18th Annual Hawaiian Festival Kicks Off PCC's 45th Anniversary Celebration
La'ie, HI – January 19, 2008 – Hula halau from across the island, the ocean and generations came together today at the Polynesian Cultural Center's Pacific Theater for the 18th Annual Moanikeala Hula Festival. The event is the first of PCC's cultural events for the year that includes the popular World Fireknife Competition in May, which attracted more than 10,000 visitors last year.
Held each January, the festival honors the late Aunty Sally Wood Nalua'i, who was the PCC's first kumu hula (hula instructor) when it opened in 1963 until 1980, after which she was a consultant until she passed away in 2000.
"Our gathering is unique in that there is no pressure to compete. Aunties, uncles, tutu and keiki alike are invited to come up on stage if they have the urge to dance and today, many of the kumu hula even joined their halau onstage to perform," said Ellen Gay Dela Rosa, theater director and Aunty Sally's niece. "We also had some halau with as many as four different generations of hula family who performed today."
Originally a keiki hula competition, the festival is now a ho'ike (exhibition) event for all ages that brings together dancers of all ages to share the beautiful dance of Hawai'i.
"One of the most touching moments of the day was when Halau Hula O Kekela honored our visiting dancers from Japan with lei and oli (chant)," said Cy Bridges, artistic director of the Center, and one of Aunty Sally's former haumana (students). "Hula is such a special part of Hawai'i and it's really wonderful to see that it transcends all languages and cultures to bring us all together."
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Bridges, Dela Rosa and her sister, Sunday Mariteragi, who founded the Moanikeala Hula Festival, along with other former students of Aunty Sally, paid a special tribute to the late kumu hula with a series of hula kahiko in her honor.
Hula Halau participating in the 2008 Moanikeala Hula Festival included:
- Ka Pa Nani ‘O Lilinoe – Lilinoe Lindsey
- Joan S. Lindsey Hula Studio – Joan Lindsey
- Hu'i Park Hula Studio – Corianne Park Chun
- Halau Halialaulani – Ellen Gay Dela Rosa
- Napuananionapalionako'olau – Sunday Mariteragi
- Kaleo O Laka Ia Iapana/Ka Pa Hula O Ka'ie'ie (Aichi, Japan) – Sayuri Kasugai
- Hula Halau O Hokulani – Hokulani DeRego
- Halau Hula Olana – Howard and Olana A‘i
- Halau Kawaipuhilani- Keith Kalanikau Awai
- Halau Hula O Kekela – Lucy Kekela Miller
- Hui Ho‘oulu Aloha – Maria R. K. Bridges
Founded in 1963 as a non-profit organization, the PCC has entertained more than 33 million visitors, while preserving and portraying the culture, arts, and crafts of Polynesia to the rest of the world. In addition, the PCC has provided financial assistance to nearly 17,000 young people from over 70 different countries while they attend Brigham Young University-Hawai‘i. As a non-profit organization, 100 percent of PCC's revenue is used for daily operations and to support education.
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