Lahaina hula paraders leaving mark in New York

By Robert M. Rees
Special to The Advertiser

While you can get an Aloha Burger at Big Nick's on New York's upper west side, or dine at Maui Tacos on lower Fifth Avenue, or even catch a glimpse of an Aloha banner sent by the students at Kealakehi Intermediate School in Hawai'i to the kids at the Chinese Baptist Church on West 72nd Street, the island of Manhattan is not known for displays of aloha.

Members of the Old Lahaina Luau hula troupe and Maui Mayor James Kimo Apana chatted with Al Roker on the "Today" show Tuesday morning in New York City. This is the second year the Maui dancers will be part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. KHNL . . . On TV Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, 7:10 a.m. today on KHNL-8 and KGMB-TV

The idea to take part in the Macy's parade came from Tim Moore, partner and financial officer in the Old Lahaina Luau, who attended the parade when he was growing up in upstate New York. It was his memories that prompted Tim to say to partner and marketing director Michael Moore — the two are not related — that it sure would be terrific if Old Lahaina Luau could take part in the parade. Michael, who prides himself on presenting what he calls the "cultural theater" of traditional Hawaiian hula, worked it out with Macy's, and last year Old Lahaina Luau's float and hula dancers appeared in the parade for the first time.

This year, the attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 created doubts about the already planned second appearance. Nevertheless, the four partners — Tim, Michael, creative director Robert Aquiar and operations chief Kevin Butler — decided to go ahead. Explains Michael, "Participating in the Macy's Parade ... is especially important now in light of the horrific events of Sept. 11."

Or, as 19-year-old Heather Balagso, a dancer from Lahaina, puts it, "We came because we're stronger than they think."

Float stored

Old Lahaina Luau's float, stored since last year in Hoboken, N.J., depicts a confetti-spewing volcano. Twenty-two dancers who perform hula, oli and mele accompany the float. All of this is expensive, and Michael estimates that Old Lahaina Luau's annual participation costs about $150,000. This covers the float, air and hotel for 22 dancers and 16 others, and a $600 stipend for each participant. The cost is exactly 10 times more than what Macy's spent for the entire first parade in 1924.

This year, the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Maui Visitors Bureau agreed to share the costs. As part of the coordinated effort, Old Lahaina Luau is featuring the HVCB's new slogan, "Live Aloha — Now More than Ever."

The contingent from Maui arrived in New York Sunday morning. Even after flying overnight from Maui to St. Louis, and then connecting to New York's LaGuardia, they arrived at the W Court Hotel on East 39th Street in high spirits. Not even the loss of luggage, including costumes and everything else except the hand-carried ipu, dampened their excitement.

Not sooner had they arrived that they ran off in all directions to experience New York. Some, like Maria-Flor Lopez, went shopping. A few went to Central Park. Charles Ka'upu, kumu hula from the Maui Nui halau, left with four others to eat soul food at Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem.

When the five walked into Sylvia's, sporting "Live Aloha" jackets, the delighted waitress shouted, "Hawai'i in house." The five enjoyed catfish, fried chicken and ribs, and the restaurant presented them with free bottles of Sylvia's barbeque sauce to take back to Maui. Said Ka'upu when he got back to the hotel, "You can find aloha anywhere you take it."

The luggage turned up safely, and Old Lahaina Luau arranged for an expedition of sorts for the group's first night. All 38 strolled up Park Avenue to Grand Central Station, discovering along the way that New York pedestrians don't so much as pause at a red light unless there is imminent danger.

Armed with subway tokens, the by-now-apprehensive contingent took the escalators down from the main lobby of Grand Central Station to catch the Lexington Avenue subway to Astor Place in the East Village. Everyone, even dancer Sione Puniani Pani, who was wearing slippers and no socks on a cold night, seemed to blend into New York's diversity.

However, the group's assimilation ended abruptly when the train left the 42nd Street station. The 38 from Maui, tripped up by their own inertia when their feet were dragged from beneath them by the train's sudden acceleration, stumbled backward en masse. This added to the general hilarity of the evening, and New Yorkers loved it.

The group had tickets to the Astor Place Theatre to see the Blue Man Group in "Tubes," a New York happening since 1991. One of the dancers from Maui, Kim Ann Young, was summoned onstage by the cast to participate in a zany skit, and she was a smash hit with the audience.

Pace hectic

The hectic pace continued. The next day, on a cold Monday morning, the dancers arrived at the WCBS television studio at 5:45 a.m. for an appearance on a local early-morning show. The costumed and freezing dancers ran from the heated bus to the studio, one of them psyching the others by exclaiming, "It isn't cold!"

The normally jaded TV crew at the huge studio loved the visitors, and applauded their every move. The show hosts, Lisa Hill and Michael Pomeranz, wore orchid leis.

Later in the day, Maui Mayor James Kimo Apana arrived to lend his support. When Apana pulled up outside the W Hotel, Jamie Lynn Lum Lang, accompanied by ukulele, performed a sidewalk hula called "Kuuhoa," originally a proposal of marriage but now a message of welcome.

The hula, followed by mele, stopped traffic and delighted pedestrians. A taxi driver, Robert Calero, pulled over to give a two-fisted shaka. Born in Brooklyn of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Calero explained, "I learned this in Hawai'i. They did it for me. Now I can give it back."

Apana, without a coat to ward off the cold, was touched, and said to the dancers, "You guys warm up the temperature."

This morning, about 3 million parade-goers and 65 million TV viewers experienced the same warmth that brought a smile to the face of New York City.