PROGRAM DETAILS
The Nā Nā I Ke Kumu program features Native Hawaiian master artists and cultural practitioners leading interactive workshops in areas including:
- Hula Kiʻi (Hula Puppetry)
- Hula (Hawaiian Dance)
- Moʻolelo (Hawaiian Storytelling)
- Mele Hei (Hawaiian String Stories)
- Haku Mele (Hawaiian Song Composition)
- ʻUpena (Hawaiian Net Making)
- ʻOhe Kāpala (Hawaiian Bamboo Stamping)
- Nā Hana Hulu (Hawaiian Featherwork)
- Hoʻokūkū Kapa (Hawaiian Bark Cloth)
KALANI AKANA, Ph.D
Dr. Kalani Akana is a Kumu Hula, an ʻūniki graduate of Ka Pā Hula Hawaiʻi under Kahaʻi Topolinski. He teaches students the art of oli (chant) as learned from his aunt, Hoʻoulu Richards, as well as Nona Beamer, Kalena Silva, and Edith McKinzie.
Dr. Akana has mentored students in oli and hei (string figures) as a master teacher under the State Foundation of Culture and Arts.
His Ph.D dissertation in Curriculum Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi concentrated on revitalizing language and culture through performances, such as hei, was published in Indigenous Voices Research, Hūlili VIII: Multidisciplinary research on Hawaiian well-being and others.
Dr. Akana studied painting with Master Artist and MAMo award recipient, Joe Hauʻoli Dowson, and continues to write poetry which has appeared in Tinfish, ʻŌiwi Journal, Bamboo Ridge and Mai Paʻa I Ka Leo.
ROBERT ULUWEHI CAZIMERO
“Nothing happens by accident. I was meant to be taught by Ma‘iki Aiu Lake. And above all I know this to be truer than true -- hula is life, every aspect of it, and we all can be made better for daring to dance.”
Robert Uluwehionāpuaikawekiuokalani Cazimero is an award-winning composer, arranger, singer, recording artist, director, choreographer, choral director, USA Ford Fellow of Music, and Hawaiian kumu hula. Robert and brother Roland joined Peter Moon in 1969 as “Sunday Mānoa,” and the pair formed as the award-winning “The Brothers Cazimero” in 1977.
Robert’s hula career began when he met his kumu, Maiki Aiu Lake, while a student at Kamehameha Schools. Robert was part of Aiu’s largest, and possibly most famous, 1973 ʻUniki Lehua class. It is during this time that Robert embraced his kumu and her mantra, “Hula is Life.”
MOSES GOODS
Moses Goods is one of Hawaiʻi’s most prominent theatre artists.
Originally from the island of Maui and now based in Honolulu, he has traveled both nationally and internationally performing his original works to a wide range of audiences.
His body of work ranges from full-length plays to theatrical storytelling pieces, most of which are strongly rooted in Native Hawaiian culture.
Moses is also the founder and artistic director of ʻInamona Theatre Company, an organization dedicated to reintroducing the native stories of Hawaiʻi to the community. ʻInamona is a traditional Hawaiian relish made from the roasted kernel of the kukui (candlenut). It is sprinkled sparingly over mea ʻai (nourishing food) to gently enhance its natural flavor.
Moses believes that no matter how skilled the storyteller, his or her work is merely a condiment to the greater sustenance. The true "mea ʻai” are the stories that have come before us, the stories of our ancestors.
MICHAEL KAWIKA LUM-NELMIDA
Kawika Lum-Nelmida is a hulu (feather) artist from Pūpūkea, Oʻahu.
Kawika learned the art of lei hulu from Paulette Kahalepuna in 1997 at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. While there, he also studied Natural Environment and Fiber Arts within the Hawaiian Studies program and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 2001.
Kawika’s fiber arts teacher at the university was 2013 MAMo Awardee, Maile Andrade. Kawika has been an active artist participant in MAMo: Maoli Arts Movement since 2012, and in 2013, was awarded a master’s Apprenticeship through Hawaiʻi's State Foundation on Culture and the Arts with his hulu master, Paulette Kahalepuna. Under her tutelage, Kawika studied Hawaiian featherwork in the form of lei (adornment), kahili (feather standard), ahuʻula (cape), and mahiʻole (helmets). Kawika also studied works made from traditional materials as well as how to use, cultivate, and preserve them.
Kawika also combines modern materials with traditional practices to create contemporary art pieces.
In 2021, Kawika was awarded the United States Artist Award.
NĀ KAMALEI O LĪLĪLEHUA
“Hula is the art of Hawaiian dance, expressing everything we hear, see, smell, taste, touch and feel. Hula is life.” -Maiki Aiu Lake
The understanding of hula lineage along with the actual tracing of a dancer’s history is an important concept engrained in all members of Hālau Nā Kamalei by Robert Cazimero.
In 1975, Cazimero and his hula brother, Wayne Y. Chang formed a dancing group, Hālau Nā Kamalei O Līlīlehua. Dedicating his energy to the vanishing tradition of male hula, Hālau Nā Kamalei has inspired hundreds of men to perpetuate the traditional Hawaiian dance form. Hālau Nā Kamalei is one of Hawaiʻi’s most highly respected male hālau. They have won critical acclaim and awards at the annual Merrie Monarch Festival Competition, the world’s largest Hawaiian hula competition, choosing to participate every ten years. Their sweeping win at Merrie Monarch in 2005 was featured in the PBS special, “Nā Kamalei: Men of Hula.
Members of Nā Kamalei have performed around the world, from the stage of Carnegie Hall in New York to stages in Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle.
WILLIAM KEOUA NELSEN
“In my hands I see my past – my grandmother, her sisters, her mother, her mother’s mother and so on – my ancestors; it is they who inspire me and fuel my creativity. In my hands I know my past, my history, my genealogy! I am #ALegacyWeaver.”
Keoua Nelson grew up in Napoʻopoʻo, South Kona on the shores of Kealakekua Bay and comes from a long line of lauhala weavers from Kona.
As a teenager, Keoua’s maternal grandmother, Lilian Alepoki (Grace) Nelson, tried to teach Keoua the skills and techniques she learned from her kūpuna (ancestors), but he was unable to pick them up at the time.
It wasn’t until Keoua started learning his ʻōlelo makuahine that he realized that it was his responsibility to perpetuate those skills passed down from his ancestors. In 2008, Keoua took his first weaving class from Gwen Kamisugi and Lorna Pacheco, both students of Aunty Gladys Grace.
Keoua’s mission is to continue learning to master weaving lauhala and other natural fibers.
VICKY HOLT TAKAMINE
Vicky Holt Takamine is a renowned kumu hula (master teacher of Hawaiian dance). She is recognized as a native Hawaiian leader for role as an advocate for social justice issues, the protection of native Hawaiian rights, and the natural and cultural resources of Hawai‘i.
In 1975, Vicky ʻūniki (graduated through the rituals of hula) as a kumu hula from hula master Maiki Aiu Lake. She then established her own hālau, Pua Ali’i ‘Ilima, (school of Hawaiian dance) in 1977.
Vicky went on to earn her BA & MA in dance ethnology from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. In addition to teaching her own school, Vicky lectured at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa and Leeward Community College for more than 35 years.
In 2001, Vicky established a non-profit organization, PA’I Foundation, to serve the needs of the Hawaiian community and those who make Hawai’i their home. Vicky currently serves as the executive director of the foundation.
Under her leadership, PA’I worked with six other minority & POC foundations and organizations to develop leadership and networking opportunities for artists through the Intercultural Leadership Institute.
Vicky has been decorated with many awards and accolades for her service to native Hawaiian and indigenous peoples.
AWARDS
- 2016 | US Artist Award
- 2016 | First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Award
- 2015 | Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce ʻŌʻō Award
- 2015 | Native Arts & Cultures Foundation Native Hawaiian Fellowship Award
- 2014 | Moanalua Gardens Foundation Malia Kau Award
- 2013 | First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Award
JEFFREY KĀNEKAIWILANI TAKAMINE
Jeffrey Kānekaiwilani Takamine graduated as kumu hula (master teacher of Hawaiian dance) through the ‘ūniki rituals of hula from Vicky Holt Takamine in 2007. The youngest of her three sons, Jeff has been chanting since the age of three. While constantly immersed in the hula lifestyle since birth, he formally began hula dancing when he was 14 and began dancing professionally at 16. He has assisted with teaching alongside his mother since he was 17.
Noted as an exceptional chanter, Jeffrey was invited to participate in the State Foundation of Hawaiian Culture and Arts’ Folk Arts Apprenticeship program to study oli with master chanter and kumu hula Kalani Akana. While primarily under the tutelage of his mother, Kumu Vicky, Jeff has studies various settings with other Kumu Hula such as Pat Namaka Bacon, Robert Cazimero, John Kaimikaua and John Keola Lake.
Jeffrey has participated in numerous international cultural exchange programs through the University of Hawaii. Over the years, Jeffrey has established a reputation of creativity with a unique style of teaching and is acknowledged by members of the hula community to be a hula authority of the next generation.
He has been conducting his own classes under Pua Aliʻi ‘Ilima and looks forward to starting his own professional dance company.
KUANA TORRES KAHELE
Hawaiian composer, choreographer and recording artist, Kuana Torres Kahele was born in Hilo, Hawaii.
Kahele has over 25 years of professional experience in Hula and Hawaiian music having been groomed as a child from renowned Hilo kumu, Johnny Lum Ho and Hālau Ka Ua Kani Lehua.
He first gained notoriety on the Hawaiian and World music scene as 1/3 of the award-winning falsetto trio, Nā Palapalai. Known primarily for his original compositions for hula, Kahele completed a monumental five-year songwriting project to complete an album of new music for each of the seven Hawaiian Islands. By the end of the series, Kahele has written and recorded over 100 new songs for Hawaiʻi, an unprecedented achievement in Hawaiian music.
He gained worldwide attention in June 2015, starring as both the narrator and male lead, UKU, a lovesick volcano in Disney Pixar’s hit movie, LAVA. The theme song from LAVA debuted at #1 on the Billboard Soundtrack chart and remained there for months. This brought a new, global audience to his music and lei making. His 2015 and 2017 DVDs, “Make Lei vol.1 and vol.2” took Hawaiian culture to the far reaches of the world, allowing anyone to share a tiny bit of Aloha in their part of the world.
Although Kahele is well known for his performance abilities, his true passion is teaching hula and sharing Hawaiian culture with students worldwide. He has conducted hula and Hawaiian craft workshops across the continental United States, Canada, Mexico and much of Asia, Europe and Russia.