KUMZ

I love hula!

Iʻve been in a 40+ year love affair with hula. It all started from a television broadcast on a black & white television, on the Japanese channel 13, KIKU, in the 60ʻs. There she was, the most beautiful girl I ever saw, dancing a solo in a snowy white holokū. Or may be not…because the tv and I both flatlined and all there was, was the snowy static.

Years later my best buddy Hiʻilei was asked by a friend to come to hula class, so he asked me to go with him. I was reluctant until he introduced me to his friend. There she was, the KIKU channel 13 hula girl and she was just stunning.

Needless to say I ended up accompanying my buddy to hula class. Hula class was upstairs in a little business building on the backroads of Waipahu, just a jump from the sugar mill, and a 10 minute stroll to Arakawaʻs department store.

Hiʻilei and I strolled in, awkwardly sat down, and did what every guy would do, gawked at all of the pretty girls.

Then we heard a sweet invitation…

EH you 2 guys over there, come here, the girls going give you the end of their leis, when I tell you to, you hold em up!

And then the drums started. Girls in shooooort shoooort wraps began going nutz. Shaking wildly here, there and everywhere, spinning and wiggling. Then they started circling around us like they were sharks and we were their guppies. All the while smiling as they closed in.

Itʻs what every guy dreams of!

Every lei we got was like getting a phone number, unfortunately they were all out of order. Each end of the lei we took, that girl spun around and shook their backsides even more. Then they quickly danced away from us and we put our arms up, and it created a maypole formation, and we were the all important pole GEEKS. After a quick nonchelant armpit check, I leaned over to my buddy Hiʻilei and told him "Iʻm coming to hula class EVERYDAY!"

And here I am, the kumu hula and creative director at the Academy Of Hawaiian Arts. Itʻs as far off the bullseye as I could have imagined.

Aloha, Kumz