Michael Kekaimoku Toshi Yoshikawa
subject: Michael Kekaimoku Toshi Yoshikawa
description: Raised in California, “Moku” Yoshikawa moved to Hawaiʻi in 1986 and opened Kapōmākolekapuakāne in 1991. I was always interested in Hawai‘i while I was growing up in Carson, California because of the influences of my mother Mary Yoshikawa. It was she who planted the seed of Hawai‘i and its culture within the depths of my soul. I remember the family preparing for our annual family lū‘au to which all of the relatives were invited. Everything from the dining to the living room were stacked and piled into the bedrooms. We constructed low lying tables that one actually had to sit on the floor in order to eat. My mother would then decorate the table tops with ferns from the yard and mounds of fruit. Whenever we prepared for this lū‘au, I knew that the food was going to be delicious. Such delicacies like laulau, poi, lomi salmon, and raw fish. My mother played Hawaiian music and would mimic the hula for entertainment. Influences such as these transferred over into my school work. All book reports or art projects always carried a Hawaiian theme. Soon I became known as the little Hawaiian boy to all my friends. Through childhood I developed a strong sense of Hawaiian identity as well as a pride for my culture. My younger sister Karen was learning hula from Sissy Kaio and I would continually nag my mother to ask if she had a class for teenagers. Through my persistence Sissy opened a class for my two cousins and myself. Thus my training in hula began at the age of fourteen. Sissy provided me with a firm foundation of the hula and its basic fundamentals. Being ha‘aha‘a was always adhered to as well as enjoying the hula. With it came a definite sense of spirituality and within time, Hawai‘i, its people, and culture became a passion. I especially became interested in oli or chanting, something very foreign to a young man in California. I had no formal training in the art of oli. It all began one summer when again, my mother returned home from Hawaiʻi. With her she brought LP recor…

‘Iwalani Tseu
subject: Nā Kumu Hula ‘Iwalani Tseu - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 112
description: ‘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, glim…

Victoria Hanaka‘ulani-0- Kamamalu Holt Takamine
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Victoria Hanaka‘ulani-O-Kamamalu Holt Takamine - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 111
description: 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 befo…

Harriet Kuuleinani Sheldon Stibbard
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Harriet Kuuleinani Sheldon Stibbard - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 109
description: 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 le…

Holoua Stender
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Holoua Stender - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 106
description: 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 t…

Kalena Silva
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Kalena Silva - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 104
description: 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 …

Kamalei Sataraka
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Kamalei Sataraka - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 103
description: 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…

Keali‘inani‘aimokuokalani Reichel
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Keali‘inani‘aimokuokalani Reichel - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 100
description: 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 b…

Denise Ka‘uhionamauna Kia Ramento
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Denise Ka‘uhionamauna Kia Ramento - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 98
description: 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 Kala…

Elizabeth Hu‘i Park
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Elizabeth Hu‘i Park - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 97
description: 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 wa…

Minerva Kalauhiwaokalani Pang
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Minerva Kalauhiwaokalani Pang - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 94
description: 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 teacher…

Iwilani Silva Ohelo
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Iwilani Silva Ohelo - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 93
description: 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 …

Pōhaku Nishimitsu
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Pohaku Nishimitsu - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 90
description: 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…

Carolee Nishi
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Carolee Nishi - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 88
description: 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 Be…

Nathan Napoka
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Nathan Napoka - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 87
description: 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 lear…

Naleialoha Napaepae-Kunewa
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Naleialoha Napaepae-Kunewa - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 84
description: 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 …

Beverly Healani Sun Lan Apana Muraoka
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Beverly Healani Sun Lan Apana Muraoka - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 83
description: 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 hardship…

Paleka Leina‘ala Mattos
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Paleka Leina‘ala Mattos - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 78
description: 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 too…

Victoria Sunday Napuananionapalionako‘olau Kekuaokalani Mariteragi
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Victoria Sunday Napuananionapalionako‘olau Kekuaokalani Mariteragi - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 76
description: 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…

George Pulamahia Maile
subject: Kumu Hula George Pulamahia Maile - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 75
description: 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 th…

Johnny Lum Ho
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Johnny Lum Ho - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 72
description: 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 appre…

Edward Etua Lopes
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Edward Etua Lopes - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 71
description: 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…

Peter William Kauaimaka Lonoae‘a
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Peter William Kauaimaka Lonoae‘a - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 68
description: 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…

Lucy Lee
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Lucy Lee - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 65
description: 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 beca…

Pi‘i Lani
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Pi‘i Lani - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 62
description: 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 he…

Mae Kamāmalu Klein
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Mae Kamāmalu Klein - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 60
description: 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, …

Oddetta Kaohikukapulani Kinimaka-Alquiza
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Oddetta Kaohikukapulani Kinimaka-Alquiza - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 58
description: 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 …

J. Kimo Alama Keaulana
subject: Nā Kumu Hula J. Kimo Alama Keaulana - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 57
description: 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 19…

Pualani Kanaka‘ole Kanahele and Nālani Kanaka‘ole
subject: Nā Kumu Hulas Pualani Kanaka‘ole Kanahele and Nālani Kanaka‘ole - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 54
description: 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 m…

Rachael Akau Kamakana
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Rachael Akuu Kamakana - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 52
description: 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 cert…

Iwalani Kalima
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Iwalani Kalima
description: 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 i…

Namahana Kalama-Panui
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Namahana Kalama-Panui - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 48
description: 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 clea…

Kealoha Kalama
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Kealoha Kalama - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 47
description: 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 b…

Palani Kahala
subject: Nā Kumu Hula PaIani Kahala - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 44
description: 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 wh…

Lehua Hulihe‘e
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Lehua Hulihe‘e - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 41
description: 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 seven…

Hōkūlani Holt-Padilla
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Hōkūlani Holt-Padilla - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 41
description: 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…

Ray Kahikilaulani Fonseca
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Kay Kaliikilaulani Fonseca - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 38
description: 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, …

Karen Kaohulani Aiu Costa
subject: Nā Kumu Hula Karen Kaohulani Aiu Costa - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 35
description: 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…

April Pualani Peeples Chock
subject: April Pualani Peeples Chock - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 31
description: 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 lear…

William Kahakuleilehua Haunu‘u Ching
subject: Nā Kumu Hula William Kahakuleilehua Haunu‘u Ching - Nānā I Nā Loea Hula Volume 2 Page 28
description: 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 …