Hula Preservation Society - Hawaii
Wai Ola: ʻAukele & the Waters of Life hula kiʻi production will hold shows in San Francisco, CA November 23rd & 24th, 2024 at the Dance Mission Theater. More information can be found here: Mahealani Uchiyama Center for International Dance
Tickets on sale soon!
July 19 – 21, 2024
Hula Preservation Society (HPS) has the distinct pleasure of presenting a first-ever Hula Kiʻi Community Education Series July 19-21, 2024, on the island of Oʻahu.
Hula Kiʻi is a gem of Hawaiian culture that was almost lost to time and circumstance, and this Series is designed to provide access to learning and experiencing this rare form of storytelling.
Featured at the recent 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture, Hula Kiʻi is a form of ancient hula that uses a puppet and/or your own body to create images and share stories. It lives on in just a handful of lineages, and two of those lines of tradition are featured in this Series.
PART 1 – Friday, July 19th, 12:00pm-1:00pm – Capitol Modern – FREE
Up Close & Personal with Hula Kiʻi
In this lunchtime talk-story by Kumu Hula Auliʻi Mitchell, attendees will learn of the history of carved figures in hula and hear of Kumu Auliʻi’s journey to bring this form back from the brink. He will perform several Hula Kiʻi with carved figures.
PART 2 – Saturday, July 20th, 10:30am-11:30am – Capitol Modern – FREE
Meet & Greet the Cast of Wai Ola!
Come meet the artists that bring the show to life, including Kumu Mahealani Uchiyama and Hālau Ka Ua Tuahine from Berkeley, California, Storyteller & Kumu Kiʻi Mauli Ola Cook of Kauaʻi, and HPS Executive Director & Kumu Hula, Maile Loo-Ching. Hālau Ka Ua Tuahine to perform on the lawn.
PART 3 – Saturday, July 20th, 7:00pm-8:15pm & Sunday, July 21st, 2:00pm-3:15pm
Tenney Theatre (229 Queen Emma Square) – TICKET
Wai Ola, ʻAukele and the Waters of Life, A Celebration of Hula Kiʻi
The Honolulu Premiere of this engaging hula kiʻi-based stage production built around a favorite story of kiʻi expert and HPS Founder, Kumu Nona Beamer (1923-2008). Tickets ($10-$25; Seniors & Youth, Gen Adm, Group rate)
Purchase tickets:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wai-ola-aukele-and-the-waters-of-life-tickets-900743727737
PART 4 – June–December 2024 – Capitol Modern (Monday thru Saturday) – FREE
Hula Kiʻi Exhibit
HPS offers a new exhibit featuring 16 puppets, some of whom were crafted by 20th century kiʻi masters Nona Beamer and John Keola Lake (1937-2008). Historic photos and video also included of Hula Kiʻi being performed by a variety of masters and practitioners.
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
We are thrilled to close our week at Capitol Modern with Kumu Rich Pedrina and haumāna (students) of Hālau Hula ʻO Nāpunaheleonāpua at 11:00am on the lawn!
Kumu Hula Rich Pedrina leads Hālau Hula ʻO Nāpunaheleonāpua, a school he established on July 7, 1993. 2024 marks 31 years since the hālau was founded! The hālauʻs goal is to perpetuate and share their hula lineage through mele and oli.
Joining Kumu Rich is Alakaʻi Blaine Nohara who is training to one day be given the ʻūniki rights as Kumu Hula himself.
Nā Punahele o Nā Pua – means the many expressions of a favorite one. When they leave the stage or a performance, they hope to leave people with an everlasting impression, whether it be through the hula, costumes, adornments, or just expressions themselves.
The hālau operates in numerous locations. On Oʻahu – in Kāneʻohe and Papakōlea; On Hawaiʻi Island – in Hawaiian Paradise Park (Keaʻau); as well as other places across the U.S. Continent, Europe, Asia and Canada. All the teachers associated with Kumu Rich are expected to travel regularly to Hawaiʻi – the birthplace of hula – to train personally with Kumu, and he also “hits the road” throughout the year to be with his haumāna (students) in their many destinations around the world.
The hālau’s style and lineage honors three master teachers – nā Kumu Chinky Māhoe, Kimo Alama Keaulana, and George Holokai. Kumu Rich appreciates what he has learned from each of his kumu, but his primary influence and style remains with his original hula lineage of Chinky Māhoe and Kawailiʻulā.
Come join us at 11:00am as we welcome “Kumu Tati” and her haumāna (students) from the ʻEwa side of Oʻahu to share their hula traditions at Capitol Modern for #festpachawaii2024. Mahalo Kumu for spending your birthday representing our Hawaiʻi and hula heritage so very well! Hauʻoli lā hānau e Kumu Tati!
Tatiana Tseu Fox’s upbringing in a hula family perfectly exemplifies the ʻōlelo noʻeau, “Ka ʻike a ka makua, he hei na ke keiki” (The knowledge of the parent is absorbed by the child). Her first and primary kumu was her mother, Kumu Hula ʻIwalani Tseu, and the many cultural principles associated with hula were ingrained in their daily family life. Reflecting on her rearing, Tatiana realizes how fortunate she and her sisters were to have had many cultural icons frequent their home, share their moʻolelo and ʻike with them, and embrace them as one of their own. As a young child, she had the privilege of learning from her mother’s own kumu, Uncle George Naope, as well as dear family friends Auntie Manu Palama and O’Brian Eselu. As a student at Kamehameha Schools – Kapālama, she learned from and was influenced by Wayne Keahi Chang, Randie Kamuela Fong, and Holoua Stender. After high school, she continued as a student of Holoua’s student, Kaleo Trinidad. In 2013, through familial rites, her mother entrusted her with the kuleana (responsibility) of continuing their family legacy as poʻe hula (hula practitioners) and kūlana (title) of Kumu Hula. In 2015, Tatiana opened Nā Lei O Ka ʻIwa Haʻa I Ka Lani on their family property – an old plantation compound – in Honouliuli, ʻEwa, Oʻahu. Kumu Tati, as she is affectionately called, is humbled by the teachings of all that have openly shared themselves with her and her ʻohana. As such, she has embraced both the kuleana and kūlana of Kumu Hula and aims to perpetuate and build upon the teachings of all those that she has learned from so that their legacies live on for many generations to come.
Hoku Zuttermeister, of Kāne’ohe, comes from a Hawaiian family dynasty that encompasses both the hula and music communities. His great-grandmother, Kau‘i Zuttermeister penned the beloved song, “Nā Pua Lei ‘Ilima,” and his great-aunt is Kumu Hula Noe Zuttermeister. In 2008, Hōkū’s album, “‘Āina Kūpuna”, won six Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards including Hawaiian Album of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Entertainer of the Year, Hawaiian Language Performance, Most Promising New Artist and Liner Notes. Hōkū’s voice is deep and resonating, yet when he switches to the crystal-clear highs of falsetto, to the delight of his listeners, he shows the enormous vocal range that he has worked so hard at perfecting. Behind his amazing voice comes the versatility of his instrumentation. Hōkū credits his musical style to all those that have influenced him over the years. It is a style that he describes as being “Hawaiian, but with a more contemporary flair!”
We’re thrilled to welcome Kumu Nawahine Haili Kuraoka at 11:00am to represent Hawaiʻi in the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture at Capitol Modern!
Marlene Nāwahine Haili Kuraoka started Hālau Hula ‘O Nāwahine in 1996. Her beloved Kumu Hula (master teacher) was Aunty Bella Richards, a legend in Kailua on the island of Oʻahu. Bella Richard’s mother, Rose Kuamoʻo, was a well-known Kumu in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, in the 1930s. Kumu Nāwahine teaches students from Hawaiʻi and around the world. For many years, she has called Hale Pulelehua (HPS Studio) her hālau home in Kāneʻohe.
