Dancing in the Sea of Life Hula Newsletter
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'O Pele la ko'u akua, miha ka lani, miha ka honua. [NBE:93]
Pele is indeed my goddess
The heavens, my head, are silent of thought
The earth, my feet, abstains from any movement.
Mind chatter and continuous movement hinder intimacy with natural environs.
Lele Kawa - Fire Rituals of Pele Taupouri Tangaro
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A wonderful way to feel the energy of Hawaii, gently tone your body, strengthen your core, and enjoy dancing to the beautiful music of Hawaii. No experience necessary. Men, Women age 16 years and older welcome!
Mondays
6 - 7 pm
Tuesdays
11 am - 12 noon
Saturdays
8:30 - 9:30 AM
Men, Women aged 16 years and older. 6 months experience or permission of Kumu. Dance to the melodic music of Hawaii.
Wednesdays
7 - 8 PM
Go deeper into the culture of Hawaii through the chants and hula of Hawaii. Men and women age 16 years and older. 6 months experience or permission of Kumu.
Wednesdays
6 - 7 PM
Adults 1 year experience or permission of Kumu.
Thursdays
7 - 9 pm
Fridays
10 am - 12 noon
Check our website for class schedules.
All classes are held at our sister organization:
Zen Life & Meditation Center
38 Lake Street
Oak Park, IL.
For more information call 708-297-6321 or email
june.tanoue@zlmc.org
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The Haumana
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 Hokule'a is sponsoring two private showings of director Keo Woolford's The Haumāna on Wednesday, February 12th, 5 pm & 7:30 pm at AMC Showplace
Village Crossing 18
7000 Carpenter Rd.
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Join Frances Kai-Hwa Wang and June Tanoue for The
Ha (Breath) of Writing Workshop
You'll learn simple but powerful methods to get ideas out of your head, onto the page, and aligned with your heart. Then put it on your
"ha," your breath, to make it real in this world.
There will be short writing exercises plus tips and tricks including creating a space for writing, writing every day, reading aloud, training your mind to see detail, taking chances with emotion, writing from the heart, cultivating consistency, and having fun with humor and flourishes.
Meditation, gentle Hula movement and lunch will be provided.
Friday, February 21st
7 - 8:30 pm
"When the Lava
Meets the Sea"
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang reading and Halau i Ka Pono Hula Performance
Saturday, Feb. 22nd
9 - 4:30 pm
Ha (Breath) of Writing Workshop
Early Bird Registration Discounts ends 2/7/14 Register Today!
38 Lake Street
Oak Park, IL 60302
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Mauna a Wäkea
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Poli'ahu Shawl proceeds are used to spread awareness of the sacredness of
Mauna a Wäkea.
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Poli'ahu is the Snow Goddess of Mauna Kea. Poli'ahu Shawls are a cherished reminder of the love that we hold in our hearts for
Mauna a Wäkea.
They are named according to their color to perpetuate the sacredness of the story, areas on the mountain and current issues being faced regarding these storied places or wahi pana.
Poli'ahu i ke kapu - dark blue/tan
Kükahau'ula (Poli'ahu's beloved) - maroon/tan, Lake Waiau - teal/tan Mo'oinanea (guardian of Lake Waiau)- green/tan Pöhakuloa - black/tan Kükia'imauna (guardians of the mountain) - brown/tan
Kanehoalani (deity associated with the sun) - yellow
Mau a mau (forever and ever - sunrise and sunset) - orange
The design of the Poli'ahu Shawl was created by Pomai Bertelmann which was inspired by the song Poli'ahu i ke kapu, composed and recorded by Häwane Rios. This song may be purchased on itunes with all proceeds donated to the Mauna Kea Defense Fund.
The hand screened shawls are $25 plus shipping. Contact - Pua Case, puacase@hawaiiantel.net to order your's and wear it in support of the mauna (mountain).
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MAHALO!!!
THANK YOU!!!
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We are very grateful
to everyone who helps Kumu June and Halau i Ka Pono with contributions of time or funding. Both are so valuable to us!
WARM
January Mahalos to:
Hoda Boyer, Brad Lewis, Lori Murphy, Czerina Salud, Nicole Sumida, Sarah Evans, JoEllyn Romano, Fowzi Kelty, Dave Spencer, American Indian Center, Pua Case, Taupouri Tangaro.
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It has been frigid here in Chicago with the Polar Vortex settling in for a couple of days. Just as the weather is greatly changing, so am I.
My husband and I have decided to sell this grand old Victorian home that we've lived in most comfortably for the past decade. We're downsizing to rent a more modest apartment or condo near our new center. The house served its purpose to birth and grow our Zen Center and my halau (hula school). But now we have acquired a better-located center in a commercial area on a main street. We don't need such a big house for only two people.
For me it's a huge process of letting go. Intellectually I understand this is for the best but emotionally I'm not there yet. Change is a process. So I'm going with the flow - emotions and all - because I know it is the way to go.
I just started taking my Hawaiian books off of the huge bookcase in my bedroom and putting them into boxes yesterday. As I filled the first box, I noticed how sad I felt. I came across some photographs and pieces I had written to remember the day in spring of 2009 when my hula students came to complete the pa hula (hula mound). We filled it with gravel and dirt and joy. I recalled that morning we gathered on the mound. We meditated and then buried special items in different parts of the mound along with thoughts and prayers of aloha. We shoveled dirt and filled the mound to the top. Then we chanted and danced hula on it with bare feet in the afternoon. It was good.
The pa hula. Ahhh. It lies sleeping now under a snowy white blanket. When it awakens will I be here to say goodbye?
Beginnings and endings are such a part of life's mystery. I remember our first major performance on the mound five years ago to announce the birth of my hula school, Halau i Ka Pono. I remember John-Mario Sevilla's wonderful modern dance piece that opened the performance on that glorious September day. I can still see my New York City and Chicago haumana (students) standing in silence, waiting to request permission to step into our bamboo-fenced backyard garden.
And then the dancing began on the mound! Red skirted dancers swayed to the beat of the ipu-heke (double headed gourd) and chanting. Hula le'a wale, i kai o Nanahuki! (Dancing with delight in the sea of life!) Ukulele, guitars, mandolins and songs also complemented the gracious dancing of aloha overflowing the yard. The house was full that weekend and warm with laughter and excitement - some 15 people slept over. And no doubt, our dancing will continue in many new venues this year.
All this change reminded me of the quotation above and Taupouri Tangaro's translation. It reminded me of how important meditation is in the life of a hula person. There is a wide-spread belief that meditation is always about sitting and having no thoughts, and that if you have thoughts while sitting, you are not having the right experience.
There is no right or wrong experience. Zen meditation practice is paying attention. You notice your mind being carried away by distracting thoughts. Then noticing that, you return to your breath and body which are anchors for the present moment. It's about coming back, coming back, coming back gently. This is how you train your mind to be intimate with the details of your life.
Training the mind goes with training the body. Sitting meditation helps develop and integrate the whole you - mind, body, spirit. For me it is the same thing as practicing my hula. It takes the same kind of discipline to just do it. And this discipline will ultimately set you free. Free to be okay with whatever's in front of you, whether selling your house or riding the L or communing with the beauty of nature.
Malama pono (Take care of body, mind and heart),
June Kaililani Tanoue
Kumu Hula
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Keo Woolford
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Actor, writer, director Keo Woolford was born and raised in Pearl City, O`ahu. His father is from Michigan and mother from Maui. I met him in 2003 when I began teaching hula in NYC. He attended my first class and I could see that he was a wonderful dancer.
About five years later, I marveled at his talents in his Off-Broadway performance of his self-penned one man show entitled I LAND that has since toured nationally and internationally. Keo moved back to Hawaii a few years ago and resumed as a member of Kumu Hula Robert Cazimero's Hālau Nā Kamalei o Līlīlehua. He's been part of the halau since 1999. He began dancing in high school under the late Kumu Hula John Lake.
Keo's latest project is his new movie The Haumāna which will be playing in Skokie, IL on Wednesday Feb. 12th for two showings only. Keo will accompany the film and have Q & A after the movie. Get your tickets quick! It will warm your world and boy do we need it now in Chicago! Here is my friend Keo Woolford.
Right now, my life is devoted to getting the word out about The Haumāna, though I have acting and directing gigs when they come up. I have a recurring character on Hawaii Five-O and a little role in a huge major motion picture coming out this year as well as a lead in a Hawaiian independent film slated for production later this year. A play I directed is also touring the islands.
All I can remember about how I got interested in hula was when I saw it, I knew it was something I wanted to learn about. There was a visceral connection to hula that I still have now.
My other passions include acting and now filmmaking and directing. I just love to create. Whether it's a character or a story or a film or theater piece or a song. There is really something exciting to me about collaborating and co-creating with other creative minds and bringing an idea to life that can touch and move and entertain people. I also really love to travel and watch movies and try new things and experience life to the fullest.
The Haumāna was a way for me to pay homage to the culture I feel so blessed to be a part of. It is a way for me to use the skills that I have been trained in to show the world a perspective of our tradition they might not have seen before in a hopefully entertaining way. And to show why we love hula so much and why it's so important to us. The tremendously positive reaction it has been getting reiterates the commonality all hula dancers have in our love and respect for hula.
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Frances Kai-Hwa Wang
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 Frances Kai-Hwa Wang was born and raised in California of Chinese parents who came to America for graduate school.
She has a masters in Philosophy and has worked in philosophy, journalism, anthropology, international development, nonprofits, and small business start-ups. She's also edited and wrote for IMDiversity.com Asian American Village and a nationally syndicated column called "Adventures in Multicultural Living,." She is a contributor for New America Media's Ethnoblog, Chicago is the World, PacificCitizen.org, InCultureParent.com, and HuffPost Live. She currently team-teaches Asian/ Pacific Islander American civil rights and media courses at University of Michigan and University of Michigan Dearborn as well as teaches writing at the University of Hawaii Hilo.
June Tanoue: During cold winter days, it's wonderful to daydream about Hawaii. Tell me what you love about the Big Island.
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang: The children and I go see their Gong Gong and Po Po on the Big Island of Hawai'i every summer. What is there not to love? Swimming. Sea turtles. Spam musubi. Sunshine. We stay far away from where the tourists go, and we find that we can pass for local.
Little Brother, in particular, disappears completely when he is out on the soccer field with all the other beautiful brown-skinned black-haired hapa boys. We take our time listening to the Uncles and Aunties talk story. We explore the natural wonders and many cultures of this place. We read the literature and study the history. We are embraced by the most interesting characters, and we end up having the most curious adventures.
By the end of every summer, we are talking and thinking and dreaming in pidgin. My children and I discover a new way of belonging, one that is very Asian Pacific American, one that does not simply allow us to belong, but one that presumes we belong.
June Tanoue: What is your passion?
FKW: I really want to help empower younger Asian Pacific Americans so that they do not have to go through the same stuff we did with identity crises, being a minority, always being "the only one." I would love to spare people (starting with my own children) the angst of wrestling with who they are, what they are, how they fit in, and help them develop a strong sense of identity, culture, and pride.
It is important to educate young people about both the history and culture(s) from which their families came (to give them strength), and the Asian Pacific American history of which they are now a part (so they know they have a place here). Then give them the space to create something new.
I love Asian Pacific American arts and cultures, the way that contemporary artists combine the old/traditional arts with the new/contemporary arts, the way that our cultures are constantly adapting to new environments (like Spam Musubi).
I love the connections that are constantly being made between people of different colors and cultures, and the very cool Asian Pacific Americans who are there in the middle of it all. I think there are very cool global arts connections to be made with the Asian and Pacific Islander diaspora around the world.
JT: What's important to you about writing?
FKW: It is when I am writing that I am most myself. At some basic level, I write in order to get what is in my head in line with what is in my heart, so writing is not so much a passion as it is necessary housekeeping. But when I am writing, my head is much clearer, my heart is much happier, I see and feel more honestly. Writing and then putting it on my "ha" or breath opens up such a space of creative possibility.
I also write to help educate folks about Asian Pacific American, immigrant, and other multicultural issues; to help cultivate the next generation; and to advocate for more recent immigrants who might not have the education, political awareness, or English skills to fight for their rights and their children's rights.
And, of course, to try to create some art along the way.
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About Us 
Halau i Ka Pono means School that Cultivates the Goodness. We teach the Hula which is the art of Hawaiian dance expressing all that we see, hear, taste, touch, and feel. Hula and healing go hand in hand in our halau. The dance connects us to the grounding energy of the earth and opens us to the warm spirit of Aloha (love). Come join us! Beginners are welcome!
Please communicate with us! Contact Kumu June at june.tanoue@zlmc.org for more information. May your lives be full of aloha blessings!
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