The Merrie Monarch Festival stage at the Edith Kanaka‘ole Multi-Purpose Stadium in Hilo is set, ready for dancers to put forth their best performances in the prestigious hula competition.
Thirteen solo dancers will vie for the Miss Aloha Hula title Thursday evening, while 27 different hula groups — 10 kane and 17 wahine — from throughout the state and California will participate in the group kahiko and auana competitions Friday and Saturday, with winners announced late into the night.
“I am looking forward to an incredible group of dancers,” said festival President Luana Kawelu amid the hustle and bustle of preparations in Hilo. “The beauty of it all will be shown on stage.”
Kawelu, 84, remembers the challenges of holding the competition through the COVID-19 pandemic years, including the first cancellation in the festival’s decades-long history in 2020. The following year, the competition was held without a live audience and the year after that, with a limited audience.
She is happy to see the festival back to its full glory before a live audience — a sign that the love of hula is still going strong. Tickets, which are issued following mailed-in ticket requests in December, are sold out, as always.
“It shows the resilience of our tradition that it lasted through COVID,” Kawelu said. “Those were hard years but they (the halau) wanted to come back, and we’re still going 62 years now.”
This year’s hula competition includes a formidable lineup, with many award-winning halau and past winners bringing seasoned and new generations of dancers. Some are returning after a years-long hiatus.
Kumu Robert Cazimero is bringing his award-winning Halau Na Kamalei O Lililehua to the stage this year in his 50th year of teaching.
The kane halau last competed in 2015, when it won the overall title. The halau competes only once every five to 10 years, but did not make it in 2020 due to the pandemic cancellation. The halau also won the overall title in 2005.
A new turn
Kumu Vicky Holt Takamine and her son, kumu Jeff Takamine, are bringing their halau, Pua Ali‘i ‘Ilima, back to the Merrie Monarch stage for another year.
Last year, the halau returned after a nearly 40-year hiatus with a new generation of 18 dancers who competed at Merrie Monarch for the first time under the direction of Jeff Takamine. The last time the halau had competed prior to that was in 1985.
This year, the halau is returning with 17 dancers, with some who now have Merrie Monarch experience and others who are brand-new. The troupe will present kahiko and auana numbers honoring Queen Emma Kaleleonalani, who has been an inspiration to Vicky Holt Takamine’s hula life.
The hula kahiko, “E Aha ‘Ia Ana ‘O Maunakea,” translated as “What Is Happening at Maunakea,” is a reminder of how sacred the mountain is as “Mauna a Wakea,” or the home of Wakea, the god who gave birth to the Hawaiian archipelago.
The song was composed to commemorate Queen Emma’s 1882 journey from Mana on Hawaii island to the home of Wakea to reacquaint herself with the land and her people. During this journey, she bathes in the waters of Waiau, a sacred ritual reserved for alii.
“It reminds us of the importance of protecting our sacred sites,” Jeff Takamine said. “It was significant to our alii and our people, and it’s sacred to us, so we felt it was very relevant to what’s going on today, with everything that’s going on up at Mauna Kea.”
The costume for the traditional kahiko performance is in a blue palette reflecting the colors of waters at Waiau and the sky at Mauna Kea.
For the modern-style auana dance, Jeff Takamine choreographed a fun and sassy number to “Wahine Hololio,” originally composed as a chant and set to music to celebrate Queen Emma’s skills as a horseback rider.
Fashion designer Ari South helped put together a look for the piece that follows the monarch on her horseback journey through Honolulu to the uplands of Nuuanu. The text of the mele and archived photos of Queen Emma in riding gear served as inspiration.
Hula as activism
For kumu Vicky Holt Takamine, hula is a form of resistance. Halau Pua Ali‘i ‘Ilima was established in 1977 and named by Takamine’s kumu hula, Maiki Aiu Lake. Besides being a kumu hula, Takamine is a political activist who lectured at the University of Hawaii at Manoa for more than 30 years.
She founded the PA‘I Foundation in 2001 with the mission of preserving and perpetuating Native Hawaiian arts and cultural traditions for future generations.
Hula, for her, encompasses much more than movement and dance.
“I think that’s what is so important about hula, is that it encompasses so much,” she said. “The protection and the love for our aina. Aloha aina is embedded in all of the mele, all of the songs and the chants, so when we teach our students, it’s not just about the movement. It’s about what the story or the chant or song is telling us about what’s happening or what was going on in the past.”
Those stories are passed down from generation to generation, preserving the traditional names of places and flora and fauna, some of which no longer exist, along with genealogies.
Hula, she said, kept the Hawaiian language, culture and history alive, even when it was banned.
Gish prize
The venerable Takamine is also the 2024 winner of the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, given annually to an individual who “has pushed the boundaries of an art form, contributed to social change, and paved the way for the next generation.”
In the words of Lillian Gish, a pioneering figure in American film, prize winners represent an artist or advocate “who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to (humankind’s) understanding and enjoyment of life.”
Takamine, 77, was completely shocked to learn in September that she had been awarded the prize, as she had no idea she was in the running for it. Apparently she was one of 100 nominees who were whittled down to two, and after much debate by a committee in New York, Takamine was chosen as the 31st recipient.
She is believed to be the first Native Hawaiian to receive the prize, which comes with a $450,000 award.
The nominations are submitted anonymously, and Takamine would learn later she was nominated by Susan Feder, the former program director of the Mellon Foundation. Takamine believes the accolade put hula on the map, and she was able to thank Feder personally during a gathering in New York.
Past recipients include author Isabel Allende, filmmakers Ava DuVernay and Spike Lee, actor Robert Redford and architect Maya Lin.
A higher bar
With the Merrie Monarch Festival, hula is on a world stage.
As a competitor and judge, Takamine said she has seen the festival evolve to a higher level of competition over the decades. The performances are more technical today than in the past, she said, with judges looking for uniformity and precision, along with interpretation, expression, posture and authenticity.
But she tells her dancers that it’s a competition before the seven judges, not with other halau, who are hula sisters and brothers sharing this experience. Takamine challenges her dancers to focus on doing their best before the judges, rather than on what other halau are doing. The goal of participating in a competition, of course, is to win.
She said the Merrie Monarch Festival is like a grand reunion for those dedicated to hula as an art form, and halau are there to support one another.
Among the other halau returning to the competition this year are Ka Pa Hula O Ka Lei Lehua under the direction of kumu Snowbird Bento and Halau Mohala ‘Ilima under the direction of kumu Mapuana de Silva.
Two halau from California — Halau Keali‘i O Nalani under the direction of kumu Keali‘i Ceballos and the Academy of Hawaiian Arts under the direction of kumu Mark Keali‘i Ho‘omalu, a crowd favorite — also are competing this year.
Ho‘ike night, a free performance at the Edith Kanaka‘ole Multi-Purpose Stadium on Wednesday, will showcase crowd favorite Halau O Kekuhi of Hilo, followed by the winner of the contest at Hilo’s sister city of Ikaho, Japan. Nonosina, a Polynesian dance group from California, also will perform.
The Ho‘ike — as in the past — will be open for seating on a first-come, first-served basis, with people lining up early in the morning.
The judges for this year’s hula competition are Maelia Carter, Sonny Ching, Pualani Kanahele, Noenoe Lewis, Etua Lopes, Tracie Lopes and Wallis Punua.
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Merrie Monarch Festival Schedule
>> Ho‘olaule‘a with performances by local halau, 9 a.m. today, Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium; free.
>> Merrie Monarch Hawaiian Arts & Crafts Fair, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
>> Ho‘ike, an exhibition of hula and dance from around the Pacific, 6 p.m. Wednesday, Edith Kanaka‘ole Multi- Purpose Stadium; free.
>> Miss Aloha Hula competition, 6 p.m. Thursday, Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium; sold out.
>> Group hula kahiko competition, 6 p.m. Friday, Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium; sold out.
>> Group hula auana competition and awards, 6 p.m. Saturday, Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium; sold out.
>> Merrie Monarch Royal Parade, 10:30 a.m. Saturday, begins and ends at Pauahi Street and winds through downtown Hilo.
>> Visit merriemonarch.com.
How to watch
>> Hawaii News Now will broadcast the competition. Visit hawaiinewsnow.com/merriemonarch for the schedule.
>> Watch via livestream; find the link at merriemonarch.com/2025-festival-live-stream-eng
