TIP-OFF
Hula show celebrates birth of fire goddess

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

"Hanau Ka Moku (An Island is Born)," a ground-breaking theatrical hula production celebrating the birth of Pele the fire goddess, will have its world premiere at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center's Castle Theater.

The Hawaiian dance drama, a collaboration among the Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation of the Big Island, Tau Dance Theatre of O'ahu and the MACC, blends traditional Hawaiian hula and chant with modern dance. It celebrates Pele and the cycles of creation. The story of creation, depicted in dance, tracks the birth of Lo'ihi, the undersea island forming off the Big Island.

The event brings together the vision and genius of two pre-eminent dance organizations, Halau O Kekuhi, led by kumu hula Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele and Nalani Kanaka'ole; and Tau Dance Theatre, led by founder-artistic director Peter Rockford-Espiritu.

The halau will feature new chants and dances befitting the traditional lore, with a contemporary interpretation by the Tau ensemble. The melding of traditional Hawaiian song and dance with the modern is in the spirit of the production's theme of creation and rebirth.

The endeavor has the support from a number of corporate sources, including the Doris Duke Fund for Dance of the National Dance Project, a program administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts with money from the National Endowment for the Arts; the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Philip Morris Cos. Inc.; Baciu Fund of the Hawai'i Community Foundation; Cooke Foundation Ltd.; The Charles Engelhard Foundation; Jeannie Rowles; Atherton Family Foundation; and Xerox Corp.

Tickets: $50, $35, $20, $10, half-price for keiki 12 and younger, on sale at the MACC box office.

Reservations: (808) 242-7469.