Kumu Hula

  • Hōkūlani Holt

    Hōkūlani Holt has been the Kumu Hula for Pā'ū O Hi'iaka of Kauahea, Maui for over 45 years. She has devoted her professional and personal time to many aspects of Hawaiian culture throughout the islands and around the world.

    Hōkūlani's hula background comes from two places. Her early hula training comes from her family through her grandmother, Ida Pakulani Ka'aihue Kai'anui Long, as well as her aunt Kahili Long Cummings and her mother Leiana Long Woodside. While in Honolulu, Hōkūlani's kahiko (traditional hula) training came from Kumu Hula Hoakalei Kamau'u and it was through Hoakalei that she began to teach hula. She has also had the opportunity to study oli and cultural ceremonies with Dr. Pualani Kanakaʻole Kanahele of Hilo, Hawaiʻi.

  • Cody Pueo Pata

    Cody Pueo Pata is the Kumu Hula of Hālau Hula ʻo Ka Malama Mahilani, based in Kahului, Maui. Although formally graduated in 2001 by Kumu Hula Nona Mahilani Kaluhiokalani & Loea Hula George Nāʻope, his hālau preserves the various traditions passed on to him through all of his Hula masters including Keʻala Kūkona, Jay Jay Akiona, and Hilda Keanaʻāina.

  • Hiʻilei Maxwell-Juan

    I am Kumu Hula Hiʻilei Maxwell-Juan of Pukalani Hula Hale and I come from the island of Maui, Hawaii. I currently have papa hula in Kahului, but I live in beautiful Wailuku.

    I first took hula from Aunty Rina Ching from age four till I was seven years old. Then I began hula with my mother, the late Aunty Nina Maxwell of Pukalani Hula Hale, and continued as a haumana with her till 1985. This is when I had a formal celebration ʻŪniki which made me a Kumu Hula. I was a co-Kumu with my mother till 2006, when she passed. I now carry on the Pukalani Hula Hale hula traditions that were passed on to me and which also came from my mother’s Kumu, Aunty Emma Sharpe.

  • ʻĀlika & Kehani Guerrero

    Kumu ʻĀlika and Kehani Guerrero founded Kaniʻoikaʻohuleihiwa in Kahului, Maui in 2021 to revitalize and normalize the Hawaiian language, beliefs, and customs through hula. Hālau is conducted through the medium of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, and teachings are rooted in the hula ʻai haʻa traditions of Kumu Uluwehi Guerrero, Hālau Hula Kauluokalā, and Taupouri Tangarō, Unukupukupu.

  • Mapuana Aʻarona

    I come from Aunty Ma'iki Aiu Lake who was part of the beginning process of Kuleana for the Art of Hula and a Declaration of today. We as Kumu have a kuleana that the respect of Hula is carried out with Integrity.

    Although I do not have a Halau, I have walked with my Hula sister Kamamalu Klein as a Kahu and her Haumana. I am from the first class of Aunty Ma’iki Papa Lehua 1973/1974.

  • Kahulu Maluo-Pearson

    Kumu Hula of Hālau Kamaluokaleihulu

  • Sissy Lake-Farm

    Kumu Hula of Hālau Makana Aloha O Ka Lauaʻe

  • Jamie Moanikeala Whittle-Wagner

    Kumu Hula of Nā Maile Kū Honua

Kumu Testimonials

 

“This is the first center of its kind. It will elevate hula to the honored place that it deserves in our community, throughout the State, and throughout the world.”

— Hōkūlani Holt

 

“Hālau of 'Ōiwi Arts is long overdue. We as kumu have been given a great opportunity to carry on the legacy in the Art of Hula. There are many Halau in the Wailuku district that will benefit as well as other arts that will be shared at this facility. Let this be the first of many Art Centers to carry out the Legacy of Hula.”

— Mapuana Aʻarona

“I support the Hālau of ‘Ōiwi Art because we need a place to have Hālau. We need to take care of the host culture in order to create a better foundation for our community and for future generations to come.”

— Hiʻilei Maxwell Juan

 

“Our support of the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art stems from our belief that hālau serve as nexus and resource of Hawaiian language and culture; therefore, it is imperative to provide spaces and facilities for our hālau to best serve our communities.”

— ʻĀlika & Kehani Guerrero

“The majority of my own Hula masters never had a true home-base for their own hālau; their Hula classes migrated often to wherever space was available. Along with the various hana noʻeau directly employed in Hula, I was also intensively trained in other ʻōiwi arts which include mele, haku mele, kuku kapa, nala lau hala, and hoʻopuʻupuʻu kōkō. Because the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art will serve as a refuge and home for all practices such as these, I wholeheartedly support the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art––it truly is something beyond the wildest dreams of my own late masters.”

— Cody Pueo Pata