PO‘IPU — One of the largest groups since the opening of the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort and Spa in 1990 rolled in Thursday. Literally. “Bus, after bus, they came as the planes landed in Lihu‘e,” said Stella Burgess, director of
PO‘IPU — One of the largest groups since the opening of the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort and Spa in 1990 rolled in Thursday.
Literally.
“Bus, after bus, they came as the planes landed in Lihu‘e,” said Stella Burgess, director of Hawaiian culture at the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i.
About 480 clients from Japan spent the weekend at the Po‘ipu resort and filled more than 200 rooms.
Burgess said the group was here for a hula workshop led by Kumu Hula Olana Ai of Honolulu, who also brought members of her Halau Hula Olana to assist.
A spokesman for Halau Hula Olana said the last time they did this kind of gathering was three years ago when the Japanese hula students gathered in Waikiki.
One facet of the gathering was the sunrise tribute at 5:30. As the sun rose, the group performed its hula noho at Keoneloa Bay.
“Imagine, 40 rows of 10 hula dancers each, and for each 10, there was an alaka‘i. They don’t understand English so in order to communicate, we had to find the alaka‘i,” Burgess said.
Burgess said she and others were in Koke‘e at 4:30 a.m. to collect maile, mokihana, and olapalapa leaves.
“These are the what you present in lei to kumu hula, and when we presented the lei to Kumu, she was crying, tears rolling down her cheeks,” Burgess said.
Ai said they were planning to come to Kaua‘i with the group six years ago, but couldn’t.
“Since that time, there have been disasters, even here on Kaua‘i,” Ai said. “In Sendai, we have had people who have taken their lives, missing those who did not make it through the disaster and just not wanting to move ahead, anymore.”
Some of the hula dancers who visited were from Sendai, where at least 15,000 died in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Ai said that motivated the halau to create a kahiko in tribute to survivors and the strength and courage they display to help others move forward.
Halau Hula Olana, or the School of Living Hula, founded by Howard and Olanai Ai in 1975, has grown to become one of the largest hula schools in Hawai‘i.
“A lot of the dancers are from the country and for many, this is their first trip to the ‘Big City,’” Burgess said. “Many of them have never seen the ocean because of where they come from, and coming to the beach at Po‘ipu is a real treat.”
