Photos courtesy of Halau Mohala 'Ilima
Halau Mohala 'Ilima presents dances from its 'uniki,
or graduation ceremonies held last month on Kauai.
Keepers of the knowledge
By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto
Star-BulletinA faint tang from distant 'ehu kai -- sea spray -- overlay the warm day. Birds dickered outside a large, airy dance room with wall to wall beige carpet. This was the serene Lanikai home/studio of 22-year kumu hula Mapuana de Silva. "To have a tradition, you have to have the many generations doing the same thing," said de Silva, the kumu, or "source," of Halau Mohala 'Ilima. "If every third generation changes the feet or the hands, then there's no tradition. It doesn't go back and you can't trace it as far.
"With all the competitions and festivals, a lot of the focus is on creativity, and this year it's based on tradition -- not of me or of kumu today, but the creativity of our kupuna."
De Silva and her halau host a 2-1/2 hour "Holomua Ka No'eau" (To Advance the Arts) concert presenting dances from their 'uniki, or graduation ceremonies. Last month's 'uniki was a weeklong process of relatively unknown rituals that graduated four kumu hula -- Renee Pualani Awai, Norma Jean Lehuanani Chock, Ivalee Puaali'i Kamalu and Mary Mapuana Pescaia. Also, 22 graduating 'olapa (accomplished dancers) included de Silva's older daughter, Kahikina de Silva.
The 3 p.m. Sunday concert at Hawai'i Theatre will present 80 percent of the performance rituals done Aug. 15 at Keahualaka pa hula, a centuries-old hula mound in north Kaua'i, de Silva said. The performance represents more than 260 years of hula training by the graduates under de Silva.
Photos courtesy of Halau Mohala 'Ilima
Kumu hula Mapuana de Silva, left, present the four
new kumu, from left, Renee Pualani Awai, Ivalee
Puaali'i Kamalu, Mary Mapuana Pescaia and
Norma Jean Lehuanani Chock.
The program also will feature recording artist and kumu hula Robert Uluwehi Cazimero and his Halau Na Kamalei who will perform after intermission. He was a hula brother of de Silva's under the tutelage of the late hula master Aunty Maiki Lake in the mid 1970s, formative years in the Hawaiian cultural renaissance."Aunty Maiki had the foresight to believe in us, to graduate us," de Silva said. "I was lucky enough to be one of the ones who she entrusted with this knowledge. That's a blessing that I am grateful for.
"The purpose of graduating 'olapa is so that they can have the title 'olapa, so that they will be looked on as keepers of this body of knowledge, to maintain the dances. The ho'opa'a and the kumu will maintain the chanting and drumming part of the knowledge," de Silva said of traditions relayed in her Lanikai studio.
"It's important for me to graduate keepers of the knowledge."
Hula tradition
What: "Holomua Ka No'eau," presented by Halau Mohala 'Ilima
