(Static) Hoakalei Kamauʻu: The kumu hula is a teacher that love what she's doing.

(Instrumental music) Hoakalei Kamauʻu: So it goes right back to you, yourself.

Being it's a hula, then you must have that love within your heart for the dance itself, before you can really teach it out to anyone.

(Static) (Instrumental music) Narrator: Through generations beyond memory, the Hawaiian dance known as hula has been passed from teacher to student.

Eye to mind, hand to body, voice to heart.

Guardians of the culture long before written language, the kumu hula of today continue to pass on vast quantities of specialized knowledge to their haumana or students.

The precise use of language, dress and costume, voice, movement and music, scholarship of geography names and places, plants and poetry.

Dancing the history and stories of Hawaiʻi nei.

How does the teacher infuse this legacy in the bodies, minds and hearts of students for generations to come?

And what are the educational, the spiritual, the personal paths traveled to earn the title of kumu hula?

This is where our conversation begins.

(Conch shell blows) (Chanting: A e ho`opuka e ka la ma ka hikina e) Nathan Napoka 03:13 Formally dancing Hula, I started when I came back from college in 1972 with Hoakalei Kamauʻu.

(Chanting: Me ke alo kapu o ka aiwaiwa) Hoakalei Kamauʻu: Actually, I give credit to Kawena Pukui because it is she that told my aunt it's about time you train one of your own in the hula and that's when ʻIolani started.

At first everything was done at home.

(Chanting: Mai ka puana ʻeā no Hiʻiaka nō he inoa ea.

Haʻina) When I talk about ʻIolani, actually ʻIolani Luahine.

She's the youngest sister of my mother and so she was my aunt.

And when we started was with the basics.

When I first started, I never knew the steps, the name of it at all.

And you could see the difference because it was vamp, but when I came with ʻIolani, it's kaholo.

You have the hela, we have the ʻuwere.

She says you have to learn the real dance terminology of it.

She was a wonderful teacher.

Yet she was strict in the way that she wants you to know, that you didn't just play around.

If it's time to dance, you dance.

There's time to play, you play.

Nathan Napoka 04:43 And there's no way around it.

You sit down and you memorize 50 or 60 lines of a chant or whatever it is and you can't rely on anyone else.

If she's looking at you and you have an ipu in your hand and she says go.

And early days of hula what really struck me was that there's a lot of discipline in the hula.

And it's mental discipline and physical discipline, not only physical discipline.

Pat Namaka Bacon: I was adopted into a Hawaiian-Caucasian family when I was eight weeks old (Chanting: Kaulana e ka holo a ka 'Iwalani) Pat Namaka Bacon: As result, in the family that I was raised in, the dance hula was done quite often.

(Chanting: Wailana...ka manaʻo) Pat Namaka Bacon: And I was about 13,14 around there, when I started my really formal training with the Keahi Luahine.

So I was the dancer and Kawena Pukui, who in whose family I was adopted, was the hoʻopaʻa.

So we were like a team.

So we went to Keahi Luahine and trained with her for about two years.

Vicky Holt Takamine: And so maybe around the age of 11 or 12, I started formal lessons with Maʻiki Aiu Lake.

She taught me everything that I know about hula.

And it's been responsible for my training and my formative years as far as all ʻōlapa.

My first introduction to Auntie Maʻiki was - all we did was sit and write.

She wrote down words on the board, she talked about the language and she explained to us the meaning of those words.

And we talked about terminology as far as hula is concerned.

And that was our first introduction to hula, that and to me, the importance of that aspect was that hula is very much tied to the language.

Pat Namaka Bacon: I had to do the same dance for months and then when she said, Well, that's fine.

We had another one.

But we did the first one and then we went to the second one.

But now that I've grown older, things that I haven't done a long time if I sit and think it does come back because by doing it over and over and over some wheres in your brain it’s stored.

Robert Cazimero: My teacher was Maʻiki Aiu Lake.

Her teacher was Lōkālia Montgomery.

When I was going to start my formal training I had no idea that I was starting my hula formal training.

I just knew that I have to show up at this class with an ipu.

Ala and I, that’s my hula sister Leinaʻala Heine Kalama, and so I just went to this Friday night class.

We would sometimes get to class late and the door is always closed see and you had to chant to get in.

Well we used to pound on the door, Ala and I, and no one would answer so we would chant and of course we didn't speak the language at the time, you know, we didn't know any of the oli komos and stuff like that, so we're out there going, “Open the door, open the door” and Maʻiki would come and open the door and say, “Just get in here right now, just get in.” You know.

So we were, we were a very experimental class.

We were pretty much the first ʻūniki class from her school so basically we got away with murder, me and Ala, we got away with murder.

Narrator E kuhikuhi pono i na au iki a me na au nui o ka ‘ike Robert Cazimero: Manu Boyd was Charles when he came to my hālau.

And he was, uhh, he was tall (Laughs) I remember Manu being really tall and took a long time to get into the groove of things.

I don't suppose that I help any by, by, by yelling at him so much.

Manu Boyd As a novice student beginning at that the age of 15, I think what our teacher did for us was establish a set, a foundation.

And the foundation is not only a dance foundation, but also a foundation of values.

Specifically, we learn footwork to begin with.

You start from the bottom and work your way up.

You learn what the foot movements or what we call the kaʻina wāwae.

What are they called.

You're doing a hela, you're doing a kaholo, that sort of thing.

You learn how the body moves.

Holoua Stender: Keliʻi Tauʻa - my last formal teacher of Hawaiian, hula and oli was a very, very spiritual teacher.

Each teacher, like I said, was different.

Keliʻi Tauʻā: When I first started a hālau I always practiced in the outdoors.

I wanted to be close to nature.

Because to me, all the poetry of hula has to do with, with the elements surrounding us.

Holoua Stender: Keliʻi, to me, was a very spiritual man.

When he taught us - much of the lessons would focus on spirituality, on how one felt, on mana, on feeling the dance.

Many times he would come up to me and he would just hug me and try to, I think, infuse some of his mana into me because he, he told me, “You're so meticulous about your dancing, I just want you to feel your dancing, just.” So he would just hug me and hold me for a little while and say, “Okay, now try dance this again.” Keliʻi Tauʻā: I tried to go to that location so that I didn't have to create a picture.

It say, look, they looked and I said, “This is why our kupuna taught us why, how to hold that motion, you can look right, right in front of you.” Holoua Stender: I believe that culture can be lost very easily actually.

You know, if there's not a transference of specific ideas, specific beliefs.

Now, there's a very, very different kind of learning that goes on when you have to read about something as opposed to when something is passed from word of mouth, from someone that you love, from someone that you respect.

When things are passed, that way you hold on to it, you treasure it, and then knowingly or unknowingly, you pass it on, again, to someone else whom you love, or maybe someone who, who is in your class, but those are the things that are passed from generation to generation.

Nathan Napoka: And I think a big part of what I learned being around some of these old timers was I got some of their spirit inside of me.

And I think they were purposely there with me to touch me, and to love me and to open their hearts to me, because they were giving me a part of themselves so that when they died, it would live on.

And you don't get that from a video.

I'm not trying to put anyone down, I'm just saying our culture was meant to be human beings touching human beings and spirits touching spirits.

So I hope that we don't completely go to a point where we're just learning from videos.

(Haʻina...ku iwa) (Laughing, clapping) Narrator: Mai kāpae i ke a‘o a ka makua, aia he ola malaila.

Hoakalei Hina Kamauoha: I have always wanted to be just like my mom, exactly like her.

And I recognized her as a kumu hula when I was a teenager.

Before that, she was just my mom teaching hula.

But around my junior/senior year in high school, that's when I recognized that she is somebody important and our lineage of hula, in which she possesses within her, it's going to be part of mine now.

Hoakalei Kamauʻu: I would say about eight, nine years old when she really got serious in learning.

And that way she was able to pick up.

But starting with the same thing, the fundamentals.

The same way I learned is the same way that I'm teaching.

Hoakalei Hina Kamauoha: By the time I got to nine or 10, I wanted to know what was going on in there, you know, I kept hearing it over and over again.

So I'd go in, and I’d imitate her, I’d play the ipu, you know, and I’d kind of point and say, “Oh, you do this and you do that.” You know, I’d totally imitate her.

Lono Aʻa Holoua Stender: I would say that the most difficult thing for me in my training that I've experienced, is performing under the intense scrutiny of my father and teacher.

Because if something is wrong, then I'll get blamed more so than anyone else would, or my sister, for that matter.

So I think that being a student of my parent, is really, really hard for me and anyone else who's ever dance for their parent or a close relative.

Kawena Stender: Having my father as my teacher, it's really hard because he plays two different roles.

At times he needs to be my teacher, when, you know, I need a father around.

Holoua Stender: It's not easy to teach your own children in a formal situation with many, many students right alongside because what you have to do is you have to take off your papa hat, and you have to treat them just like they're another student who you don't know.

And as soon as the class is over, then you have to reestablish the ties being father and child again.

I think it was really more, much more difficult years ago when they were first in class because you know, they would be looking at me and smiling sincerely look at me right over here and I sort of have to ignore them, you know, and it's like, “Why are you ignoring me?” Jeffrey Kānekaiwilani Takamine: I put up a certain kind of pressure on myself, because I don't want to do anything that would shame my mom.

Everybody automatically assumes that I know everything because I'm the son of a kumu hula.

But it's not that much different than being one of her students.

I mean, sure, I'm going to learn things from everyday life living with her.

But that just because I'm the son of a kumu hula doesn't mean that I'm going to know everything that she does.

Vicky Holt Takamine: It is very difficult teaching your own son.

Sometimes you, I expect more out of him than I do any of my other students.

I expected to be on top of things, because he's my son.

I expect him not to be late.

I expect him not to forget his things.

Hoakalei Hina Kamauoha: It's frustrating.

It's very frustrating to, to teach her something and just see her nonchalantly blow it off.

Kalai Kamauoha: Well, to become a kuma hula from now, I'm gonna have to really get into dancing the hula because right now I wouldn't say that I'm advanced.

I'm still learning about the different dances and what it means.

Hoakalei Hina Kamauoha: Kalai, she's very special.

This girl when she was young, she just loved the hula.

I see the twinkle in her eyes when she was two years old when she saw me dancing, and she'd copy me.

Kalai Kamauoha: I know, it's gonna be a different feeling being the kumu hula.

I'm hoping I don't stress out because it really makes like, well, for me, when they stress out, it makes me feel really uncomfortable.

I mean, I wish they would just like, settle back a little or something.

Just say take a chill pill.

Just relax.

But then I know that I'm probably going to stress out so I guess I can't say anything.

Jeffrey Kānekaiwilani Takamine: It's kind of a bond that I have with my mom.

It's, it's strange at times because she brings things from home, things from my personal life into the class.

And it's weird.

It's...sometimes I don't agree with it.

But it's hard to because when we disagree, it's like everybody's like, around this is like, whoa, relax.

Vicky Holt Takamine: He can wrinkle his eyebrow and look at me like you're gonna do what?

So he will question me where nobody else will.

I'm the kumu hula whatever she says is fine with us.

She's the kumu.

She makes the final decisions.

Not Jeffrey.

What?

He's the first one to react to something that he doesn't think is.

You know, I don't know about that Ma.

You know, you're going to do what?

We're going to wear what?

So at times, it can be very uncomfortable having your son in your class.

We're very close.

And I love him dearly.

But sometimes, you know, he just kind of raises your eyebrows.

Jeffrey Kānekaiwilani Takamine: We share that bond inside of class and outside of class.

I think it brings us a lot closer to spend so much time together.

Hoakalei Hina Kamauoha: So what I've got to do now is take this dance, make it mine.

Although Aunty ʻIo danced it, my mom danced it or chanted for Aunty ʻIo, I've got to make it mine.

I'm not here to replace Aunty ʻIo, replace my mom.

I just want to carry on the lineage.

(He inoa no Hiʻiakaikapoliopele) E hana mua a pa‘a ke kahua mamua o ke a‘o ana aku ia ha‘i.

Manu Boyd 18:24 When my kumu Robert Cazimero started teaching hula after his ʻūniki, he was even younger than I was, I think, when I went through my ʻūniki.

But from the stories that he shared with us in the hālau you know, Robert was always considered the punahele of Aunty Maʻiki Aiu - that means a favorite Robert Cazimero: When I started when I was 25, I mean, my students were like 15,16 years old.

It's a 10 year difference, but it's still not that much.

And so it was real difficult for me because I was trying so hard to pretend that I knew exactly what it was I was doing.

Manu Boyd 18:59 When I began class in 1978 as a 15 year old high school student, I really felt that I was yelled at more than I was taught because we were it was just kind of a way to, you know, to make a lot of noise to perhaps cover up lack of experience.

Robert Cazimero: I thought that was the right way to make them listen.

And so I would like you to place the fear of kumu in their beings so that they would pay attention.

Manu Boyd: There are a lot of young teachers today.

And there's a lot of there are a lot of talented teachers today.

But there is no substitute for for experience.

And I think our teacher has really come full circle in that area today in class.

He's very, very understanding.

Very mellow.

Robert Cazimero: But maybe when you're that young, you know you're allowed some years of stupidity.

And hopefully what will happen is you will learn from those lessons to make yourself become a better person.

I'm a much nicer person than I was in 1975.

I'm much more patient.

I’m understanding to a fault sometimes.

But it's just the way that I've decided to go.

Manu Boyd 20:12 He is very knowledgeable.

He's very creative yet his roots in tradition are so strong and he's more traditional today, I think, than he's ever been before.

E lawe i ke a‘o a mālama, a e ʻoi mau ka na‘auao.

E O oe ia e Wailua-iki E ka la ulu pali oli Ua hele Li`a Vicky Holt Takamine: I think I can tell when a student is prepared to become a kumu hula, because they have something inside them.

That speaks out to you, Pat Namaka Bacon: Your Kumu will tell you whether you can teach or you cannot.

Whether they feel that you are ready to or not.

You don't take it upon yourself.

Just because I learned the stance, I can just go ahead and do it and teach it to you there.

You have to have the permission of your teacher, there's always this respect between the pupil and the teacher.

Group chanting: Ai e Robert Cazimero: ʻŪniki is like a graduation, puka is really the name for it too, but you're graduating as a teacher.

Manu Boyd 21:32 We understand the term ʻūniki to derive from the word niki, which in Hawaiian means to tie.

And what that ʻūniki ceremony does is it is ceremonially binds the knowledge that you have received from your teacher to you.

Vicky Holt Takamine: I need to know that they are going to be responsible for all of the knowledge that has been passed down to me by my teacher, and that they are going to be teaching in a manner that is responsible to my ancestors, to the Hawaiian community that went before us.

And to retain the traditions of hula.

Nathan Napoka 22:12 There are different ways that Hawaiians approach traditional knowledge.

Some people stay for a long time with a hula teacher, a lifetime, and we're passed the traditional knowledge.

And then today, we have schools where people set up for certain periods of time, and then they're graduated.

And they have this quote unquote, title that they can put on their name.

I feel that kumu hula today has a different title than it did probably in the old days.

And as long as you understand that, it's fine.

Hoakalei Kamauʻu: I can't just look at someone who says that's a kumu, unless I have taught them.

Then I would know, because each hālau teaches differently.

Nathan Napoka 22:53 Hoakalei was never really graduated in the traditional way that Aunty ʻIo was graduated with an altar and with the gods.

In that she was not graduated that way, her students weren't graduated that way.

Hoakalei Kamauʻu: But not to say you have to ʻūniki - that was never taught with the ʻIolani.

I says, today, I'm still learning.

We never stop learning.

There's always something new.

Vicky Holt Takamine: The formal graduation ceremony for kumu hula, ʻōlapa, and hoʻopaʻa is an ʻūniki ritual.

And that particular ritual includes purification, cleansing at the ocean, in the ocean, or a sprinkling of Hawaiian salt water, and meditation.

A kapu of silence.

It would include fasting and the ʻailolo ceremony, which is a ritual feast of a pure black pig that's cooked in an imu - no part of it raw, no part of it overcooked.

And graduates take part of all parts of that pig, that entire pig has to be eaten at that one sitting Keliʻi Tauʻā: For me, the arriving moment was to do a formal ceremony and be able to look at working by yourself and getting students to work to the level that you feel your kumus would accept.

And then calling your kumus to come in and get their acceptance.

And when you get their acceptance then you can say all right, you've arrived.

(Patting on drums) Hoakalei Hina Kamauoha: There's an 'ōlelo no'eau that says ʻAʻohe pau ke ʻike ka hālau hoʻokahi – all knowledge does not come from one school.

If they can understand that, you know, the different hālaus throughout the islands, there is no right, there is no wrong.

We are just keepers of our culture.

One Dance from Molokaʻi might be different from a dance from Kauaʻi.

So all of us doing the same dance, we're just keepers.

We’re just showing a version of a hula.

And so you know, I hope they can sit back and appreciate one another instead of sit back and criticize.

Robert Cazimero: When this is over when this life is over, and when they talk about me, in the hula world, this is not in the singing world now, this is just in the hula world, I would like them to say that he was a student of Maʻiki Aiu Lake.

That's enough.

Nathan Napoka 25:52 I think the strongest message that hula has in terms of how knowledge is passed in a Hawaiian mind is for Hawaiian person - in order to learn from someone - you have to have a bond of love.

And you have to love your teacher.

And you have to know your teacher loves and cares about you.

And I think that transcends just Hawaiian culture, but I know for Hawaiian students and in hula, especially, it's very important.

Manu Boyd: I try to think of this as two or three or four generations beyond me.

Am I trying to perpetuate Manu Boyd?

Or am I trying to perpetuate an age old tradition that I that I'm just a conduit for that was received from Keahi Luahine and Kawena Pukuʻi and Lokalia Montgomery and Maʻiki Aiu Lake, Robert Cazimero, Manu Boyd and who knows who's next.

Vicky Holt Takamine: I've always told my students that if anything, I wanted to leave cement blocks in the sand rather than footsteps in the sand.

And so I'm hoping that my legacy to them or the gift that I would like to leave them is that they have a love and an appreciation for my ancestors, my teachers and for the, for the hula.

That they'll learn to appreciate it and love it the way that I do.

(Instrumental music) Hoakalei Kamauʻu: So it goes right back to you yourself.

Being it's a hula then you must have that love within your heart for the dance itself before you can really teach it up to anyone.

(Film reel noise) (Instrumental music)