Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 7, 1 July 2011 — OHA seeks to perpetuate culture through dance [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA seeks to perpetuate culture through dance

One of OHA' s six Strategic Priorities is Mo'omeheu (Culture) - to preserve, practice and perpetuate

our culture as a way to strengthen our identity. One way OHA seeks to perpetuate Hawaiian culture is through sponsoring and partnering with the KalihiPālama Culture & Arts Society to host the annual Queen Lili'uokalani Keiki Hula Competition. The 36th annual Queen Lili'uokalani Keiki Hula Competition will be held

July 7 to 9, 2011, at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center Arena and will be broadcast later on July 22 and 23 on KITV 4. The first night will feature the individual competitions where girls will compete for the Miss Keiki Hula title and the boys will compete for the Master Keiki Hula title. On the second night the hālau competition begins with hula kahiko and the last and hnal night will feature the hula 'auana competition, concluding with the awards. The competition started on Sept. 11, 1976, and a festival was organized by the Kalihi-Pālama Culture & Arts Society to honor Hawai'i's last reigning monarch, Queen Lili'uokalani. Program Coordinator Wendell Silva, along with eommittee Chairman George Nā'ope, designed the competition for ehildren 6 through 12 years old as a way for keiki to share their achievements in hula while learning about Queen Lili'uokalani, her 'ohana and Hawai'i's history. That first daylong event was held at 'A'ala Park and featured multiethnie dance performances, Hawaiian crafts demonstrations, a pageant of Hawai'i's mō'I wahine, and the first keiki hula competition. Six groups entered the first Queen Lili'uokalani Keiki Hula Competition whieh featured hula 'auana only.

After two years, the competition moved indoors to Farrington High School auditorium to provide the dancers with a better venue to showcase their

talents. Over the next few years, the competition added the soloists and hula kahiko categories, a separate division for the keiki kāne, and the Hawaiian language critique. Since then, the annual event has grown to heeome a three-day event and since 1993, the eompetition is held annually at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center Arena.

This year there will be a total of 23 hālau participating in the competition. The majority of the hālau are from Hawai'i, but there are two hālau that will travel all the way from Japan to be part of this competition. The perpetuation of our Hawaiian language and culture thrives in the hearts of these keiki no matter where they are from. Through the partnership between Kalihi-Pālama Culture & Arts Society and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, people around the world will be able to view Keiki Hula, by both television and the Internet. This will provide the opportunity for more people to appreciate and value the Hawaiian culture and our keiki. The Kalihi-Pālama Culture & Arts Society is a nonprofit communitybased organization providing education, training and services in the area of culture and arts. Although their primary target is the underprivileged population residing in the KalihiPālama area, special projects are provided on a statewide basis. If you would like more information on this event or ways you ean donate to the Kalihi-Pālama Culture & Arts Society, please eall (808) 521-6905 or email keikihula@msn. eom. ■

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Cūlette Y. Machade ChairpErsūn, Trustee Muluka'i and Lāna'i