Today on Maui: Hiiakakanoeau

"A new full-length hula drama delves into the creative center of the Hawai’i sense of practical beauty by recreating occupational images and messages from mele. The hula performance reincarnates the wisdom of the kupuna in making things both useful and beautiful through the poetry of movement, just as Hana Kapa reincarnates that functional aesthetic through the poetry of the fiber”.

The Maui Arts and Cultural Center presents Halau o ke Kekuhi in their premiere performance of Hiakakanoeau

The Maui Arts and Cultural Center is a magnificent space for performance art. Located in Wailuku on the island of Maui, that place recalls fond and enlivening memories for us: First Night on New Years' Eve; Sweet Honey in the Rock with dear friends plus a visit from The Night Rainbow that same night stretching between from Haleakala; Keola and Nona Beamer. Tonight's January 18, 2014 performance will without doubt be an occasion to remember. Halau o kekuhi shares the kuleana of hula at its finest; passing the legacy of 'oli and dance with all the regalia and protocol essential to the timeless practice while also being wholely-present. Click here for a conversation between Pualani Kanakaole and her daughter Kekuhi. They speak about the process of passing the family legacy of hula from generation to generation. This mother and daughter is part of the 'ohana responsible for the performance Hiiakakanoeau. The family legacy behind this presentation of Hiiakanoeau expands with the 'ohana of Nalani Kanakaole ( Pualani's younger sister), her husband artist Sig Zane and their son Kaha'o Kanakaole Zane. Click here to see and listen to the contributions and kuleana this branch of the family shares with the universe and learn how hula is like photosynthesis.

Hawaiian culture and art are inseparable ... the culture is art--practical and useful, and the expression of both are manifest in the flow and continuity from ke'ia to kela here to there. I post this here today, in the late morning of January 18th from my metal chair seated in a Quonset hut in the middle of the tall trees of Whidbey Island. My roots penetrate this place and seek out the ancient call of my ancestors, the kupuna, the 'ohana who remain where they were born. I on the other hand live across an ocean and wish I had a seat in the Maui Arts and Cultural Center tonight when 'oli, hula and kapa intertwine to make time and space a timeless channel. I dream the seat, and pray for my place there. If you are on Maui tonight, there may be a seat for you ... fill it, lucky you!