Dancer's determination results in unexpected honor

• Merrie Monarch Festival performance schedule

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

Malia Ann Kawailanamalie Petersen began preparing for her shining moment a year ago when she joined Hula Halau O Kamuela, under Paleka Mattos. Eugene Tanner The Honolulu Advertiser Malia Ann Kawailanamalie Petersen Age: 22 Family: Daughter of Linda and Craig Petersen, sister of Gavin, 25 Kumu hula: Paleka Leina'ala Mattos Education: University Laboratory School Employment: Dancer with Kilinahe and Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays Hula Show; part-time optometric assistant. Her cure for pre-Miss-Aloha-Hula jitters "I had Kilinahe playing for me, so I just pretended we were just performing at the Willows, or having a party."---Merrie Monarch Festival Hula Competition Group 'auana performances and awards 6 p.m., KITV4 Top finalists from Thursday night 1. Malia Ann Kawailanamalie Petersen (Hula Halau O Kamuela), 1,164 points 2. Kasie Puahala Kaleohano (Halau Ka Ua Kani Lehua), 1,141 points 3. Shelsea Lilia Makanoe Lindsey Ai (Halau Hula Olana), 1,132 points 4. Malia Hi'iakaikawenaokeao Stender (Ka Pa Hula O Kamehameha), 1,099 points 5. Mino'aka Demesillo (Halau Mohala 'Ilima) 1,085 points

And yet here's Linda Petersen, who one moment is sharing a breathless embrace with her daughter, Malia. The next, the proud mother of Miss Aloha Hula 2002 is being swept along with the whitewater rapids of the crowds departing the opening night of the Merrie Monarch Festival hula competition, hopeful that they'll eventually reunite.

"I don't know, I gave her a hug and she disappeared," said the Kalama Valley resident, explaining her predicament to yet another well-wisher who'd waylaid her.

Finally: There Malia is, thronged by still more people who want a moment with her. And because "hula has been her life," Mom, a one-time hula dancer, is willing to stand to one side for a little while longer.

The dancer began preparing in earnest for this moment a year ago, when she joined Hula Halau O Kamuela under Paleka Mattos. But she has also studied with kumu hula Sonny Ching, Olana Ai and Kaulana Kasparovitch.

"I've learned something new in each halau," Petersen said.

Mattos, whose school has won overall honors at the past two competitions, is "very talented," Petersen said, so being chosen to represent the halau came with a measure of pressure.

"I wasn't expecting it this year," she said. "But it was an honor."

Petersen held up her end by dancing seemingly nonstop. On each of the two days weekly when she wasn't at halau, she put in four hours of practice on her own.

All of these drills have been the painful but necessary therapy to recapture some of the skills lost when she took a break from formal training five years ago. Petersen, who has been dancing in various Waikiki venues since she was 15, said performing hula before a relentlessly forgiving tourist audience can leave a tarnish.

"I stopped dancing with Sonny (Ching), and when I danced only in Waikiki, I got sloppy," she said. "I knew I wanted to get my basics back again."

Petersen knew what it takes to win a competition, even though it had been a long time — 14 years — since her last shining moment as Miss Keiki Hula. Her father — a fire captain who during the Thursday night competition held down the homefront, and the "record" button on the VCR — figures his daughter isn't much for titles, anyway.

"She's not really that competitive," said Craig Petersen, back on duty yesterday at the Hawai'i Kai station. "She loves to dance, but she's not doing it to win."

It was a tough field of contenders, from which dear old Dad managed to pick out the top three finalists "in no particular order."

"And I've been a basketball referee for years, so even though it was my daughter, I've got to be able to sit on the fence."

His daughter did win, though (and the fence-sitter confessed to being unable to sleep for hours afterward), in large part because of her performance in kahiko, the ancient form of the dance. Her modern (hula 'auana) selection also was strong, an ode to the purplish 'a'ali'i blossoms she wore around her neck.

But her performance of the chant extolling the beauty of Queen Emma, a mele selected for her by Hawaiian linguist and songwriter Puakea Nogelmeier, also won her the Office of Hawaiian Affairs language award. Petersen only took two years of Hawaiian in high school and credits her teachers and coaches with helping her master the spoken elements of performance that are crucial in this event. One, she said, is Kama Hopkins, 'ukulele player in Kilinahe, the group that backed her up in 'auana and with whom she dances regularly.

Petersen is not sure yet where all this is going to lead.

"When I was younger, I wanted to be a kumu hula," she said. "But I don't know, it's a lot of work.

"For now, I want to continue dancing, And we'll see."

For now, there is more dancing to do for the Merrie Monarch. And Mom is still waiting for another hug.