(photo: Hula Preservation Society)
One of the most exciting things I've ever seen...at the Hula Preservation Society website, I viewed footage of Uncle George Holokai dancing the hula kahiko E Ho'i Ke Aloha I Ni'ihau. Why is this so exciting? Because I've witnessed another ancestral generation in my hula lineage! I learned E Ho'i Ke Aloha I Ni'ihau from Kumu Chang, who learned it from Uncle George, who learned it from his kumu hula, Tom Hiona.
Uncle George has been something of a legendary character in my mind. We all so revere Kumu Chang and his mana'o. When he speaks of his kumu hula, it's almost as if he's speaking of a time and place we could never experience. It is the stuff of legend and history far beyond our reach.
But in realizty, Uncle George is a living, breathing human being, and he still passes on his mana'o to hula haumâna in Hawai'i and on the mainland. (Uncle George is coming to Indianapolis, IN next month. Unfortunately, I am unable to attend, because the trip is utterly unaffordable. However, those interested in attending can contact Cheryl Bell at cbell@indy.rr.com.)
I met Uncle George very briefly while in Hilo for Merrie Monarch. We were in the dressing room minutes before our hâlau was to take the stage for our hula 'auana. We looked up, and there he was standing just inside the doorway.
I simply could not believe that we had the honor of a visit from him, especially at such an important time for our hâlau. There was time for little else but to greet him, but still, seeing Uncle George in the flesh was a profound event for me.
Though I won't be attending his workshop, though I won't have the opportunity to learn directly from him, I'm no less moved by seeing a simple video clip of Uncle George dancing a hula that I know!
'Ae, all of us are aware Kumu Chang's knowledge came from a specific source, but it's a rare opportunity when we are able to witness and watch that very source! It's like finally meeting a blood relative we've always heard about but never seen...like singing a family song together, sharing knowledge we all possess but have never been able to share before.
I'm so thankful organizations like the Hula Preservation Society are spending time and other resources to document and preserve our kûpunas' mana'o. There are so many of us who might otherwise never have the opportunity to partake of this knowledge. It's at times like this when I am reminded just how precious a resource is the Internet, and how important preservation organizations are to Hawaiian culture!
October 15, 2006
Witnessing History: Uncle George Holokai
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Aloha e 'Ailina,
Mahalo for answering my nīnau about ʻōlelo Hawaii. You must be very brave to even write a full blog in half Hawaiian and half English at the same time. It's a wonder you don't mix them up. Thanx again for your help.
Unfortunately I am pretty small on money at the moment as someone else was who commented about the Hawaiian books on Amazon.com so I will have to try and survive the o-class and a-class possesives with the points which you gave me.
A hui hou,
Paul.
Auë...ua ho'i 'o 'Anakala George i ka Makualani.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Nov/04/ln/FP611040352.html/?print=on
Nevertheless, his teachings will continue on with 'ölapa like you...
Is your hula dead? And if so, where is the HEARTBEAT?!
You have the full-time job of raising and teaching five children, isn't that enough to allow you your own breath? Babysitters and head-start programs can ask for $300-$400 per month per child, teachers make at least $20 per hour and tuition in good schools is expensive. Even food and supplies aside from home can be a drain. To sum up: perhaps you are not the "bread winner," but the amount that you're SAVING your family with your efforts alone is more than worthwhile, and a righteous and hard job indeed. Yes, your family is your life, but it is not all that makes you living.
How long, then, will you allow yourself to be bullied? It is sad, A'ilina, so terribly sad to see. Biblical obeisance to a husband's will be damned, he should be ashamed of himself and you know it. Will you allow yourself to lose contact with good people -- no, good FRIENDS -- who care about you?
How long will you allow your heart, the fire of your creativity wrought by God himself, to be drenched and buried? How long will you allow the pursuit of the dance and the culture that you adore as dearly as food and water to go unfulfilled? You gave up dancing where you live, you gave up the halau... what of your own loves, your own dreams, the desire to teach your children the culture you love -- your culture! Will you allow the brilliant painting that is you to fade into ragged, grey-tinged, unrecoverable sepia, all because a jealous and tedious man, your husband, is too utterly insecure to allow you your own joys? You run from each defeat, each piece cut away, and those who love you understand, but how long will you let this go on? And how long will you leave others, touched by your joy and taught by you, with the part in their lives that was you empty and bleeding? God does not expect you to obey the ridiculous, and if he wanted you not to have the urge, the ability, the TALENT to express yourself through dance, art, teaching, joy, then He would not have given it such to you.
A marriage is made of two joined to one, but the winds of heaven must still dance between them! Trees form a forest, but if they twine too closely, one dies. The color of one's leaves do not hurt the other, nor does her branchings to other trees and flowers near her.
I do not have the words in the Old Language, or I would speak them thus, to make sure your heart heard them. Do not let your tree die, Lu'ukia. We would weep even more than we do now.
Post a Comment