Posted at 9:48 a.m., Friday, September 14, 2007
Halau to present 'Kahekili' Oct. 13 on Maui
Advertiser Staff
Maui kumu hula Hokulani Holt-Padilla's Halau Pau O Hiiaka, which drew raves in a hula, chant and Hawaiian history performance Sept. 7 in Joyce Theater's River to River Festival in Battery Park in New York, will share its artistry at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Maui Arts Cultural Center's Castle Theatre.
The hula drama, "Kahekili," was included in the presentation, one of 14 projects chosen nationally with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, which was part of a nation-wide American Dance Masterpieces initiative. The Maui performance will be the local premiere.
The performance of hula kahiko, or traditional hula, was likely the first experience for the throng of 1,500.
"The dances...carried plenty of cultural information that stays in the mind," said critic Alastair Macauley of The New York Times, in a review. "The sheer breadth of [the] program is a pleasure in itself, a lesson in the range of American dance."
Said Holt: "It was extremely rewarding to see everyone so enthusiastic about our presentation. We were proud to represent Maui and to be able to take the story of Kahekili to New York."
