The first night of group competition kicks off Friday night at the 60th Annual Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo. Many of the hula dancers taking the stage have pursued professional paths that are molded by and grounded in their love and commitment to hula.
Makawao native Uʻilani Tanigawa Lum never thought her decades of hula training would lead to a career in Native Hawaiian law.
“I think the stereotypical image folks have of lawyers or attorneys is downtown in a big firm, in the courtroom,” Lum said. “And so I’m kinda shy and so that never really resonated with me. So I get to use my law degree in communities and on ʻāina.”
Lum, 31, is an associate law professor at the University of Hawaiʻi William S. Richardson School of Law. She helps run the Native Hawaiian law clinic, where she teaches law students how to practice.
“So often we are frustrated with the way the law looks at and treats our culture,” Lum said. “Part of my job I see is articulating the importance of our practices, and how decisions or laws or policies will impact those practices.”
Lum started dancing for Maui’s Hālau Nā Lei Kaumaka O Uka under Kumu Hula Nāpua Greig when she was six years old. After starting UH law school in 2016, she would fly home every weekend to train for Merrie Monarch.
“Hula was a way to feel connected to home, and something that grounded us generally, you know, especially in a changing time,” Lum said. “And so we made that commitment to continue to commute to be able to dance with her and my hula sisters.”
Lum has since moved to Oʻahu. She’s married and a mother of 2-year-old Kuaola. She will not be joining her hula sisters on the Merrie Monarch stage tonight, but she has her own unique way of perpetuating the cultural practices taught to her in hālau.
“Native Hawaiian law is really an evolving body of law and so I get to inform it with my experiences as a hula practitioner,” Lum said. “And so thinking about carving out protections and spaces to not only protect our culture as it was but also advance it into the future.”
Merrie Monarch runs until April 15 on Hawaiʻi Island. | Full schedule | Streaming info
