Getting there is half the dance

By Wanda A. Adams
Assistant Features Editor

Competitor Natasha Mahealani Akau, 21, of Kaimuki, rehearses her kahiko entry. On the floor are lines of twine to help her keep her position. Photos by Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

The preparation is a collaborative affair: Akau confers with last year's winner, Jennifer Kehaulani Oyama, left; chanter Lopaka Igarta-DeVera; and kumu hula William "Sonny" Ching of Halau Na Mamo 'O Pu'uanahulu, right.

Merrie Monarch festival on TV At 6 nightly, tonight through Saturday, KITV Tonight: Miss Aloha Hula is named Tomorrow: Group kahiko (traditional) Saturday: Group 'auana (modern) and winners are named On the Web Streaming video: thehawaiichannel.com Daily reports: Wanda Adams' Merrie Monarch diary.

But there's one big difference between this and most other individual competitive endeavors: You can't do it alone.

You must be a member of a competing halau. And you can't limit your participation to the solo competition; every entrant also dances both the kahiko (traditional) and 'auana (modern) numbers with her group.

Even within the halau, you can't "run" for the honor.

Miss Aloha Hula 2003 Jennifer Kehaulani Oyama and her hula sister in Halau Na Mamo O Pu'uanahulu, Natasha Mahealani Akau, laugh uproariously at the thought of bringing the subject up with kumu hula Sonny Ching. "No, no! You don't know until Kumu says," Akau said.

Ching picks his candidates in advance in groups of three, because the halau enters for three years and then takes a year off. But Akau wasn't sure of her future until the Saturday night of last year's competition, when Ching said during a celebration backstage, "You know I'm going to run you next year, right?"

She did have a clue. For one thing, Oyama begged her not to cut her hair; a Miss Aloha Hula traditionally has hair she can sit on. "Jen kept telling me it would happen but you don't know," Akau said.

Buzzing about it, however, is a spectator sport in every halau.

"It's a very Hawaiian thing, all kind of hush-hush," says TeHani Gonzado, Miss Aloha Hula 2000, who is interviewing the candidates for KITV this evening. "You can't even ask if you're being considered. You have to wait and hope."

Gonzado came in for some backbiting when she ran after it was rumored she switched halau to position herself as a Miss Aloha Hula candidate — bad form, because it's all up to Kumu.

Teachers make every significant decision with regard to their Miss Aloha Hula candidates. Within the Hawaiian context, the student is seen as a receptacle into which the teacher's knowledge is poured until they are formally freed. A properly humble and spiritually aligned teacher is believed to have been given special gifts of discernment.

"I don't really choose them; they choose themselves by how they mature," said Mapuana de Silva of Halau Mohala 'Ilima. "They start to grow into their readiness, and then it's my job to notice it and my job to encourage it, and sort of in some ways to test it."

Some kumu don't do competition, and some don't enter Miss Aloha Hula. Others take a break every so often. Kumu hula Aloha Dalire of Keolalaulani Halau 'Olapa 'O Laka, who was the first Miss Aloha Hula in 1971 and who has two daughters who have earned the title, isn't putting forward a candidate this year because she's focusing on her kane (men's) group.

Kumu pick the songs, the costume and adornments.

"I do believe that a good dancer can bring any song to life, but I try to select a mele that I believe reflects the spirit of that dancer, a mele that best showcases the soul and the skills of the dancer," Ching said. "If I gave Tasha Jen's dances, she could do them and she could do them well, but they wouldn't be right for her."

This comes in part from knowing the dancers very well.

Ching has been teaching twentysomethings Oyama, Akau and future Miss Aloha Hula candidate Maile Francisco, the third member of the "three monkeys," since they were in grade school.

Said de Silva, "In our halau, it takes a lot of time, of getting to know the person. A dancer can't come in and in two years expect to be selected."

Kumu hula say many dancers have the skill to perform a solo. But few have everything it takes to aspire to Miss Aloha Hula.

"They have to have that desire and that spark, and not only the physical part but the spiritual part. There is something that just separates them from the rest of the line," said Ching.

De Silva looks for a young woman who is mature enough to go through all that being Miss Aloha Hula entails and remain unchanged by it — or at least be changed in a way that only makes her more sure of herself. She selects college-age candidates only.

Much commitment is involved. Akau spent weeks researching her genealogy to provide Ching with ideas for mele or place-names with which she has a family connection. She put aside her pre-med studies at Hawai'i Pacific University and spent eight hours a day, six days a week rehearsing in recent months. Oyama works with her every evening.

Miss Aloha Hula candidates routinely lose boyfriends or fiancés because of the single-minded focus the girls must have. Oyama did. "You have so little time together — there are misunderstandings, miscommunications," Oyama said.

"Oh, yes," said Dalire. "That is one big obstacle, that boyfriend thing. It depends on how much you want it, how hard are you going to work and what you are willing to give up."

Dalire prowls the back of the class, watching her prospective candidates for that elusive something. "It's an overall look, the sincerity of the dancer, how much focus she has on the hula itself, how she works with others," the kumu said. "You've got to take everything into consideration."

One part of this mysterious something is an overriding love of the dance. All the Miss Aloha Hula winners talked of watching hula as children and longing to be on stage, of feeling beyond beautiful when they lose themselves in the dance.

"In every Miss Aloha Hula, you see it," says Gonzado. "Hula is their lives."

This is especially true now, when the visibility and stature of Miss Aloha Hula has risen considerably.

When Dalire competed in 1971, the girls performed only one number, choosing between kahiko and 'auana. You did your dance, then you faded back into the line until it was time to do your aloha dance next year.

In contrast, Ching said he didn't anticipate what having a Miss Aloha Hula would entail. He joked with her that he'd have to start charging an agent's fee because the halau got so many calls for her. She appeared in TV and radio commercials, traveled and danced with many Hawaiian music groups of consequence.

Oyama is grateful for all the experiences. Most significant for her was the chance to get to know the author of her 'auana number, "Ka Manu Kikaha 'Olu," Chad Takatsugi of the group Ale'a — to be able to discuss it with him and better understand what was in his mind when he wrote the song about a hula dancer who is like a gliding bird. "It's just an honor to be in the presence of the composer. That is the kind of thing that wouldn't have happened to me without this," she said.

Kumu hula say they seek the sort of person who cares for her hula brothers and sisters and doesn't put herself forward except when the work is being passed out. And yet all say that the dancer must have a fierce passion, a strong sense of her own abilities.

Oyama certainly agrees. Her advice to her hula sister is firm: "I tell her it's her stage for those seven minutes. It's not the kumu's. It's not the musicians'. It's hers. She's got to demand the audience's attention: 'Don't look at your program. Don't talk to your friends. Don't eat your food. Don't go to the bathroom. All eyes on me.'

"You have to be that confident, you have to think, 'I am the best thing in the world today.' Nobody has to know you're thinking it, and you better not act like that after, but that's what you have to believe."

Hula-watching

What's happening tonight? Eleven Miss Aloha Hula contestants perform in two divisions — kahiko (traditional) then, after intermission, 'auana (modern). Performances may not exceed 7 minutes each. While ballots are tallied, Miss Aloha Hula 2003 Jennifer Kehaulani Oyama performs her aloha number. Prize-giving follows.

Keep your eyes on ... the feet, knees and hips. Do the dancer's feet remain flat to the floor, or does she lift them gracefully, accentuating the arch? These represent two distinct hula schools and, to some degree, different periods (generally flat-footed for kahiko, more lift allowed for 'auana). Notice the knees: They should be bent at all times; how deeply is a function of style, expression and step. Make note of the hips: When a dancer's feet are properly planted, and knees properly bent, the hip sway is naturally accentuated as the weight is shifted from foot to foot, sending skirts swishing.

Listen. The dancers' chanting voice should carry clearly through the stage area. The judges are listening for properly pronounced Hawaiian, and for phrasing and delivery that indicate a real understanding, not just phonetic memorization. There's a special prize for language.

Watch her face. The dancer should appear relaxed and confident and connected with the theme and mood of her dance — not merely smiling and projecting but expressing the spirit and meaning of the 'oli (chant) or mele (song).

Even keel. The dancer should maintain the same horizontal spatial relationship throughout — head, hips, knees and feet moving through roughly the same side-to-side space without bobbing up and down, unless a crouch or stretch is choreographed in the dance.

Well armed. In kahiko, movements of both feet and arms tend to be more forceful, abrupt and unembellished; hands are more flat. In 'auana, arms should be pliant and graceful with a slightly bent elbow; fingers are fluid.

What to wear. Kumu plan carefully and judges take note of whether the costume and adornments are correctly in period (for kahiko, especially) and speak to the subject of the dance. Costume should not interfere with dance movements or steal attention from the dance.