Posted on: Sunday, April 22, 2001

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The Merrie Monarch Festival: An array of images

• Merrie Monarch Festival results

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

There were some favorites missing in action at the Merrie Monarch Festival 2001: Sonny Ching’s Honolulu halau and Ray Fonseca’s from Hilo, to name two. Both names have cropped up perennially in lists of winners at the yearly hula “Super Bowl.”

The void was more than filled this weekend by returning absentees. Johnny Lum Ho and the men of Chinky Mahoe’s Kawaili‘ula are back, restoring their particular brands of excitement at the festival.

There were newcomers, too, some of them very promising additions to the Monarch slate. Holoua Stender is one to watch. His Ka Pa Hula O Kamehameha, halau of the Kamehameha Schools, made an impressive entrance by entering Snowbird Puananiopaoakalani Bento as a Miss Aloha Hula contender.

She finished one point shy of the winner, Johnny Lum Ho’s student. Lum Ho said Natasha Oda’s decision to enter as a soloist propelled his entire Hilo halau into competition after a five-year absence.

Maile Beamer Loo, another kumu hula sitting in the audience, was especially charmed by the two standout dancers.

“After Johnny’s girl, you wondered, ‘Well, who could follow that?’ And only Snowbird could,” Loo said. “They couldn’t have been more different, and (in points) they couldn’t have been more close ... I guess that’s the beauty of hula.”

The hard work, pagentry, grace and jubilation of this year's Merrie Monarch Festival were captured in these images by Advertiser photographer Eugene Tanner. Click for a larger view.

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