In 2001, just before his Ka Pa Hula Hawai'i competed in the King Kamehameha Hula Festival, tying for second place in male kahiko, kumu hula John R. Kaha'i Topolinski announced he was leaving teaching for an indeterminate time.

He had been tempted to quit entirely, he said then, disillusioned by the directions modern hula seemed to be taking, saddened by the deaths of several hula students and "burned out."

But Topolinski is, and was, one of hula's best-known voices, a student of the legendary Auntie Maiki Aiu Lake in hula and of Mary Kawena Pukui in language and culture. Several people suggested he just take a break instead, among them his mother, Elizabeth "Sister" Leihala Renken Topolinski, who died in 2003 shortly after exacting a promise from her son that he would return to teaching.

For the past three years, he has been quietly coaching a quartet of advanced students, preparing them to 'uniki, or graduate, as kumu hula. "This will probably be my last formal graduating class," said Topolinski, 65, of the hand-picked group. "They can carry it on after that."

Now he is readying to accept beginning and intermediate students in Saturday classes to meet at Nu'uanu School. The classes are for men and women, 14 years and older, "anyone who has a desire to learn," he said — no restrictions, no tryouts. "I believe (knowledge of the hula) is a gift to be given to all who want it."

He recalled that his kumu, Auntie Maiki, said that Hawaiians should welcome anyone to learn about their culture because that breaks down walls.

But there are some walls that Topolinksi is adamant about not breaking down: those that guard traditions that he believes are not adequately understood, respected or carried on today. He has a particular concern about the status of male hula, which he believes has become too much softened. At the same time, he thinks female hula has become too rigid; he believes in soft hands, flowing lines.

It is one reason why he will shun competition with this latest incarnation of Ka Pa Hula Hawai'i: "I think competition strips away the heart and the essence of the hula. You're so busy grinding away at the lines that you lose the spirit, the beauty."

He will teach the basics of both 'olapa (hula with drum and gourd accompaniment, old-style) and 'auana (informal, modern-style) hula, but even the new-style will be the hula ku'i of the early 20th century — choreography set to songs that were often based on earlier chants. Classes will be conducted in a blend of English and Hawaiian and will extend beyond hula to language, craft and culture. There will be guest speakers, field trips to sites of place-name hulas and he'd like to take the group to Europe, when it's ready. He has a concern that international audiences are seeing an inauthentic hula.

Topolinski, a history teacher at Mililani High School by day, acknowledges that he has a reputation as a taskmaster and a disciplinarian. Beyond an interest in hula, he said, he is looking for "commitment and loyalty" — a view of the halau that reflects its traditional definition as not just a school but a house in which the students metaphorically live, their lives dedicated to hula. He grants that this is hard to find in our overly busy times full of distractions, but he would rather have fewer, but dedicated, students.

Reach Wanda A. Adams at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.