Bill and me in and asked us, “Why don’t we have a hālau?” We told him it would be taxing and would take so much time and effort to have fund-raisers. Cravens said, “Don’t worry about any of that. We'll sponsor it and fund whatever you need.” We felt we would give it a try and that’s how we got started. Enoka suggested the name Hui Hoʻoulu Aloha for our hālau. We thought the name was nice, appropriate, and had a good meaning. I think the most important thing is love, not only for each other but for the culture and for what we do. After a while everyone moved on. I dropped off for a season but I came back to keep the hālau going. Aside from everything else I was involved with, my family had to also share time with the hālau. It was a big part of their life. Ever since l was quite young, I was fas…

Michael Ka‘ilipūnohu Canopin
description: Michael Canopin, kumu hula of Hālau Kealakapawa, has been teaching hula on O‘ahu since 1987. In 1982 I began my hula training with kumu hula Chinky Māhoe of Hālau Kawaiʻulā. We went through some rigorous training, learning the basic steps. I found Chinky’s style to be ‘aihaʻa. We danced low to the ground with bent knees. Chinky stressed discipline and I liked that because it was a challenge. After a few months Chinky asked me if I would like to be a part of his competition group. So I trained and ended up dancing in the 1983 Merrie Monarch Hula Festival. What an experience! My second teacher was Palani Kaliala, kumu hula of The Gentlemen of Maluikeao and The Ladies of Kahanākealoha. His classes were held at the Kamehameha Schools dance studio. I really enjoyed when he explained the background of each mele and I was fascinated with his method of teaching. He had a very systematic way of explaining things, especially to dancers who were new to the hula. He would stress the importance of the basics starting with the foundation which was your feet. His style wasn’t as ‘aiha‘a as Chinky's but it demanded a lot of endurance. As part of the class curriculum we were trained to research chants and mele of the hula. It was extremely important to Palani that we have a thorough understanding of the material we were dancing to, so it was our homework to go out and research. Palani also encouraged us to enroll in his “papa ʻōlapa. ” This class offered us the opportunity to further our knowledge through research projects such as the study of the famous birthplace of our aliʻi Kūkaniloko; Laka, the patron god/goddess of the hula; Pele and her siblings; the kuahu and plants related to the hula; types of chants appropriate for dancing, and hula protocol. These were a few of the many projects included in the “papa ʻōlapa. I completed the training and received a personal oli aloha, the symbol of the red lehua blossom, and a certification of ‘ōlapa from my kumu. For a short period in 19…