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Rare form of hula to be performed on Oʻahu next month

Kumu Hula Māhealani Uchiyama, right, with The Conversationʻs Russell Subiono at Hawaiʻi Public Radio.
HPR
Kumu Hula Māhealani Uchiyama, right, with The Conversationʻs Russell Subiono at Hawaiʻi Public Radio.

Hula kiʻi — a rare form of hula not widely practiced today due to Western influence — is coming to the Honolulu Theatre for Youth next month.

The hula form features the use of carved or crafted images through storytelling and movements of hula.

Kumu Hula Māhealani Uchiyama will be showcasing this form with the performance of Wai Ola, ʻAukele and the Waters of Life, A Celebration of Hula Kiʻi.

"In our performance, we use the kiʻi not just as a storytelling function, but to become the character of the story — which, I mean, hula does that anyway, but it's again — just this extra level of dimension to have this kiʻi guide you into actually becoming one of the brothers of ʻAukele, or to have the kiʻi assume the persona of Mo‘oinanea, who is giving the direction to ʻAukele as to how he can survive this long voyage," Uchiyama, who leads the stage production, said.

Wai Ola — ʻAukele and the Waters of Life will be performed on July 20 and 21.
Māhealani Uchiyama
Wai Ola — ʻAukele and the Waters of Life will be performed on July 20 and 21.

Along with being a teacher, Uchiyama is an award-winning dancer, musician, author, and founder of the Center for International Dance in Berkeley. She was introduced to hula kiʻi when she was a student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

"I just fell in love with it," Uchiyama said. "There's something about, I don't consider them puppets so much as another form of hula that gives you a completely different way of expressing everything, and that there's different forms of the kiʻi."

The hula kiʻi will be performed at the Honolulu Theatre for Youth in Honolulu on July 20 and 21. To get tickets, click here.


This interview aired on The Conversation on June 26, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.

Born in Honolulu and raised on Hawaiʻi Island, Russell Subiono has spent the last decade working in local film, television and radio. He was previously the executive producer of The Conversation and host of HPR's This Is Our Hawaiʻi podcast. Contact him at rsubiono@hawaiipublicradio.org.
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