Nani Lim Yap has been dancing the hula since she was a young
girl growing up on the Big Island.
“My mother was my first teacher when I was eight years old,” Yap
said.
Her uncle later became her kumu, or instructor, passing on the
hula traditions of their ancestors, and Yap has done the same.
Her hula school, Na Lei O Ka Holoku, has taken home top honors
from Hawaii’s premier hula competition, the Merrie Monarch Hula
Festival, for two years. The weeklong event is held every April in
Hilo. In 2004, Yap’s school was honored as the festival’s overall
group winner; this year it was awarded the wahine, or women’s group
title.
Yap said the hula traditions of her Kohala ancestors extend from
the spirit of aloha.
“When we teach aloha, we share its values,” she said. “We try to
live it one heart, one spirit, one mind.”
That sense of sharing comes before any notion of competition in
the dance festivals, she said. Yap is amazed and delighted by the
culture’s heightening awareness of hula, especially among
visitors.
“The more our visitors know about our special places, dancing,
art ... the more they appreciate it,” she said.
On the Big Island, Yap gives high marks to the Waikii Music
Festival held every June. The two-day event takes place on the polo
fields of Waikii Ranch on the slopes of Mauna Kea volcano.
“It’s basically a musical, cultural festival with arts and
crafts and vendors,” she said.
The island of Molokai, where tradition holds the goddess Laka
first danced the hula, celebrates the Molokai Ka Hula Piko every
May.
“That is a truly one of a kind festival,” Yap said, adding that
the morning ceremony is a cultural and spiritual experience.
Yap also steers visitors to the Waimea Music Festival, part of
the Waimea Town Celebration on Kauai. The festival is held every
February at the Old Sugar Mill and includes food, crafts and
sporting games, such as canoe racing.
On Maui, Yap recommend a children’s hula competition, Hula O Na
Keiki, held every November at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel.
“The kids are great to watch,” she said. “They just give their
all.”
Children as young as four years old in Hawaii can begin to learn
the hula, which helps continue the traditions of kahiko, classical
hula, and auana, hula set to modern music.
Whether experienced as entertainment or as a deeper connection
to Hawaiian culture, Yap explained “we who are keepers of
knowledge” aim to share their traditions with visitors and the
values hula embodies.
| CONTACTS Hula O Na Keiki
808-262-8450 Merrie Monarch Hula Festival
808-935-9168
www.merriemonarch festival.org Molokai Ka Hula Piko
808-553-3876, 800-800-6367 Na Lei O Ka Holoku Hula School
808-833-9005 Queen Liliuokalani Keiki Hula Competition
808-521-6905 Waikii Music Festival
808-883-2077 Waimea Town Celebration
808-335-2824 |
