About 200 Kumu Hula, or Hula teachers, have now signed on to a statement declaring what hula is, and how to protect its future. The Huamakahikina Declaration on the Integrity, Stewardship and Protection of Hula was drafted at a congress of hula practitioners this past September. Two of them joined The Aloha Friday Conversation to walk us through some of the major ideas.
Esteemed community leader Kumu Hula Hōkūlani Holt has been director of Hawaiian programs at Maui Community College and was the first Cultural Programs Director at Maui Arts and Cultural Center. Holt opened her Halau Pāʻū O Hiʻiaka of Maui in 1976.
Cody Pueo Pata, an educator and cultural practitioner from Pukalani, is Kumu Hula of Ka Malama Mahilani on Maui, Oʻahu, and in Japan. A signatory to the Huamakahikina Declaration, Pata says the statement evolved after Kumu Hula across the state gathered in response to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Read the declaration in the box below or click here.
This interview aired on The Aloha Friday Conversation on Oct. 15, 2021.
