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KALISI KUPU

Aloha! I'm Kalisi

My journey to the Academy of Hawaiian Arts (AHA) started when I was suffering with symptoms of senioritis during undergrad. Senioritis...what?

 

Yes.

 

After three-and-a-half years of heavy academic courses, I decided that during my last semester of undergrad, I was going to take my core classes, but load up on electives. So, I opted to take swimming, some sort of gym class, and a hula class to make up for the credits of an actual academic class. This was a win-win for me. How does this tie back to your journey to AHA?
 
It was during my fun elective hula class that my instructor planted the seed by suggesting that I look into joining a hālau. Struggling with senioritis and stressed about the next steps after undergrad, my instructor’s comments were placed at the back of my mind.

A few years later, I finished grad school and I became focused on doing things that would make me feel good and keep me grounded. Polynesian dancing was a method of connecting to my roots, especially when it was rare to find others who looked like me in my academic world. Polynesian dancing met the criteria of making me feel good and keeping me grounded.

So, I decided to do a general google search of Polynesian dance classes in the Bay Area. It was at this point, that my instructor’s comments from undergrad resurfaced and I google-ed, “hula studio in Oakland”. AHA popped up and it was close to me! Unfortunately, they were not accepting new students, but I marked my calendar for their next open enrollment period and forgot about it for a few months.
 
 When the open enrollment reminder came up on my calendar, I went. I intentionally did not do research on AHA because I just wanted to physically show up to see if “it felt right”. Let me tell you why I decided to commit to taking classes at AHA.
 
It was during that open enrollment day. We started off with warm-ups on the ground. It started off with a repetition of ‘uwehe and I was feelin’ it and thought, “I got this”. THEN, arms were added with “up, chest, floor, chest”. THEN, “akau, hema, hema, akau”. I just could not get it down, I looked terrible.

 

In fact, I was pissed about not being able to get it down and that’s when I decided, I’m going back so I can learn that damn warm-up.

It was during that open enrollment day. We started off with warm-ups on the ground. It started off with a repetition of ‘uwehe and I was feelin’ it and thought, “I got this”. THEN, arms were added with “up, chest, floor, chest”. THEN, “akau, hema, hema, akau”. I just could not get it down, I looked terrible. In fact, I was pissed about not being able to get it down and that’s when I decided, I’m going back so I can learn that damn warm-up. 

 There are always seeds being planted in our lives that get us to exactly to where we are meant to be. The comments of an instructor from an elective class, to a period of your life where you are searching for grounding, to frustration about not getting a damn warm-up routine down the first time (haha) to my first Hōʻike with AHA and feeling like “damn, that’s an amazing feel”. It’s been a journey and one that continues to feel right for me.

 

Mahalo for your support in my/our journey.

 

 

 

 

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