ha‘a, ha‘aheo
HUMBLE AND PROUD
His collection of honors
By Kekoa Catherine Enomoto
overwhelms the man of the moment,
kumu hula Sonny Ching
Star-BulletinIn the quiet of a Sunday in a cabin on the slopes of Kilauea Volcano, the first things Sonny Ching saw when he woke up were trophies -- a lot of them.
Then the realization set in: his Halau Na Mamo O Pu'uanahulu had won both the women's and men's overall competitions in the 35th annual Merrie Monarch Festival. It was the only the second time in the 28 years that hula has been part of the festival that a halau had competed so strongly.
William Kahakuleilehua "Sonny" Ching was overwhelmed.
"I still can't believe it happened, it was awesome," Ching said yesterday. "It was just more than I ever, ever could have thought."
But for the 36-year-old kumu hula, the trophies awarded them Saturday night were not the reward he and his dancers had worked for. It had come earlier in the evening, just after the women had swayed off stage in their ethereal red gowns.
Ching had walked offstage when an older Hawaiian woman had approached him. She told him her birthplace was Pu'uanahulu in the northeast part of the Big Island, the same place the kumu hula's family is from and the place honored in the mele his women danced to. She thanked him, tears in her eyes."That's the prize you came for," Ching told his dancers. "That's why we did that song.
The auana competition was over and the halau members huddled in darkness by the
dressing rooms and waited for their kumu. He rushed up and, voice shaking, said, "I was so proud of you. You were elegance and grace and you danced from your hearts. You make me proud. Thank you for honoring the place my family is from," he said about Puakea Nogelmeier's mele, "He Hali'a No Pu'uanahulu."
Then he told them of his encounter with the woman and they wept with him.
"You ladies are Amazons," he added, referring to the hardships the halau had overcome on a March trip to Kahoolawe to prepare for Merrie Monarch.
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Maliana Meyer, Shoko Sugihara and Pilihana Muller
share a laugh as they prepare their gowns
for the 'auana competition.
Ching was elated about the women's scintillating portrayal of the beauty of Pu'uanahulu. To prepare for their performances, members of the Kalihi-based halau had made a huaka'i, or pilgrimage, on Thursday to Mana, Kawaihae, Aanaehoomalu, Puu-anahulu, Waikoloa -- places cited in the mele. Then, they had performed with pulsing fealty.Ching's halau won the wahine kahiko and wahine 'auana divisions as well as the kane kahiko division; it placed second in the kane 'auana division. The only other halau to sweep the overalls was Johnny Lum Ho's Hula Halau O Ka Ua Kani Lehua in 1982, 1983 and 1988. Ching said he was honored to share the distinction.
Nevertheless, he said that after Friday's kahiko dances he told his dancers that, "I could receive the score sheets and we could come in last and it wouldn't matter, because they had outstanding performances."
Down the walkway, in dressing room No. 6 at the Edith Kanakaole stadium, kumu hula Michael Ka'ilipunohu Canopin and Halau Kealakapawa's story was one of serene simplicity -- perhaps a factor of size. Where Ching had brought 41 dancers, Canopin had nine women.
Canopin's instructions to the dancers were to relax, enjoy, have fun and share. Indeed, the kumu has a new focus, of raising and nurturing his 7-month-old son, Christian Lehua Haolalani Yunki Inamura-Canopin -- the future of Canopin's halau.
Canopin honored his own late kumu, Frank Palani Kahala, by presenting a mele Kahala composed.
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
The men of Halau Na Mamo O Pu'uanahula celebrate
their first-place win in kahiko. They also took second in the
men's 'auana competition.
Kealakapawa dancers wore muted gold blouses, green leaf-print skirts, three strands of golden hala fruit and lauhala fans in their hairpieces, reflecting the fragrant Puna pandanus in the mele, "Sipa I Ka 'Olu A'o Puna.""You look beautiful, you dance beautifully. Dance for your family and friends who are out there cheering for you," Canopin told his dancers before their performance. He turned to several backstage dressers, "Let us thank those who help us dance, because we love hula and hula is in our hearts," he said.
Then, halau members held hands in a circle, bowed heads and prayed in Hawaiian.
For Canopin's halau as well as the 20 others who danced through the three-day festival, the hula -- not winning -- seemed to be their goal.
Hi'iaka -- Pele's sister and the patroness of hula -- danced at nearby Puna the first hula documented in mythology. Indeed, the spirit and energy of hula reside in Hilo during the Merrie Monarch Festival. Spectators and dancers alike basked in the ethereal aura of Hi'iaka's craft, and received the mana, or spiritual power, of the chants and dances of antiquity, as well as of those who live hula today.
Merrie Monarch results
