Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 18, Number 10, 1 October 2001 — THE WORLD'S FIRST HULA OPERA DEBUTS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE WORLD'S FIRST HULA OPERA DEBUTS

'Holo Mai Pele' erupts on national TV

By Naomi Sodetani

When the dancers of Halau o Kekuhi premiered the hula epie, "Holo Mai Pele" on Maui in 1995, their audienee knew they had witnessed more than an arts event of searing beauty and volcanic emotional intensity. Never before had hula kahiko been presented so powerfully, in such an elegant, modern theatrical context. Native Hawaiian myths, traditional and original dances and chants were woven into a three-hour drama marked by such virtuosity of performance, sumptuous staging and costumes that critics hailed it as the world's first "hula opera." Now a filmed version of that eultural watershed will be broadcast nationally on the prestigious PBS anthology, "Great Performances" on Hawai'i Public Television on Oct. 10 and Oct. 20 at 8 p.m. "Holo Mai Pele" is the saga of iwo sister goddesses Pele and Hi'iaka, and the latter's heroic journey to bring back Pele's lover from the world of the dead. In the end, the sisters' bond combusts in a fiery convulsion of jealousy and rage. As compelling and poetic as any of the great epics of Western literature, the dance depicts the eternal struggle of destruction and renewal. "Holo Mai Pele" is the brain child of the Hilo-based halau's co-artistic directors, Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele and Nālani Kanaka'ole, daughters of the late kumu hula, Aunty Edith Kanaka'ole." In 1997, after touring the stage drama through the island, the sisters were broached with the idea of filming it for television. "We wanted to share it with a broader audienee," Kanaka'ole says. "But we wondered, how do we condense it to one hour and maintain the cultural

integrity of the work?" Filmmaker Catherine Tatge, who had produced many dance programs for the PBS series, knew nothing about Hawaiian culture. But, guided by the sisters, she rose to the momentous challenge of rendering its ancient essence in a modern medium. "Hawaiian literature is as rich and complex as anything Shakespeare

wrote," says Māhealani Dudoit, who wrote the film's narration and subtitles for selected chant passages. Dudoit is the founder and editor of 'Ōiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal, the first literary journal written and staffed by Native Hawaiians. A beautiful film results from three years of intense creative collaboration; a powerful meshing of minds and cultures. "Holo Mai Pele" offers viewers a rare glimpse of kahiko as the ancients danced it: with fierce guttural voicings and primal, eamal movements that eonjure the crackling and rumbling of

lava; the tactile signs of gods alive in nature's elemental forces. "Our purpose was to take hula up to a different level," says Kanahele. "People often look at hula as strictly entertainment, even frivolous. We wanted to show the public hula from a different plaee - hula that's very serious and very spiritual; very deeply connected to many generations of history and nature." Edith Kanaka'ole - whose name graces the stadium where Hilo's Merrie Monarch Festival hula eompetition is held - was a gifted chanter and scholar honored as a "'Living Treasure of Hawai'i." When she died in 1979, the sisters inherited the halau she founded and also manage the Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation that presents cultural workshops and funds Hawaiian studies scholarships. The Hālau O Kekuhi is recognized as one of the major arteries in the body of hula tradition, with eenturies of cultural knowledge bome within the seven-generation troupe. The hālau's unique 'aiha'a appmaeh dances low to the ground, its bent-knee stance drawing power from the earth. All the while, dancers chant vigorously in a bombastic, dramatic style. Three generations of family perform in "Holo Mai Pele," including Kanaka'ole and Kanahele. "For us, hula is more than an art form — it's a lifestyle, it's our history, it's nature, it's our land. There is no separation," Kanahele says. "Hula and chanting are the wellspring of who we are as a people."

"Holo Mai Pele" airs on "Great Performances" on Hawai'i Public Television (KHET, Ch. 10/11) on Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. with a repeat on Oct. 20 at 8 p.m. ■

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Pāhfona O

ANCIENT ARTFORM MEETS NEW. Catherine Tatge and Pua Kanahele (left) capture the virtuosity of the sevengeneration Hālau O Kekuhi on film.

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