Renowned hula master Ray Fonseca died minutes after performing a dance Saturday at the Lei o Lanikuhonua Hula Festival at Ko Olina.

“;He had no pain. He just collapsed,”; said Lynette “;Nettie”; Tiffany, an old friend and festival official. “;He loved the hula. He died doing exactly what he loved.”;

Fonseca flew in Saturday morning from Hilo to help teach hula to more than a dozen high school youths, Tiffany said.

The noncompetitive festival brings together high school students to learn a hula in a few hours from master teachers, then perform onstage.

Fonseca was a staunch supporter of the festival, in its fourth year.

“;He was so happy,”; Tiffany said.

Fonseca, kumu hula for Halau Hula o Kahikilaulani, was with his group offstage when he collapsed. He was 56.

“;We competed together for many years,”; recalled Charles Maxwell, whose family operates the Pukalani Hula Hale on Maui. “;He was a real nice guy. He was very pleasant, very dedicated to the hula.”;

Fonseca was a student of hula master George Naope, a co-founder of the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival in Hilo.

Fonseca's death came less than a day after longtime Merrie Monarch organizer Dorothy “;Auntie Dottie”; Thompson's. Fonseca had visited Thompson at her bedside.

With his Hilo-based halau, Fonseca was a top competitor at the festival for decades. In 2008 his halau took third place in the wahine overall.

Members of Fonseca's hula group said he integrated Hawaiian history, language, folklore and culture into his hula instruction. His halau has more than 100 students ages 4 to 60.

Fonseca was sentenced in 2006 to six months in prison after he pleaded no contest to second-degree negligent homicide for killing a man on a mo-ped in a traffic accident three years earlier. The judge allowed him to be released during the day to teach hula and perform community service.

Fonseca was driving a sport utility vehicle 40 mph in a 25-mph zone and was on the wrong side of the street to avoid potholes, police said.