Merrie Monarch: Feature on Kumu Hula Snowbird Bento

Ho'okani O' Snowbird

Nani wahine o' ka lani. (Beautiful woman of the sky)

Ikaika wahine o' ka makani. (Strong woman of the wind)

Lawe 'eheu, ho'i mai (Take wing, come back)

Ho'okani. Ho'okani! (Make sounds of music, sing!)

By Karen Welsh

Orginally Written in 2005 for the Hawaii Tribune-Herald

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There is a split second in every person's life when the breeze blows, turning everything in a new direction. The winds changes and that person knows it is time to spread their wings and fly. That moment has come for 29-year-old Kumu Hula Snowbird Bento.

Normally this Nanakuli Homestead resident is hard to catch. She is usually too busy flying from one thing to the next.

This week is a different story. She'll be roosting at the 42nd Annual Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, where this young alaka'i of halau "Ka Pa Hula O Ka Lei Lehua" from Honolulu, Hawaii is bringing both kane and wahine dancers and a Miss Aloha Hulu contestant for their first performance at the world-renowned competition.

"I'm kind of one of those really newbies that has to pay their dues," Snowbird said. "It's a big undertaking, but I'm so thankful for the opportunity."

Although this 1993 Kamehameha School graduate is leading a halau of newcomers into the hula competition, she is no stranger to dancing on the Merrie Monarch stage.

Snowbird performed in both 2001 and 2002 with "Ka Pa Hula O' Kamehameha," under the direction of Kumu Hula Holoua Stender.

She was also a first runner up in the Miss Aloha Hula contestant in 2001. Those past experiences have given Snowbird an intuitive knowledge about the oli and hula selections for her halau. This single wahine also wrote some of her own material, including the oli and mele for Miss Aloha Hula's kahiko, "Ku Kani Loko," the mele for the boys kahiko mele and the ka'i entrance and ho'i exit dances for the auana.

For the kahiko program, the women will oli "Na Kau a Hi-iakaika," a chant about Pele's younger sister. They will then perform the hula "He melo no Kukaniloko," a mele telling of the sacredness of the royal birthing place "Lo Ali'i" on Oahu.

"The contents of the hula dates back to the 11th Century," Snowbird said. "It was a place for high ranking chiefs to be born on Oahu. We are bringing the story of that place and the function forward."

The men will dance the hula kahiko "Na Ali'i o 'Ewa," a song describing the often overlooked legacy of the chiefs from the Ewa, Oahu plains.

"Oahu has such a strong, history culturally," Snowbird said. "It is full and rich. I just wanted to bring their names and stories brought into the 21st Century and bring their mana and history to our people. I don't want their great deeds and history to be lost to the next generation and that will happen if we don't tell them."

For the auana, the wahine will tell the story of aloha through the hula "Ku'uipo Onaona," and the kane will bring to the stage, "Kaua I Ka Huahua'i," a mele of forbidden love composed by Leleiohoku.

Snowbird chose 21-year-old Cherish Kahiwiokalani Kama as the halau's 2005 Miss Aloha Hula Contestant. For her kahiko hula, "Kahiwi" will dance to the chant, "He mele no Kulaniloko," telling of the sacredness of the Ali'i birthing place. Her auana dance, "Ku'u Pua I Paoakalani," will tell of a gentle breeze coming down from Manoa to Paoakalani's home in Waikiki.

Kahiwi is thrilled about coming to the Merrie Monarch Festival with her kumu hula.

"It's going to be a tremendous experience with Snow," she said. "Snowbird is wonderful. She's nice and a lot of fun, but we also learn a lot about Hawaiian culture. We learn that everyday is a work in progress and it is important to learn something new everyday."

This festival will be an exciting time for Snowbird too, and in many ways her flight to the Big Island is a return to home. It was the 'ainahanau, the birthplace of her father. He was born and raised in Hilo until he was 6 years old before making a permanent move to Pauoa, Oahu.

It was only one decade ago when Snowbird first visited the Big Island. She was only 19-years-old, but that was old enough for the young hula dancer to realize the many ohana connections living in East Hawaii.

Those family ties were important for Snowbird to establish because ohana, Hawaiian history, culture music and hula have been the top priorities throughout her life.

Her love for music and vocals started at a young age. Her mother, Sterline Bento, seemed to bless her from the beginning with the unusual name "Snowbird," taken from one of Anne Murray's popular songs from the 1970s.

The close-knit family also made sure Snowbird was always surrounded by music. Her parents were always singing and playing the ukulele.

"Sometimes we would just sing to sing," she said. ""I had a lot of music and hula in my life."

Snowbird's mother was also a professional hula dancer, but it was her paternal grandmother, Carol Bento, who taught Snowbird her very first dance "He U 'I," meaning "Beauty" when Snowbird was only three years old.

That was the one and only hula I knew until I joined my first halau at nine-years-old," she said. "My grandmother really opened my eyes to music."

It turned out her family was also great storytellers and Snowbird gave them her full attention.

"As a teenager I didn't care about all the glitz and glamour," she said. "I would rather listen to the kupuna tell their stories."

Everything about native Hawai'i inspired Snowbird. Her first halau, where she attended from age 9 to 12, was "Keali'i Ka'apunihonua Ke'ena A'o Hula," under the direction of Leimomi Ho. She took a couple of years off from hula, before joining "Ka Pa Hula O' Kamehameha" when she was 14 years old.

In her heart, Snowbird always knew hula and Hawaiian culture would be her life and someday she would open a halau. The twenty-something dancer always thought she would be around 35 or 40 years old before venturing out on her own.

However, in a moment's time a new journey started in June 2003, when Kumu Holoua approached Snowbird and her hula brother, Kaleo Trinidad, and asked them to take over the halau while he took a year off.

After the year was over, Kumu Holoua told her it was time for Snowbird to take over his halau. It was then Snowbird realized it was time to create and build her own nest.

"He gave me his blessing to start my own halau," Snowbird remembered. "I renamed the halau 'Ka Pa Hula O' Kalei Lehua.' It means the hula enclosure of the lei."

Kumu Hula Snowbird has taken her position very seriously. She knows a kumu is looked upon as a source of knowledge.

Do I know everything?," she said. "Far from it, but I think I'm learning more now because I have the responsibility."

This newfound leadership role has led Snowbird to set a few goals coming into her first Merrie Monarch Festival.

First, Snowbird said it is her kuliana or business throughout the festival to honor all the elder kupuna and kumu or teachers who have poured themselves into her life, whether from school, family or friends.

"It's important that we don't forget that people came before us," she said. "They are the path that we walk, the shoulders we rely on, the foundation on which we build respect and aloha."

Snowbird said she also wants to honor her kumu hula.

"I want please my kumu because he gave me so much," she said. "He gave me my 'uniki and my Kihei, an overlaying garment likened to a diploma at graduation."

Kumu Hula Holoua is confident his former student is ready to take on the challenge.

"I think she is more than ready for the Merrie Monarch Festival," he said. "She's a great person. She has worked very hard and I am very, very proud of her. It's so nice to see her grow up and fly away. Hopefully she will fly high and far."

The young kumu also desirous that her students to dance to the best of their ability during the competition. She wants those in her charge to walk away from their week in Hilo and know it wasn't about winning, but about the journey and the lessons learned.

"I want to put out the best possible performance that the students and I, at this point in our lives, are capable of giving," Snowbird said. "That's how we will be satisfied. We can't disappoint if we did our 150 percent. Even if we don't place, we can still hold our heads up high."

Lastly, Snowbird wants to do well for her ohana.

"Doing well for myself is doing well for my family," she said. "It just doesn't get any better than that. If I didn't have my family I wouldn't have anything, I wouldn't be the person I am today. If hula is my life, then my family is the air that I breathe because I can't do any of this without them.

"They are the first part of my foundation. They have taught me to stay humble, do well, but not to boast about what I do," Snowbird recalled. "They taught me to put my hands to something and work and do the best I can, even if no one will see it or appreciate it."

Whatever the outcome of this year's festival, Snowbird is apt to remember the advice she has given to her students -- to remember it's the journey, not the destination that counts.

"My favorite motto is 'Maika'i ke kalo i ka'oha,'" she said. "That means 'you can tell the good quality of the taro by the shoots.' I learned that at Kamehameha School when I was 15 years old and it has stuck with me ever since. The things that I do, the actions I take, the things I say and the way I interact with other people is what I'll be known for. Hopefully my works are good and true because that means my family raised me well."