Hula Preservation Society - Hawaii

Keau George

2025 At A Glance Newsletter

Check out what we did in our 25th year at Hula Preservation Society! If you’d like to help support HPS, please consider making a monetary donation HERE

Hālau Kū Mana Students Exhibit Artistic Forms of Hula Kiʻi

Honolulu Star Advertiser
June 6, 2025
By Jamm Aquino

A hula ki‘i exhibit opened Friday at Capitol Modern in Honolulu. Hula ki‘i, or Hawaiian puppetry in the form of carved hula figures, is a little-known genre of hula that marries hula (dance), mo‘olelo (story), no‘ono‘o ulu wale (imagination/creative expression) and hana no‘eau (visual arts). The hula ki‘i on display were created by students from Halau Ku Mana New Century Public Charter School in Makiki, under the direction of Kumu Auli‘i Mitchell — an expert in hula ki‘i.

Maile Loo, middle, executive director of the Hula Preservation Society, talks with hula ki’i kumu Auli’i Mitchell during the opening of the hula ki’i art exhibit at the Capitol Modern, Friday, June 6, 2025, in Honolulu. Photo by Jamm Aquino/jaquino@staradvertiser.com
Hula kii exhibit
Tenth-grader Kekupuohaoha Loo-Ching, middle, shows her hula ki’i to Karen Ewald, executive director of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, left, during the opening of the hula ki’i art exhibit at the Capitol Modern, Friday, June 6, 2025, in Honolulu. Hula ki’i, or Hawaiian puppetry in the form of carved hula figures, is a little-known genre of hula that marries hula (dance), mo’olelo (story), no’ono’o ulu wale (imagination/creative expression), and hana no’eau (visual arts). The hula ki’i on display were created by students from Hālau Kū Mana Public Charter School in Makiki, under the direction of Kumu Auli’i Mitchell—an expert in hula ki’i. Photo by Jamm Aquino/jaquino@staradvertiser.com
People look at different hula ki’i during the opening of the hula ki’i art exhibit at the Capitol Modern, Friday, June 6, 2025, in Honolulu. Photo by Jamm Aquino/jaquino@staradvertiser.com

Kumu Auliʻi Mitchell, right, greets tenth-grader Kekupuohaoha Loo-Ching during the opening of the hula kiʻi art exhibit at the Capitol Modern, Friday, June 6, 2025, in Honolulu. Photo by Jamm Aquino/jaquino@staradvertiser.com
Lori Pereira, right, principal of Ku Mana New Century Public Charter School, talks with hula ki’i kumu Auli’i Mitchell during the opening of the hula ki’i art exhibit at the Capitol Modern, Friday, June 6, 2025, in Honolulu. Photo by Jamm Aquino/jaquino@staradvertiser.com
Karen Ewald, executive director of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, left, talks with guests looking at different hula ki’i during the opening of the hula ki’i art exhibit at the Capitol Modern, Friday, June 6, 2025, in Honolulu. Photo by Jamm Aquino/jaquino@staradvertiser.com

HPS Receives NEH Grant

HPS is thrilled to be the recipients of a Preservation Assistance Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). NEH announced awards on August 28, 2024 that support humanities projects across the country amounting to $37.5 million in grants for 240 humanities projects. The Endowment received 139 eligible applications for the Preservation Assistance Grant (PAG) with HPS as 1 of 57 recipients. HPS’s grant project Ka Pā Ho‛okani! Caring for Hawaiian Music Resources is an effort to organize, preserve, and house 45 rpm and 78 rpm audio records of Hawaiian music from the 1930s-1960s.

Wai Ola, ʻAukele and the Waters of Life

Saturday, July 20th, 2024 at 7PM
Sunday, July 21st, 2024 at 2PM

Tenney Theatre, Honolulu Theater for Youth
229 Queen Emma Square in Honolulu

In partnership with the Māhea Uchiyama Center for International Dance / Hālau Ka Ua Tuahine based in Berkeley, California, HPS invites you to a celebration of Hula Kiʻi in this story adaptation of ʻAukele, a legendary Hawaiian folk hero who faces many challenges including a perilous sea voyage and his jealous brothers.

Hula kiʻi features the use of carved or crafted images in the story telling and movements of hula. Due to Western influences in the 19th Century, the hula kiʻi and other indigenous traditions were suppressed almost out of existence.

Kumu Hula Māhealani Uchiyama of Hālau Ka Ua Tuahine, in association with Kumu Hula Kiʻi Mauli Ola Cook (holder of the lineal tradition of Kumu Nona Beamer and Kauaʻi alakaʻi of Kumu Hula Victoria Holt Takamine), Kumu Hula Maile Loo-Ching who leads the non-profit Hula Preservation Society, and Kumu Hula Auliʻi Mitchell of Hālau ʻo Kahiwahiwa who is an expert in carved forms and kiʻi innovation, will present this unique art form in Honolulu through a project sponsored by a 2021 Choreography Award and 2024 Touring Grant from the Gerbode Foundation.

The project that led to this production encompassed the research of classical themes, the construction of hula puppets, and the development of a dedicated practice from the kiʻi traditions of Nona Beamer within Hālau Ka Ua Tuahine.

Ticketing
General Admission $20
Senior (65+) and Youth (18 and under) $10
Hālau Rate (10 or more from hālau & ʻohana) $15 per person

Tickets on sale now at Wai Ola on Eventbrite

Check out this news coverage on Wai Ola!

June 14, 2024
The revival & practice of Hula Kii to be showcased
KHON2
Featuring Mauli Ola Cook, Mahealani Uchiyama, & Maile Loo-Ching with Kamaka Pili

June, 16, 2024
The Hula Preservation Society has helped to digitally document 100’s of hours of talk story sessions
Sunrise on Hawaii News Now
Featuring Maile Loo-Ching with Billy V

June 26, 2024
Rare form of hula to be performed on Oʻahu next month
Hawaii Public Radio
Featuring Mahealani Uchiyama