Hawaii Tribune-Herald Sunday, March 27, 2016 29 of the halau, called Merrie Monarch President Luana Kawelu in October to say the halau wouldn’t be performing. “She said, ‘Don’t make that decision right now,’” Heine recalled. “Think about it, one month, two months, whatever it takes. She told me about her experience. She said, ‘My mom (Merrie Monarch co-founder Dorothy Thompson) passed away two weeks before the festival (in 2010). And I had to just step in and do it.’ She said bringing the halau for the 40th anniversary was a good thing, something we needed to do. She said, ‘Come celebrate your mom’s life and her legacy. Come share her hula.’ “And so I thought about it. I came to the girls and talked about it. I kind of knew I wanted to do it but I didn’t know how they felt. And they were in agreement. “It is our 40th anniversary this year, so my decision to take the halau is to celebrate our 40th and also to share her legacy is special. What makes it so special is my two sisters and my mom’s three grandchildren are back in the halau and dancing in the line.” The sisters she refers to are Auli‘i Hirahara and Heali‘i Heine. The legendary kumu’s grandchildren are: Maluhia Hirahara, Auli‘i’s daughter; Ke‘ala Heine, 2016 MERRIE MONARCH FESTIVAL the daughter of their brother, Kalama Heine; and Ko‘ala Matsuoka, the granddaughter of Ala’s sister, Rose Lum, but a hanai grandchild of the kumu. They’ll be part of a line of 35 dancers, the maximum allowed on the Merrie Monarch stage, ranging in age from 13, the youngest permitted under competition rules, to 55, the oldest allowed to dance in the competition. “How I’m choosing the line is excellence, and excellence is in the eyes of your kumu,” Heine said. “We’re going there to share my mother’s excellence in hula. If we win, we win, but I’m not concerned with that part of it. We’re there to share excellence and we’re there with aloha and love. And come what may, I told them, ‘You are a winner as long as you give it your best. And your best is 100 percent in my eyes, not in your eyes.’” The mele Na Pualei will perform for hula kahiko (ancient hula) Courtesy photo Na Pualei O Likolehua with the late kumu hula Leina‘ala Kalama Heine, center, at the 2015 Prince Lot Hula Festival in Moanalua, Oahu. Her daughter, kumu Niuli‘i Heine, is at left. HEAL From page 28 See HEAL Page 30
mm2016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above