Dancing back from brink of beyond

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Kumu hula Leina'ala Kalama Heine rehearses with her Na Pualei O Likolehua halau for the Lei Day show with the Brothers Cazimero. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser Lei Day 7:30 p.m. Saturday; gates open at 5:30 p.m. for picnicking Waikiki Shell $15 and $25; free for kids under 10 (877) 750-4400 Featuring: The Brothers Cazimero, Leina'ala Heine Kalama and Na Pualei O Likolehua, Halau Na Kamalei

"I have a lot to be thankful for this year," she said of her return to the stage.

Heine, kumu hula of Na Pualei O Likolehua, had elective surgery for a hernia in November. A simple thing went awry.

"What should have been normal — in and out the same day — turned out to be a seven-hour thing, with complications," she said. "There was blockage top and bottom; I couldn't eat or drink, no passage. The doctors (at Kaiser Moanalua Medical Center) had to put me in a coma for 14 days, then went back in to work on me. When I came out of it, three and a half weeks later, the bad times had passed — but it was touch-and-go."

She danced with death — and luckily walked away.

"They say you go into a tunnel and see the light, and I did," said Heine, who credits prayer from fans, friends and strangers from Hawai'i and around the world that helped pull her through.

"My kids were really worried; they really thought I wouldn't make it through," she said. "But I would see that light ... and my four grandchildren."

She went through moments of blurry, fuzzy recollection. "And I have memories of 'aumakua (family or personal gods), the heavenly Father, even my ancestors all pulling me through," she said.

She learned along the way.

"When I was in a coma state, there were places I visited," she said. "And people I saw. But one of the greatest lessons learned during this time was that I was always worrying about people getting things right; I would, in my teaching, find fault. That's wrong; the lesson for me was not to pinpoint faults but find the rights to help people achieve and realize their goals."

Her life-threatening experience led her to alter her lifestyle.

"My weight was a factor, so my eating habits have changed," said Heine. "I also needed to change my lifestyle. There were signs of problems earlier, but I overlooked them."

Hospitalization contributed to a 72-pound weight loss; she gained some back after her release, and her net loss now is at 54 pounds.

"I was not eating, that's how I lost the weight," she said. "My doctor said if I didn't eat, I wouldn't gain my strength. No strength meant no more dance. So that did it."

Hula, she said has been therapeutic.

"Hula is my way of life, and I even walk in the hula fashion," she said.

And, it turned out, much of her physical therapy tapped the essence of her Hawaiian dance.

"All the things they told me to do in rehab, I do in (hula) teaching," said Heine. "One of the exercises was what we call aiha'a, to strengthen the inside thigh, knee and calf. And then we did kaholo, a side-by-side movement, to help with mobility and peripheral body movement, turns. I was so familiar with the exercises.

"I could have been the kumu at the rehab center, so I really thank God for giving me another chance."

Her worst moments: "Realizing how much we all take for granted. I used to cry often, about having to be wiped by someone after you go to the bathroom. And cleaned by somebody else, bathed by somebody else. I still cry, thinking about it. I now know I can't take anything for granted."

Coincidentally, she set May 1 as her "goal date ... the time I'd get back on stage," said Heine.

"But I went to Merrie Monarch (two weeks ago) and I should have stayed home, because sitting and watching was stressful, not comfortable. I mean, I loved the excitement, but the seats were not good for me. I still have stitches inside, and they're not healed like the stitches outside. I simply overtaxed myself."

But she's ready, willing and able.

"I am so ready now, I am so ready now," she rejoiced.

Ready to dance. Ready to cry. Ready to get back to her life of dance.

Reach Wayne Harada at 525-8067, wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, or fax 525-8055.

A string of festivities for the Lei Day weekend

Here are other Lei Day picks to kick off the month of May. Admission is free unless otherwise noted:

Fort Street Open Market offers "Fort Street Aloha — Wear a Lei and Give a Lei." From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, lei vendors will join the open-market vendors on Fort Street, between Merchant and Hotel streets. The open market is held 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. 554-8190.

Outrigger Reef on the Beach celebrates May Day over two days starting today at 9 a.m. with the arrival of the 90-year-old koa fishing canoe Hoaloha. Hawaiian cultural specialist Blaine Kia directs a welcome ceremony with hula, prayers, chants and songs. The canoe will then be carried into the hotel lobby for a permanent display. The next day, there's an all-day celebration, starting at 8 a.m. with an opening chant by Kia and a procession of the outgoing Lei Queen and princesses. Lei-contest entries will be on display 8 to 11 a.m., with contest winners announced at noon. The Honolulu Boy Choir performs 1 to 2 p.m., followed by a closing ceremony with Kia performing Hawaiian entertainment during a procession of the incoming Lei Queen and her court. (800) 688-7444.

The May Day Ho'ike is a spring benefit for the Friends of the Judiciary History Center's educational programs and activities. This year's event happens 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. today at Ali'iolani Hale. There will be a Hawaiian plate lunch from Ilima Catering and entertainment by Ku'ulei Jeffrey's halau. Tickets are $15. 539-4999.

All are invited to the city's 77th annual Lei Day Festival Saturday at Kapi'olani Park. From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. there will be food, lei and craft sales along with entertainment by the Royal Hawaiian Band, Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association and hula halau. The 2004 Lei Queen will be invested with her two princesses. Lei entries for the adult and teen lei contests will be received 7:30 to 9 a.m., with the lei exhibit open 1 to 5:30 p.m.; information, 692-5516. Those 12 and younger can enter the youth lei contest, with registration at 8:30 a.m.; information, 692-5114. The Lei Day celebration comes to a close at 9 a.m. Sunday when the lei are taken to the Royal Mausoleum and placed on the tombs of ali'i. 692-5118, 692-5751.