Treating hula
with respect
A Big Isle kumu says
By Kekoa Catherine Enomoto
hula should be equal in status
to other dance forms
Star-Bulletin'Ukeke -- a little known Hawaiian mouth harp -- is part of tomorrow's world premiere of a three-act hula show created for the theater.
"It has a very soft, strumming sound," says Michael Pilikukunaokala Pang, whose middle name means "you are like the rays of the sun." "The 'ukeke is not a very loud piece. It dealt with words of love that people would communicate between each other."
Pang brings an 18-member troupe, Halau Hula Ka No'eau, to Oahu for performances at the Hawai'i Theatre and the Prince Lot Hula Festival.
He joins nine dancers in playing the 'ukeke in the opening act of "Haku Mele." The three-act performance comprises "Halemano ... A Love Story," "He Hulu Ali'i ... Stories from the Royal Court" and "Kawena Suite ... The Music of Mary Kawena Pukui, Maddy Lam and Kahauanu Lake."
Pang's vision is to elevate Hawaii's indigenous dance from what he calls "cabaret hula" -- performances that are introduced -- to equal status with ballet, modern dance, even opera. These are recognized art forms, performed without introductory remarks, he says.
"Our goal and mission is basically to present hula in a theater environment," Pang says. "After 20 some years of Hawaiian renaissance, people don't need to be told what is happening. They should just sit back and enjoy it."
Pang started dancing at age 10, becoming a kumu in 1985 under the direction of kumu hula Mae Kamamalu Klein.
"The dance form can be on the same stage, and can be looked at, as a very high-class theatrical art form. It should be on stage in the same way as modern dance, ballet, kabuki and Peking opera are," says Pang, 36. "It should be presented like that, because these are our original roots, which were presented in the (ancient) lecture halls, opera halls and concert halls of the Hawaiian people."
Pang started Halau Hula Ka No'eau 10 years ago. He and his family bought five acres on the Honokaa side of Waimea, where they built a home and halau.
The halau has been awarded a $14,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, to be used to create "Paiea," a dance work based on Kameha-meha the Great's childhood.
Pang is somewhat ha'aha'a -- humble -- on the telephone from Waimea as he says, "I'm not very good at these interviews." Yet he hired a Las Vegas-based agent to book international performances. His halau performed in British Columbia in 1993, Phoenix in 1994, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh in 1995, and New York last year.
" 'Join the halau and see the world' -- we have a running joke in our halau, because we have traveled for the past couple years," he says.
Pang and his halau are making their presence felt in Hawaii, as they've already done in theaters outside the state.
"I understand that not very many people in Honolulu know us, we're not a household word. We have not been to Merrie Monarch, although we've been on the waiting list for eight-plus years."
His efforts are like the 'ukeke -- soft, low, yet firmly on the side of posterity.
"Hula doesn't die, it gets reborn," he says. "Like all the songs and stories from the 'Haku Mele' series, in learning from the past, you step forward."
Haku Mele
Halau Hula Ka No'eau presents "Haku Mele ... Stories of Hawai'i's People by Hawai'i's Composers."
Place: Hawai'i Theatre
Prince Lot Hula Festival
