One of MAHU closes with one such hula, “Hawai‘i Isles Medley / E Ku‘u Hawai‘i”—or what Makuakane refers to as the “bowling alley hula.” The dancers appear in bowl- ing ensembles, and they mime walking, talking, putting on shoes, and sending balls down onstage lanes. The dance is fun, mirthful, and a little madcap. “My inspiration for this number was the bowling league I used to go to with my parents,” he explains as I watch a rehearsal in a high school gym on Potrero Hill. Above the basketball court with its glistening polyurethane floors, high windows let in the bright August sunlight. “They bowled at Waialae Bowl,” Makuakane continues. “The league was called ‘Hukilau,’ and each team had the name of a differ- ent fish.” (A hukilau is a Hawaiian tradition in which family and friends work together in casting a large fishing net from shore, scaring fish into it, and then pulling the bounty back for a communal feast. It is also the name of a popular hula.) P art Two of the show features Kaumakaiwa Kanaka‘ole, a scholar, activist, and per- former born into a powerful matrilineal line of cultural experts and hula people on Hawai‘i Island. “Her work is rooted in ancestral foundation, but the places that she goes—the voice, the melodies, the chord changes—she doesn’t sound like anything else or anyone else,” says Makuakane. “She soars with contemporary ease.” That she doesn’t sound like anyone else is hardly hyperbole. The New York Times described a performance of hers as a “traditionalist tour de force” in which Kaumakaiwa “vaulted through various registers and timbres, from bass to witchy contralto rasp to sweet soprano”—or what the singer called “skinny girl” voice. For her part, Kaumakaiwa, who has transitioned from male to female, describes her power this way: “My body was genetically built to survive 9-12 months out on the open ocean, with a limited amount of resources and food, in order to maybe make it to arrive at some place called home, some place called Hawai‘i, to a tiny little rock.” She credits her grandmother with instilling in her a fearlessness about being who she is, and says that fearlessness allowed her “to say Yes to this show and to redefine status-quo hula.” The Los Angeles Times once compared the “ineffably smooth unison” of the Nā Lei Hulu dancers with “the best corps de ballet” and described a “lasting aftereffect something like having seen flowers that breathe and butterflies that think.”
transgendered artists who sang for us while we danced? I didn’t want to take a political stance, per se. I just wanted to let people hear them sing and watch them dance, because their artistry is so powerful.” Yet Makuakane acknowledges that celebrating such art- ists, and thereby celebrating the respect given to mahu people in ancient Hawaiian society, is inherently political. (There has never been a dance production or any kind of artistic showcase that has ever used that term in its name.) The show intends to move past the shame and ridicule that LGBTQ Hawaiians have endured by being labeled mahu. Instead it invites them to feel pride. Most important to him, though, is to “reclaim the idea of their authenticity and their humanity.” The concept of a third gender, where individuals can express both their masculinity and femininity freely, is not unique to Hawai‘i. Parallels include hijra in Hindu society, two-spirit Native Americans, the fakaleiti or fakafefine of Tonga, and the fa’afafine of Samoa. T he show highlights three artists from Hawai‘i who all fall under the hard-to-translate term mahu. Part One begins with Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, a hula master and leader in the field of indigenous Hawaiian language and cultural preservation. (She is also the subject of Kumu Hina , a 2014 documentary, and she co-directed Kapaemahu , an animated 2020 film based on the long-hidden history of four stones on Waikiki Beach honoring legendary mahu who brought the healing arts to Hawai‘i.) “Kumu Hina is a beautiful dancer and chanter with a res- onant voice,” Makuakane notes. The segment in which she is featured will focus on kahiko , or the ancient style of hula, with Na Lei Hulu dancers interpreting, for example, the story of Kapaemahu, the four mahu prophets/healers who traveled from Tahiti to Hawai’i around 400 A.D. Newly composed chants will tell the story, and the dancers will perform in the kahiko style, while dramatic costumes, light- ing, and video projections will complete the kind of stun- ning visual display Makuakane has become known for. Following her is Kuini, a musical trio composed of Ho‘omanawanui Apo, Kehaulani Tamure, and Keli Mahealani Viernes. The three singers specialize in leo kiekie , or Hawaiian falsetto. “They will knock you off your feet with their vocals and hairdos,” says Makuakane. “They’re just incredibly witty and colorful, with vocal audacity and some of the most glorious harmonies you have ever heard in Hawaiian music.” This will be the ‘ auana portion, showcasing the style of dance that may be most familiar to general audiences, in which light-hearted dances are choreographed to music fea- turing Western instruments, melodies, and vocal harmonies. Many popular ‘auana describe a 20th century life of fire- men, streetcars, public parks, and even pipi (beef) stew. Part
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In Dance | May 2014 | dancersgroup.org
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