Merrie Monarch: Sista Act Kumu Hula Napua Greig & Kahulumealani Maluo-Huber

Pa'i Award-winning article

Sista Act 2: Back in the lineup again

Former Miss Hula Aloha contestants bring halau back to festival

By Karen Welsh

Originally written in 2004 For the Tribune-Herald

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Birds flutter through Hilo's open-air Edith Kanaka'ole Tennis Stadium, matching, beat for beat, the busy hands of the dancing Halau Na Lei Kaumaka O Uka.

Never mind this group of 23 young women and two kumu hula had to get up at the crack of dawn on the first day of spring break to catch a plane from Maui. Forget the bumpy ride from the nasty weather pattern hanging stubbornly over the island chain.

Don't mention that lunch was missed in the busyness of the moment or the fact the girls are wet from the torrential rains hastily dodged trying to get into the stadium.

It simply doesn't matter. They are smiling. Happy. Poetry in motion. Nothing can dampen their spirits today because they are thrilled to be dancing on the official Merrie Monarch stage.

Their shirts say it all. These girls are "hula built" and they are relishing every moment of preparing for their very first Merrie Monarch performances.

"This is so exciting," said 21-year-old Orama Brault, a dancer with the halau for eight years. "We never thought we'd be on this stage. When the halau started we'd come every year to the festival and dream about it. Now we're actually here. It's so great. It's so awesome. I would practice all day. I can't get enough of this stage."

The women practice long hours and push themselves hard, hanging on every word of kumu hula sisters Jaye "Napua" Greig and Patty "Kahulumealani" Maluo-Huber, both former Miss Aloha Hula contestants and performers at past Merrie Monarch festivals.

"It's all about respect," said 18-year-old Emily Spenser, who flew home from the University of San Diego to participate in the rehearsals. "They are our role models."

It's been a longer road back to the festival for Kahulumealani, first runner-up in the 1990 Miss Aloha Hula competition and Napua, second runner-up in 1992.

Both moved to Hilo a couple of years apart in the late 1980s to attend the University of Hawaii's Big Island campus.

Kahulumealani arrived first. She immediately began taking lessons from kumu hula Ray Fonseca's Halau Hula O Kahili Laulani. She felt it a great honor when Uncle Ray asked her to dance in the competition.

"It was a world-stopping experience," Kahulumealani remembers. "Personally I stopped everything, gave up college and gave it my all."

Napua followed in her big sister's footsteps only two years later. She had joined Johnny Lum Ho's Halau O Ka Ua Kani Lehua and was soon asked to dance in the solo competition.

"It helped me to be a lot more confident," she said. "To dance in front of all those people by myself."

Both sisters eventually moved back to Maui and opened their own halau in 1996. Over the years it has grown from 30 to 125 members, ranging in age from four to 44 years old.

In their classes they teach that although hula is comparible to a sport it is also something deeply spiritual and cultural. And, both sister's stress hula is something the dancers have to prepare for before coming to the halau.

"We connect with hula on many different levels," Napua said. "Spiritually, emotionally and intellectually. You can see right through this dance and if their life isn't in order they just don't dance well."

Six years ago Napua and Kuhulumealani started bringing a select group of dancers from their halau to watch the Merrie Monarch Festival. Then, they began to dream.

"We would talk about our experiences and the hard work it took to get there," Napua said. "The determination and the sacrifice it took to get up on that stage."

Finally the sister's felt their class of young women were ready for the challenge and committment and put their name on the waiting list.

Everyone was blown away when festival officials notified the kumu sisters and they began working on their program in August.

"The girls have been wanting to do it forever," Napua said. "When we told them they were excited. They're hard working kids. They apply themselves."

Now they have returned for the sole purpose of doing their best in the competition, and the two sister's find the rainy Hilo climate a welcoming sight.

"It's good to come back to Hilo," Napua says. "Everytime I step off the plane to Hilo I am energized. It feels good to come back to Hilo. It's really good."

Despite the distractions of landing planes, loud rain, squawking birds and noisy traffic surrounding the stadium, the halau remains committed to the art, determined to be precise and focused completely on the two kumu sisters.

"You guys have got to overcome the noise," Napua tells her students. "You guys have got to bring it. You've got to belong."

Napua, the more outgoing personality of the two sisters, chants and sings and she either plays the ipu for the oli or the ukulele for the mele.

Reciting the living history of her ancestors is second nature to the seasoned performer.

"It's easy if you understand the language becasue it's like a story," Napua said. "It's history and you know what comes next."

The young women provide the interpretation, and whether it's facial expressions, hand movements, their ka'o or 'uwehe, every little nuance of the hula is under the watchful eyes of the sisters during the rehearsal.

Tirelessly they practice the kahiko and auana again and again. Their voices echo, their feet thud on the hollow wooden stage floor. None complain when they are asked to do it "one more time, please."

"Wit da attitude and everything dis time," Kahulumealani asks.

This is serious business, an expensive field trip to make sure the girls are comfortable on stage and they are dancing each step with pinpoint precision.

"You've got to make this stage your home," Napua reminds the group. "We're here so that when you walk on the stage it will be like you've done it a million times. You guys can be the best dancers in the whole world, but it's not going to do you nothing if you're scared. If you're scared people aren't gonna watch cause they are uncomfortable. You need to relax so the audience can enjoy it."

"When you walk up that ramp you've got to command everyone's attention," Kahulumealani adds. "You need to have that intense, eager face when walking up on the stage. You need to exude confidence."

Napua also reminds the women that first impressions are the most important.

You are the newcomers on the block," she stresses to the eager onlookers. "You've got to make the audience sit up and pay attention. That's your goal."