Bottom line, Kamuela won, Pu’uanahulu took men’s and second and now, here are the Merrie Monarch Festival 2008 hula competition results, in point order:

• Wahine Kahiko:

Halau Hula ‘O Kamuela

Halau Na Mamo O Pu’uanahulu

Halau Hula Olana

Ka Pa Hula O Kauanoe O Wa’ahila

Halau Mohala ‘Ilima

• Wahine ‘Auana:

Hula Halau ‘O Kamuela

Halau Na Mamo O Pu’uanahulu

Ka Leo o Laka I Ka Hikina O Ka La

Halau Hula Olana

Halau Mohala ‘Ilima

• Wahine overall

Hula Halau ‘O Kamuela

Halau Na Mamo O Pu’uanahulu

Halau Hula Olana

• Kane Kahiko

Halau Na Mamo O Pu’uanahulu

Ke Kai O Kahiki

Kawaili’ula

Halau Keali’i ‘O Nalani

• Kane ‘Auana

Halau Na Mamo O Pu’uanahulu

Ke Kai O Kahiki

Kawaiili’ula

Halau Ke Ki’ai A O Hula

• Kane Overall

Halau Na Mamo O Pu’uanahulu

Ke Kai O Kahiki

Kawaiili’ula

• Overall winner

Hula Halau ‘O Kamuela

As I write this, at 2 o’clock in the morning on Sunday, Merrie Monarch 2008 is being celebrated in the halls of the Hilo Hawaiian hotel with chants and impromptu dances.
I’m fried and as close as I ever get to hula’d out (I never get totally hula’d out).
Here are the things I’ve extracted from my notes… and with these go my fond aloha for all who love the hula and Merrie Monarch.
Colors of the year: The full range of red hues from fuschia to scarlet. (No accident, probably; red was the official Merrie Monarch theme color this year.)
Flower of the year: Hala; so many halau were wearing some form of hala that I lost track.
Comebacks: pikake and ginger (the scent was heavenly at times in the stadium), cummerbunds for men (there were some pretty fancy ones).
Hadn’t seen this before: Greg Lontayao’s Halau Kawaihoa wearing lavender lei that looked like agapanthus but that actually were, according to my seat neighbor (who had binoculars), dyed tuberose. Whatever, to me they looked fabulous against the dancers’ light green gowns.
Heart-tugger of the night on Saturday: Karla Akiona’s Na Mea Hula O Kahikinaokalalani dancing to “Holei,” a song about Kalapana (which, of course, is no longer there, really, having been taken over by the volcano). There was so much love and emotion in their rendition of this song about her family home, her ancestors and their values. The costuming was exceptional, too: Pele-red with a sort of surplice top gathered at one shoulder and made of some fabric that flowed like lava. There was a thing they did toward the end of the song, crossing their hands over their chests, with bowed heads, that just tore the heart out of you.
Heart tugger of the night No. 2: When Mapuana de Silva brought back dancers from throughout her career and had them perform, along with her younger dancers, songs that are special to the lineage of the beloved hula teacher Auntie Maiki Aiu Lake. Again, what love and beauty. Women in their 40s and 50s returning to the MM stage and loving it and dancing from the na’au. As my first hula teacher used to say, “Ho! Ka beauty!”
Noticed: How beautiful are the delicate but strong feet of dancers. Their toes embrace the firmament; their arches rise sensually. It’s not something you can see very well on television but sometime when you can, at a live hula performance, try just watching the feet.
Overheard, and so right: “I just can’t watch hula in shoes. Shoes are wrong.”
Surprise of the night: My favorite bad boy, Mark Keali’i Ho’omalu, not being bad. Well, he was a little naughty: There was this prancing, hopping step (which I’m sure is not traditional and drove the judges crazy) late in his women’s ‘auana song that delighted the audiences, but he dressed his girls in period costumes and did a song about Queen Kapi’olani. Who would have expected that from Mr. I-wear-my-sunglasses-all-the-time-and-get-over-it?
Noted while watching the performance of Halau Hula Olana, kumu hula Howard and Olana Ai: You know when the hula is being well done when all the skirts are swishing in unison; at the same time and in the same direction.
Note to self, if ever become kumu hula: Satin sailah moku pants. Don’t do them. Ever. They don’t flatter anyone’s fanny.
Most amazing choreography: When Halau Na Lei Kaumaka O Uka broke into a sort of cartwheel formation, with lines dancing in circle converging on the center.
Ruffle revival: Anyone else notice how many halau had either a short ruffle at the bottom of their holoku or a loose ruffled neckline?
Not unexpected but kind of crazy-making moments: When the halau that are perfect, technically, get the big prizes, and the ones that really communicated their stories and their emotions don’t get recognized. I know that any single one of the judges knows more about hula than I have in my little finger. I also know that, when we watched that performance about Kalapana, and when Mapuana’s older “girls” danced, it was intensely moving.
We have a saying in journalism: “What readers love, editors hate.” So often, what MM audiences love, judges don’t give the points to.
But still, we all get to watch. And enjoy. And appreciate.
Me ke aloha pumehana…

Wanda A.

HILO, Hawai’i— Merrie Monarch Friday. Kahiko night, my favorite. And was there some awesome dancing, or what?
I screamed and screamed while other members of the media sitting near me remained silent, sitting back (or in some cases, so busy with filing photographs digitally online that they couldn’t pay any attention to what was going on). Am I easily amused? Yes. Are they missing something? Well, yes, IMHO. Because if you can sit at Merrie Monarch and not go nuts for the experience, why go?
One thing I noticed … several halau used song-style mele that actually involved three- or four-part harmony. You know, Kamehameha Schools, Ho”’okena style? On kahiko night? Did they have harmony then, in kahiko times? Just a question. They sounded great. I’m not criticizing.
But let’s go back to Thursday night for a moment. Miss Aloha Hula. Just as I was leaving the stadium at midnight Thursay, I noticed Miss AH 2007, Keonilei Fairbanks, in the midst of a group of friends who were loving her up for her heart-stirring performance (wearing a gown she bought at Nordstrom that was a knockout, a halter top, diaphanous silk with some sort of back action that looked like a train but wasn’t, in shades that went from white at the beaded collar to sea-blue turquoise at the hem).
(And by the way, diaphanous, shimmery, iridescent … those were costume trends this year for sure.)
I was tired. It was late. But I had to grab a notebook and a pen and ask her, as the new Miss Aloha Hula was doing one photo-op after another across the room (and between Big Island, Honolulu and Japanese media, the press press is heavy at MM): How did it feel to do that final dance?
Said the longtime member of Ka Pa Hula O Kauanoe O Waahila, “It was definitely bittersweet. It felt really good to be back on stage. I wanted to change my clothes and go do a kahiko.”
But Fairbanks, who is in college and working in child counseling, enjoyed her Miss Aloha Hula year and wouldn’t trade it for anything. She knows it’s time to move on. But not on from hula completely: “Hula is great. It doesn’t ever end,” she said.
Speaking of the first Miss Aloha Hula, kumu Aloha Dalire, whose girl had just won Miss Aloha Hula (and don’t be offended at the use of the now-sexist word “girl” — here, it’s always “Aloha’s girl” or “Sonny’s girl”…meaning the Miss AH contestant they have chosen): Dalire said, “Once a Miss Aloha Hula, always a Miss Aloha Hula.”
Back to last night…
This is not going to make me popular with traditionalists, but I think Mark Keali’i Ho’omalu, the controversial California kumu, for all his in-your-face Attitude, is the Johnny Lum Ho of the day. I notice something: Even though he gets bad-mouthed left and right for this and that — the way he dresses, the way he chants, “untraditional” behavior — he keeps getting invited back. This would be, I think, because what he’s doing is very, very interesting. From the first moment I heard him chant on the radio years ago, I didn’t just go, “Who is that??” — the way you do when you think maybe you wanna buy the CD. No, I said, “WHAT is that?” His style is so different and distinct. It’s chanting, but it’s somehow contemporary and arresting. And although I recognize how adolescent his attitude sometimes seems (OK, we DON’T wear sunglasses on the hula pa, even in rehearsal, brah), when he and his haumana come on stage, I sit up, take notice and take names.

This is pretty much all I got for now. I gotta go buy major omiyage for the office and stuff, and I need to sleep before tonight’s marathon. … And for the first time in covering MM 5 years, I have no idea, none, puka, a’ole, who is going to win tonight. So I gotta get my game face on.

Mahalo for reading The Honolulu Advertiser and my blog and enjoy the hula tonight!!!!

HILO, Hawai’i, the wee hours of Friday morning — Do you know how many gray Impala rental cars there are in Hilo? I do because when I came out of the Merrie Monarch Miss Aloha Hula competition tonight at midnight, I put my car key into every one of them.
OK, so that’s my babooze me story for the night. I did find my car at last and I did get home. But the delay in finding it is one reason my blog didn’t get posted last night. By the time I got home … late, exhausted … writing between bites of a cold plate lunch, I was falling asleep mid-sentence.

Let’s talk hula.

Random notes from Miss Aloha Hula night:

I wrote this: “You know how every little girl wants to be a bride in a fabulous white dress. … Every Island girl wants to be Miss Aloha Hula, dancing in a dress with a fitted top and a full skirt flowing around her and the Makaha Sons or the Caz or that hunky Kaumaka’iwa Kanaka’ole singing their hearts out for you.” And right after I wrote that, I turned and, behind me, was the most gorgeous little girl, watching Miss Aloha Hula with her mother (who was a great help to me in identifying flowers as we watched the dancers). I asked the little girl if someday she wanted to be on that stage and she said, “No, everyone would be looking at you.” So, so much for my deep insights into the minds of young women.

Possible color trend (not as clear as in some years): red/russet/maroon/burgundy….moving over into fuschia/pink/rose. (Of course, this year, the official T-shirt is red, for the lehua, flower of Hilo.)

Possible flower trend: Pikake. The scent is everywhere and numerous gorgeous pikake colors and longer lei were seen on competitors as well as spectators. Although puakenikeni did make a big showing: There was one contestant that had like 6 strands, maybe 8, to her knees!

Best overheards of the day: Tehani to Paula, “Just put your head down and keep going.” To understand how funny this is, you have to know that Tehani and Paula are TV personalities and they’re trying to get to the bathroom during a station break and people keep stopping them to talk story. And the bathroom lines at Merrie Monarch? Even for VIPS, who have a special lua; even if you have access to the honey buckets in the back … it can take a while to go benjo. I missed a whole song!

Another overheard: Just before Miss Aloha Hula first runner-up Kapalai’ula de Silva put her foot on the ramp to go on stage, her mother, who is also her kumu hula (teacher), Mapuana de Silva of storied Halau Mohala Ilima, whispered, “Have fun.” I was a few feet away, and I may have heard it incorrectly, but I think that’s what she said. Even if that’s not exactly right, you could not mistake the love that infused her expression and flowed out from her. I’ve been privileged to watch Mapuana de Silva in rehearsal a few times and she is so quiet and so centered and so expressive of positive values as she gently but firmly teaches. She is the mother all of us have wanted to have.

And “have fun”… what an enlightening thing to say to someone who is about to do something so demanding and frightening and potentially life-changing. There is no technical correction that can make a difference at the last minute. They’re ready or they’re not. So giving the person permission to have fun … how right.
It looked to me like Ms. De Silva did have fun, because she finished the night in a flat tie with the winner and it was only the complex numerical tie-breaker system that Merrie Monarch has in place that was able to mke a decision between winner Kalimakuhilani A. K. Suganuma and de Silva.
Both of them delivered performances that had me — a hula lover but very far from a hula expert— gasping out loud.
Among my notes is one that says”hands to face!” I was making note of the number of times I unconsciously slapped my hands to my face, dropped my jaw, cried out in awe … watching these Miss Aloha Hula competitors.

Another note says, “How good can we get?” — meaning how much more can these dancers achieve? Although we can quibble about song choice and such, the quality of the language usage, the depth of research, the chanting technique. … I’ve only been covering MM for five years and the increased sophistication, dedication to delving into the deeper meaning and ability to even play with the language in the way pre-contact Hawaiians loved to do is astonishing today compared to just a few years ago.
When Kalimakuhilani Suganuma was dancing her kahiko number, my notes read: “This is one of those difficult moments when, if you don’t speak the language, or know hula intimately, you can’t be sure how good the dancer is. But it looks to me like she’s very, very good. She has become the dance.”
It’s not that there was no one writing mele or doing research or playing with words five years ago (just think back to the year one of the men’s halau used Puakea Nogelmier’s nematode song). What’s different is that there are so many more people able to do it, as the Hawaiians so eloquently say, who are ma’a to it. The language, and with it the whole complex thing that is a culture, is seeping through our lives like water, spreading, finding its level, rising. It’s beautiful to see.

And speaking of beautiful … I’m going to file this now. It’s just before 7 a.m. Poli’ahu the snow goddess is doing things on top of Mauna Kea that are illegal in five states … the rosy tint of the dawn, the trailing line of mist, the bright white shining snow … ohmigosh. If only you could all be here with us!

HILO, Hawaii: In today’s Merrie Monarch blog, NOT ONE WORD ABOUT FOOD (except, I have to say mahalo for the oxtail soup at Kuhio Grille, where I had a late lunch today with Chef George Mavrothalassitis and his wife Donna Jung).

You know you really love the oxtail soup when you find yourself trying to figure out a way to distract the sophisticated French chef across the table from you so you can pick up the bones with your hashi and slurp on them!

Mavro and Donna came into town to experience for the first time the free ho’ike, a gift each Wednesday night of Merrie Monarch week from Halau O Kekuhi to the people of Hilo. Which led to an interesting thought: Which is your favorite night of MM?

For me, when I’m watching in person, it’s the non-televised ho’ike that I love the best, which is always extremely lively, varied and exciting, with Halau O Kekuhi doing their ai haa (low, gutteral, energetic hula style) and their extremely honored and absolutely terrified invited guests (which range from Japanese halau to Maori and this year’s Tahitians and a Mexican dance troupe which also dances hula).

Plus, ho’ike also includes people who aren’t competing; it’s been the only time in some time that we’ve been able to see Johnny Lum Ho’s Ka Ua Kani Lehua troupe, for many, many years a perennial MM crowd pleaser and winner.

I asked my friend Tommy Boyd, who works for Bishop Museum and whose brother, Manu, has been both a commentator and a competitor on Merrie Monarch, about his favorite hula. His answer was: “’Auana, because it reminds me of the old days, the old Na Pua Lei, the old Mapuana; that’s what I used to love, the fabulous lines where not one inch of hair or body movement was out of place. If you had 50 girls, all 50 girls moved as though they were one girl. . . . the old old, party days, the old lu’au.”

I called my friend Marylene Chun, who arrived today from Kailua to attend MM, one of her favorite things — “hula heaven,” she calls it — and she said: “It would be kahiko, definitely. I love it for the ancient connections, the costuming. That’s where it all came from; the purity. So, hands-down, kahiko.”

I asked a Japanese national, who dances hula in Tokyo, who loves the art enough to have traveled across the ocean four of five times to see Merrie Monarch, Masako (she didn’t want to give her last name) and she said Miss Aloha Hula because (assuming the interpreter and I were in synch) “ in my dreams, I would like to do that.”

Doesn’t this say something about why this event is so popular and important? It reaches out to people who know and love hula in different ways and for different reasons.