Faith helps propel hula winner

• Halau from Islands, Mainland star tonight

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

Professional dancer Natasha Oda, 23, of Hilo, won the title of Miss Aloha Hula at the Merrie Monarch Festival. It's the first time in 13 years that a hometown product has won the competition held in Hilo. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"He told me, 'Don't make a mistake and embarrass me,' " Oda said, and laughed. "He's a gem. He brings such joy to our lives."

Oda, a real family type whose halau and real families are tightly intertwined, clearly meant it.

The 23-year-old Hilo High graduate and professional dancer is taking a break for now and is living in the moment of her honor. It's the first solo hula award Hilo's annual Merrie Monarach Festival has conferred on a hometown competitor in 13 years.

It's an honor, too, for her teacher, kumu hula Johnny Lum Ho, whose Halau Ka Ua Kani Lehua has gained a reputation for being popular with the crowd but controversial with judges. Oda's not sure that's fair to Lum Ho, who never sought this dubious distinction.

"I just think he's doing what he wants to do, teaching us to tell stories the way he wants to tell them," she said. "I don't know if that's controversial to other people. Other people have given him that label.

"But I admire him for not changing."

To say Oda was born to this halau would not be overstatement. Her 52-letter name — Kamalamalamaokalailokokapu'uwaimehanaokekeikipunahele — was a gift from Lum Ho at birth. It means "sunlight in the warm heart of the beloved child." Oda said she always went by Natasha K. Oda: "Not many people knew what the "K" was, until now."

Her mother, Deedee, once danced in halau herself, and now is alaka'i, or assistant teacher. Through the five months of practice for this event, mom was right by the kumu hula's side. Tasha's hula hours and hours of work were her mother's burden, too, so perhaps it's not surprising that Deedee Oda's twin reactions are "I'm proud of her" and "I'm glad it's over."

The younger Oda never wanted to enter as a soloist. That's surprising, considering the stage presence and drama she displayed in her chant for ancient hula, about two sisters who share a love of hula and adventures (this story was a gift from Hilo hula master Pua Kanahele), as well as her modern entry, a Lum Ho composition about the olive branch God sent to end Noah's flood.

That song seemed a good fit, she said, because both she and her teacher share a strong Christian faith. As the preparations for the contest proceeded, Oda said she realized there was a purpose for her competition: to dance in honor of God and in gratitude to all of her family and loved ones.

Before coming home to Hilo, Oda had just finished 18 months as a dancer with Tokyo Disney and with the Ocean Dome in Kyushu, Japan. She wants to pick up her University of Hawai'i studies where she left off to take those jobs, but other than that, knows little for certain about the future. Oda says she's happy that way.

"Let it unfold," she said.