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Video of Pa Kamakani - danced on the Volcano Pa Hula (Hula mound), April 2010.
Photos of Becky Leilaloha Jung, in Memorium, music background "A part of me, a part of you," by Moe Keale.
Video of hula performance at the Box, Lincoln Center, NYC, September 14, 2011.
VOLCANO TRIP A SUCCESS!
Sixteen Halau i Ka Pono hula haumana (students) from NYC and Chicago prepared extensively and then traveled across land and sea to the Big Island of Hawaii to dance on the Volcano Pa Hula (hula mound) on April 4, 2010. It was a pilgrimage that only hula devotees can really understand for it wasn’t about going to Hawaii to tan on the beach with a mai tai in your hand.
It was about getting in tune with the ‘aina (land) and all its myriad forms. From the very hot and dry lava-scape of Kona and the west side of the island we went up to the refreshingly cool (cold and very windy when we were there) Waimea at the foot of Mauna Kea. We met and danced with our hula brothers and sisters at Halau Hula Ka No’eau. The next day we visited Imiola Church and saw where Lorenzo Lyons is buried. We sang his mele, Hawaii Aloha with gusto, in the beautiful all koa wood church with Kahu Dean Kauka.
We then transitioned to the gentle Hamakua Coastline making a stop at Hale Ho’ola long term nursing care facility to dance for the residents. It was a joy to be with the kupuna and mom! We had lunch at Jolene’s – delicious local style cuisine and then went to pay our respects to sacred Waipio Valley. We went up to Kalopa State Park to pick the lacy palapalai ferns for our performance. We would later fashion those ferns into lei po’o or head leis.
And then into the wet side of the island to Hilo for dinner at Miyo’s, a bustling Japanese restaurant overlooking Wailoa State Park and the river. It was dark by the time we headed up to Volcano to find our home for the next four days as we prepared in earnest for our performance on the Pa Hula.
The next day, we traveled to Haena on the Shipman Estate to walk the ‘aina where Hi’iaka and Hopoe danced. The beach is beautiful beyond words. Chanters and dancers went to Haena to be inspired. To feel the trade winds there and smell the healing ocean air, and to dance the hulas that were danced there by these two famous Hawaiians is to touch something very deep, joyful and wise.
Needless to say, the time flew by and too soon, we had to head back to Volcano to continue our preparations for the performance. But not before dinner at Caren Loebel-Fried’s home. Her house is set in the volcano forest with ohia lehua trees all around. Inside the house, her beautiful block prints are lovingly set on the walls all around. It’s a wonderful statement of this woman’s artistry and creativity.
Our work was not done for the day for we still had to make head leis after dinner. Thanks to the kokua of Kumu Hula Maile Yamanaka, who had picked lots of hydrangeas, ferns and some ohia lehua for us, we were set with greens. So we set to work fashioning our lei po’o before bed.
The next day, we went to the Pa Hula to malama/help to clean it. With a great deal of respect, we worked hard weeding, stripping dead brown or yellowed leaves from the ti plants. We carefully tied the leaves into small bundles to put them around the foot of the ti plants as a kind of mulch. It felt so good to take care of this raised mound that was built specifically for hula. It was also a great teaching about the importance of also respecting and taking good care of all our hula things: our pa’u, our implements, our lei and most importantly, our very lives. There is no difference.
According to tradition, this was the spot where Lohiau was revived by the goddess Hi’iaka after he was killed by Pele. It is a place of renewal and a kind of redemption or rebirth. The whole area celebrates life and we clearly felt this joy on the mound dancing the hula. “You are the halau that traveled the farthest to dance on the Pa Hula,” said Marsha Hee, Volcano Art Center Program Coordinator.
It was an honor to have that distinction and well worth all of the tremendous effort it took to get there.
