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Dancing in the Sea of Life  
Halau i Ka Pono Hula Newsletter                                                        May 2011
  
  

 


 

E pupukahi.

Be of one clump.

Be united in thought.

 

                                           'Olelo No'eau -Hawaiian Proverbs & Poetical Sayings, #376  

                                          Collected, translated and annotated by Mary Kawena Pukui

 

  
In This Issue
Lori Murphy
Quick Links

 Mao hau hele

Hibiscus brackenridgei 

State flower that is endangered and extinct in the wild.  

Photo by Jill Wagner



Spring Concert 
Save the Date!

 Jason Poole (The Accidental Hawaiian Crooner) returns to Chicago to join the Halau for a Spring Concert at the  Zen Life & Meditation Center
 on Sunday May 8, 2011  
2 - 4 pm 
163 N Humphrey
Oak Park, IL.

 Tickets are $10.   

Children 12 & under Free!  Reserve them online or call 708-445-1651.    

Get your tickets today! 


 


May Hula   

Adult Beginner Classes  
Mondays
11 - 12 noon or 
5:30 - 6:30 pm

 

Kahiko Classes

Wed. 6 - 7 pm - Beginner

Wed. 7 - 8 pm (Auana & Kahiko)

Thurs. 12 - 1:30 pm (Auana & Kahiko) 

Fri. 10 - 12 noon - Advance 


Hula Workshop   

Sunday  May 22nd   

11 - 1 pm  Auana (modern hula)

 

All classes at the Halau 

163 N Humphrey,  

Oak Park, IL.   

Call 708-445-1651 or email [email protected]  

 for info or to register. 



 

Lei and photo by Mary Ho'omalu Sakamoto
 
Kokua

Help support Hawaiian Culture and Hula in Chicago! Contribute online today or mail a gift to   

Halau i Ka Pono    

163 N. Humphrey

Oak Park, IL  60302

708-445-1651

Mahalo!

 

 

Excitement stirs the air as we prepare for our Spring Concert on Sunday, May 8th.  Halau students diligently practice their hulas.  Musicians strum their instruments - ukulele, mandolin, or guitar.  Singers lovingly voice the Hawaiian meles (songs).  And then at the concert - we come together sharing our gifts in a unified concert of song, chant and dance. 

 

Hula is storytelling using the whole body.  It's a moving meditation that involves awareness and harmony of mind and body.  The body has great wisdom and with adequate repetition, it learns the movements.  Then the mind can relax its focus on technique and switch to the pure presence of each moment.

 

I remember my very first performance at a Holoku Ball presented by my Kumu's (Hula Master) Halau Hula Ka No'eau (hula school) at Waimea's Kahilu Town Hall in 1988.  A holoku is a Hawaiian dress marked by a long train - there were many beautiful ones at the ball.  I wore my mother's navy blue dotted swiss mu'u  (no train) with white yoke, bottom ruffles and short puff sleeves.

 

My beginners class with Kumu Michael Pili Pang had just started in August of that year, and the ball was in November. We danced what all beginning students in the Maiki Aiu Lake lineage first learn - the Basic Hula - to the Hawaiian mele Kalena Kai.  I remember being very focused on technique - careful about the hand and feet motions to the music - and not on much else.

 

During my training I remember many times being very surprised at how my mind thought that I was doing a particular motion but my body was actually doing a different motion.  Hula can be very specific and technical.  The awareness that my mind and body were not always working together was new to me, and this awareness continued to grow.  My Kumu always called me on this and it helped my mind be sharper and more in sync with my body.

 

I closely watched my Kumu and worked hard to mimic and embody how he did the motions.  I learned that it was important to be faithful, to carry on the way a dance was taught to me instead of making up my own movements to it. There is a genealogy, a lineage in hula that I honor and am a part of.  If we know the past, we can go confidently into the future.

 

Hula is endless in terms of opportunities to grow and learn.  Under the direction of my Kumu - I noticed how important it was, not only to know your dance well, but what it means to dance with and be part of a group.  As you dance together a lot, you grow ma'a to one another.  Ma'a means "used to, knowing thoroughly." 

 

You become aware not only of yourself, but of your hula sisters and brothers.  When that happens, you are able to "feel" each other when dancing together.  You know where they are, even though you may not be able to see them.  I distinctly remember when I first noticed how my hula sisters and I moved together in unison to the chanting of my Kumu.   E pupukahi - united in motion and thought - harmony in action.

 

Hula also gives you the opportunity to practice many Hawaiian values such as ha'a ha'a or humility, kokua or generosity in helping one another and ho'omanawanui or patience in all that you do.   And of course with this discipline comes le'a l'ea -  joy. 

 

So here I am in Chicago.  There is a hula mound that was built with love in our back yard and makes me feel at home here.  It has been lovingly maintained by many hands and blessed with many dancing feet.  On Sunday, we will recreate for you Aloha of the Islands with beautiful Hawaiian mele by the talented Jason Poole, sacred joyous hula by the dancers of Halau i Ka Pono and much more.  

 

E komo mai - please join us!

 

June Kaililani Tanoue

Kumu Hula

 

 

Lori Murphy

Lori Murphy was born in Topeka, Kansas and grew up in Wilberforce, Ohio.  She took her first dance class to fulfill a P.E. requirement in 1977 at Wilberforce University, and she was hooked.   She continued studying and performing African, jazz and modern ballet for several years through a number of moves which included a stint in the Army at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky and a move to Bloomington, Indiana to work on her Masters in Library Science.

She started studying belly dance in 1991 and has learned from many outstanding figures in the Middle Eastern Dance community.  A few years ago while at the Oasis Dance Camp North, a fellow camper asked her to be an audience participant for a hula she was performing.  Lori said, "I was a total klutz, but I had a lot of fun and I felt something."

Lori joined Aloha Chicago Entertainment (ACE) back in 2007 as a belly dancer and soon started learning the company's hula choreography.  She also attended the "Hula, Tahitian Dance & Drumming" workshops in St. Louis where she studied with Kumu Hula Keali'i Ceballos and Riki and Tiana Liufau of Nonosina for Tahitian dance.

A couple of years ago she realized that she wanted to keep dancing hula and wouldn't get better if she didn't learn more.  Lori says, "That's when I found June, and I couldn't be happier. She has helped me with my dance and my spirit.  Earlier this year, I started sitting in the morning at the Zen Center.  I'm getting glimpses of what a life with meditation will be.  When they happen, it's pretty cool.  And as for hula, it's fun, it's challenging and the women I dance with are beautiful."

 
Lori is married to John Murphy and they have a daughter - Jasmine Quintana - who is also a beautiful dancer.
Mahalo nui loa!
A heartfelt mahalo to all the Hula students and friends who have helped bring together the Spring Concert - and to all of you who are coming to enjoy it!  Your love and support of the Halau and Hawaiian culture makes a great difference!  E pupukahi!