On the evening of July 14, 1977, Iolani Luahine (1915-1978) — esteemed Native Hawaiian teacher, dancer and chanter of ancient hula — performed during a rare public appearance at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall in Lihue.
Born on the Big Island, Iolani was raised by her great aunt, Kauai-born Keahi Luahine (1877-1937), who began teaching her the chants, dances and legends of the ancient Kauai form of hula when Iolani was four years old.
When Keahi Luahine was herself a child many years earlier, Queen Kapiolani had brought her to Honolulu to be reared by Kapiolani’s sister, Poomaikelani, and it’s probable that Keahi performed there in the presence of King Kalakaua.
Iolani Luahine attended Kamehameha Schools, St. Andrew’s Priory and the University of Hawaii, where her other mentor, hula master Mary Kawena Pukui (1895-1986), continued instructing her in traditional hula.
Dorothy Thompson (1921-2010), a co-founder of Hilo’s annual Merrie Monarch Festival, once described Iolani as “an extraordinary dancer. She seemed like she would go into a trance. And her movements were like nobody else’s.”
Miss Thompson also spoke of a demonstration of Iolani’s apparent mystical powers that she’d witnessed one rainy day at the 1969 Merrie Monarch Festival.
Thompson asserted that during a pouring rain, Iolani had accurately predicted the precise times when continuous showers would actually stop, and then resume two hours afterward.
Another of Iolani’s friends, hula master George Naope (1928-2009), told the tale of a very windy day, when “Iolani turned around, chanted, and the wind stopped.”
When Iolani died, Mainland and local newspapers declared that she was “regarded as Hawaii’s last great exponent of the sacred hula ceremony,” and “the foremost hula dancer of the 20th century.”
Also performing at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall were Kauai dancers and teachers Kuulei Punua, Henry Taeza, and Naomi Yokotake, as well as visiting dancers from Oahu.
