DOROTHY DELA CRUZ

“There are times, when you’ll need someone.  I will be by your side.  There is a light that shines, special for you and me.  I never knew a luh-luh-luh a love like this.  Gotta be something for me to write this.” - Common

 

A love like this.  It’s been 20+ years since my love cup was full like this.  It’s a different but familiar kind of love.  

 

There’s a theory that throughout our lifetime, we’ll fall in love three times, at three different stages of our lives.  Each love feels totally unique from the other and teaches us something different that shapes the person that we’re becoming.

My first competition was at E Hula Mau in 1996 with Kumu Kaimi Matthews Valdez.  We were a small but mighty group.  At 16 years old, hula was my life. I remember the the bond between us hula sisters, the laughter, the sweat and tears, but nothing would compare to the thrill I felt stepping onto that stage for the first time in my life.

 

And oh my goodness, the mana felt in that room during all of the performances made a huge impact, but there were a couple halaus that made my jaw drop and say - DAMN. I fell in love, and my heart and love cup was full. Kumu Kaimi moved to Arizona after that, and my love cup began to drain.  I needed to fill it up again. Hula was calling.

 

A handful of us answered the call and started dancing with Kumu Hula Clark Bolivar Jr. later that year.  This was one of the halaus that imprinted in my brain at E Hula Mau during my first competition.  Their light shined bright, special for me.

 Hula was calling.

I fell in love again, more intensely, as I learned more about the language, the culture, the history, and how every movement expressed a different detail in the stories we told.  I laughed, sweat and cried more.  This time I danced on the Ia ‘Oe Ka La and E Hula Mau stages, with my hula sisters and later as a soloist.  That thrill turned into fright, and I was scared, (which was not a bad thing) but I welcomed it and embraced it.  I learned more about myself and this love, this different, intense, but familiar kind of love.

As much as I loved hula, I was called to something else – motherhood.  I took a step back from hula, but she was always there, waiting for her love cup to be filled again.

 

And then, 20+ years later, she called.  The void in my heart was getting too large, and my love cup needed to be filled.  My dearest ride-or die, sistah from another mistah, Ria, called me after she watched Merrie Monarch in Hilo and said, Dorothy – it’s time.
 

Hula was calling her back too.

 
Academy of Hawaiian Arts popped in my head, which was one of the halaus back in 1996, and continuing every year after that, to make me say DAMN.  We have to see if the AHA is accepting new dancers, and thank Laka, they did!
I was scared.  It’s been over two decades since I’ve felt that love, but there they were, Auntie Pua welcoming me with open arms, my new haumana, smiling, laughing and eating Nerdz Clusters.  Nerdz Clusters!!  I thought I was the only one who absolutely LOVED Nerdz Clusters, and in the hands of these beautiful men and women, were my favorite candy.  
 

Hula - you really know how to reel me in!  LOL!  

 

And there, standing in the corner, was the one and only Kumu HulaMark Keali’i Ho’omalu. DAMN.

 
Practicing that night and thereafter, I’ve never sweat so much in my life. Every muscle hurt, but I welcomed and embraced it. My love cup was starting to fill back up. I’m in love again and the void is gone.
 
Everything I learned in the past, I was told not to forget, but to add to it. AHA is waking up things in my mind and heart that have been dormant for a long time.
 
I’m enlightened with new knowledge and moves, and the light is brighter than the sun. I’m so grateful to be dancing next to all of you, by your side.

 

When I got the invitation call to the Master’s Class, it felt like I was being nominated for an Emmy! My love cup is overflowing now with more laughs, A LOT MORE sweat, and even more tears.

 

My journey to Merrie Monarch is thrilling, scary, passionate, intense and hard, but knowing and feeling the love shared within AHA, and my family and friends, is the force that’s driving me to do my best, pound bombastically hard, and kick ass.

 

I got this! You got this! We got this!

E O Dorothy Dela Cruz!!