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14 Sunday, March 27, 2016 Hawaii Tribune-Herald FIRST PLACE King of Fabric 20 Years of Award-Winning Service Best Fabric Store Island’s best selection of Hawaiian prints, 100% cotton quilting prints and solids, home decor & fashion fabric by the yard. DISCOUNT FABRIC WAREHOUSE 933 Kanoelehua Ave. • Hilo • 935-1234 74-5605 Luhia St. • Kailua Kona • 326-7474 MON-SAT 9am-6pm • SUN 10am-4pm 2016 MERRIE MONARCH FESTIVAL # Voted 1 ZipLine Years In A Row!5 of Kaneohe, Oahu. She was first runner-up two years ago, when she danced for her grandmother’s Keolalaulani Halau ‘Olapa O Laka in Aloha Dalire’s final Merrie Monarch. “For me and Kili, it’s our second time. She wants to represent her grandma, and I want to represent my kumu. We’re both representing people who are very important to us,” De Sa said. De Sa said the pressure of competing for hula’s most coveted individual honor at the Merrie Monarch Festival’s golden jubilee was intense. “It was the 50th anniversary. Everybody wanted to win,” she said. “I believe that everything happens for a reason. That night, when my Mention “HULA” When you book your Zip For Special Hula Festival Savings! umauma falls & ZipLine e periencex make it two in a row, represented by ‘Aulani Kamea‘i‘omakamae Latorre-Holt. Another Miss Aloha Hula contestant who might be the oddson favorite is Ashley “Kili” Lai, who’s vying to become the only third-generation Miss Aloha Hula. She’s the granddaughter of the late, legendary kumu hula Aloha Dalire, the first Miss Hula, as the title was called then; daughter of Kapua Dalire-Moe, Miss Aloha Hula 1991; and niece of Kau‘i Dalire, Miss Aloha Hula 1992, and Keola Dalire, Miss Aloha Hula 1999. Lai is dancing for her mother’s Halau Ka Liko Pua O Kalaniakea March 24th - April 9th name didn’t get called, I was sad. I just had a lot of emotions going through me, but I specifically remember Uncle Johnny telling me to never mind crying because it wasn’t going for me. And that’s true, because if I didn’t win, it wasn’t my time. It was somebody else’s time. But I was grateful to have that experience. I thought it was going to be our last Merrie Monarch. Just to have that experience, representing Uncle Johnny Lum Ho at Miss Aloha Hula, was a big deal for me.” And this time? “I just want my dance to touch somebody in this room,” De Sa said in the stadium. “If it’s everybody, that’s good. If it’s just one person, then fine, so be it.” Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com. CHARM From page 12


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