Five share love for hula halau
By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Staff Writer
There's five of them at just about every one of her shows. Four carry big, impressive-looking cameras, gear that looks like maybe they're shooting for Life or People or National Geographic or something. The fifth just sits, dabbing away at his teary eyes.
Iwalani Tseu calls them her "paparazzi."
The five men, all bachelors, are regulars at Iwalani's hula shows at the Aloha Tower Marketplace. They take rolls and rolls of photos of Iwalani and her students, make stacks of prints, and give them to the dancers as presents, gifts of their appreciation for their grace and talent.
One of the guys, Mike Bambi, posts the pictures on the Internet. "This lady is a living treasure," he says, nodding reverently at Iwalani.
The eldest of the group is 89-year-old Freddy Gonsalves, a former professional boxer. Freddy lives in Waikiki and walks to Aloha Tower whenever Iwalani has a show. He says sometimes he imagines the dancers are the grandchildren he never had, and he finds himself overcome with emotion.
"This is just like my family," he says, choking up. "I love this lady."
Over the years, the group of guys has gone from fan club to family. None of them knew each other before. They all met at the Aloha Tower hula shows and grew to be an important part of the halau. Iwalani has invited the group to her home to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas, and they go over to her house every so often to help her clean yard.
"She's a busy lady, so we help her however we can," says Freddy.
The yard work has had varying degrees of success. In their zeal to impress Iwalani, they once chopped down a row of beloved royal palms she had been cultivating for 10 years. But, like family, after a few tears, all was forgiven.
One of the men told her, "I don't have a mom anymore, so I adopt you as my mom." Judging the relative age difference, Iwalani offered up, "Uh, how about I just be your aunty."
This kind of close connection to her audience isn't particularly new for Iwalani Tseu, who as a teenager danced at Aloha Tower on Boat Days and who traveled around the world performing the hula and making friends.
What is different about these fans is their devotion. When Aloha Tower management eliminated Tseu's position as cultural adviser and cut down on the number of hula shows, the men called it an injustice and started a petition. Tseu said she was grateful, but asked them to stop, saying she didn't want to start a fight.
But the guys are persistent, pointing to the bronze statue of a hula dancer at the base of the Aloha Tower. "That's Iwalani," says Bambi. "She is Aloha Tower. She is aloha."
Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Her e-mail address is lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.
