ART SAPIANDANTE
In 2003, a friend convinced a group of our friends to go and try dancing hula. I was the one in the group who had zero interest and only agreed to try one time to appease them.
I walked through the doors of AHA not wanting to dance hula and adamant I was going to show up this one day and that was it.
I walked out the same night signed up for 1 month and adamant I would be done after that.
20 years later, I’m the last one of the friends that’s still here. Not being Hawaiian nor from Hawaii and not one to really draw attention to myself, it started out just liking the physical workout and getting to learn a little about the Hawaiian culture. I was not good at all and doing shows or competitions was the furthest thing from my mind, let alone ever dancing at Merrie Monarch.
As time went on, I began to form bonds with Kumu Mark along with the advanced dancers and appreciative of the time and effort they put in to help me not to look totally “crappy”. Their willingness to help me made me want to give more effort to get better.
In 2004, I did my first competition at Ia ‘Oe E Ka La Hula Festival and literally fell on my face.
It was the worst and best thing to happen to me in my entire hula career. Kumu Mark expects a certain decorum that his dancers carry in public. As embarrassing and deflating as it was, I learned to remain modest, control my emotions and keep my composure. It also made me realize just how tight the bond was that was formed with my hula brothers.
A few months later Kumz announced that AHA was accepted to compete at the 2006 Merrie Monarch Hula Festival. I heard of Merrie Monarch, but, didn’t really grasp how much of a big deal it was. After what happened at ‘Oe E Ka La, I was convinced I wouldn’t make the floor and just went along to be apart of the journey. Surprisingly, I actually made the line. I guess after hundreds of hours of practicing, you have no choice but to get better.
This will be my 9th (actually 10th to train for) Merrie Monarch. Training every year comes with a lot of physical pains/injuries, mental breakdowns, self doubt, emotional stress and tons of sacrifice. But, the journey has always been worth it. After the second time, it naturally evolved to not only getting myself prepared to compete. But, to give the additional effort to help newer dancers that are willing put in the work and sacrifice to also make the line. As with any team environment there’s always a special satisfaction to be apart of and watch them achieve that goal and experience something not everyone gets to. Thankfully, I’ve retained friendships and bonds with every kane dancer I trained with.
I admittedly have a short hula retention. I don’t remember every dance I did for any of the Merrie Monarchs I participated in. But, I can vividly remember every experience throughout the process of each journey. The feeling of anticipation when getting off the plane in Hilo and the energy you feel taking the first steps into Edith Kanakaʻole stadium is like no other. This year I get to step back a little and let a younger generation of AHA kane dancers lead the way and experience the process how I did the first time. The goal is still the same. Give my best effort and give the audience the best performance we can offer.
This will be my 9th (actually 10th to train for) Merrie Monarch.
Training every year comes with a lot of physical pains/injuries, mental breakdowns, self doubt, emotional stress and tons of sacrifice.
But, the journey has always been worth it.
After the second time, it naturally evolved to not only getting myself prepared to compete, but to give the additional effort to help newer dancers that are willing put in the work and sacrifice to also make the line. As with any team environment there’s always a special satisfaction to be apart of and watch them achieve that goal and experience something not everyone gets to. Thankfully, I’ve retained friendships and bonds with every kane dancer I trained with.
I admittedly have a short hula retention. I don’t remember every dance I did for any of the Merrie Monarchs I participated in. But, I can vividly remember every experience throughout the process of each journey. The feeling of anticipation when getting off the plane in Hilo and the energy you feel taking the first steps into Edith Kanakaʻole stadium is like no other.
This year I get to step back a little and let a younger generation of AHA kane dancers lead the way and experience the process how I did the first time. The goal is still the same. Give my best effort and give the audience the best performance we can offer.
