Honoring Hawaiian culture, heritage

Hula is more than entertainment



BRINGING THE PAST INTO THE PRESENT—Camarillo resident Rona Pualanina`auali`ioha Koe opened her Hawaiian hula school in 2012. MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

When Rona Pualanina`auali` ioha Koe opened her traditional Hawaiian hula school in 2012, she knew she was continuing the legacy of her own dance teacher, Sylvia Puananiha`aheo Edgar.

Edgar had chosen Koe as one of four students in her Ventura class to study under her to become a teacher. Koe isn’t certain why she was chosen.

Maybe it was her genuine interest in the culture, her unconditional trust in her teacher or her care for her hula sisters. Whatever it was, she is certain of her obligation to share and protect her Hawaiian heritage.

Through her Camarillo-based nonprofit Halau Hula O Pualanina` auali`ioha, Koe aspires to pass down the culture of the islands as well as lessons of her kumu Edgar, who showed her the true meaning of aloha.

“She taught us with love, and that is the one thing I think I would be a failure at if I didn’t uphold,” Koe said. “It’s my responsibility to honor the past and to bring it forward into the future.”

SOUNDS OF PARADISE—Rona Pualanina`auali`ioha Koe says of hula dancers: “The misconception is that we’re a party theme and that we’re here to entertain.” MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

Koe’s parents were born in Hawaii in 1943, two years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Because they were Okinawan, however, they had to assimilate to the Hawaiian culture.

“Whatever Japanese or Okinawan culture was brought by the generations before them was gone—or strategically suppressed— by the time they were born,” Koe said.

Although her parents moved to the Bay Area before she was born, she grew up with traditional Hawaiian values and was taught to respect her family and the land. In her early 20s, she started taking hula lessons.

“It was really running to a culture I didn’t want to lose,” said Koe, now 52.

She moved to Camarillo in 1996, and her passion for the dance grew.

“There was very little of my culture here, and I didn’t know anybody,” she said. “I immediately reached out to a hula group so I could find people who understood me and could become my family.”

Part of protecting the traditions of Hawaii, Koe said, is raising awareness about hula.

“Ventura County in particular is very dry in terms of understanding and knowledge of the Hawaiian culture. The misconception is that we’re a party theme and that we’re here to entertain,” said Koe, adding that before the pandemic she would receive requests to perform at parties on a weekly basis.

When she dedicates herself to educating others about her culture only to see some appropriate it with sexualized costumes or dances, Koe said she feels degraded.

“It feels like they’re taking us back 50 years,” she said.

To move forward, Koe prioritizes environmental advocacy, as Hawaiian culture is inseparable from Hawaiian land.

Many of the dances and chants she teaches revolve around respecting and preserving the land, which supports life and healing.

In 2017, she and her students traveled to Mauna Kea, the most sacred dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii, to perform a series of prayers protesting the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope. Koe worried that building the observatory would harm the native flora and fauna.

“We dance hard about that, we dance heavy about that,” Koa said. “We reminded the land that we were there and doing all we could to help its survival.”

Elizabeth (Momilani) Awa is one of three women who help Koe lead the classes. Awa’s desire to honor her grandmother, Mae Awa, inspired her to learn hula more than 10 years ago.

“When I dance the hula, I feel as though and I am hopeful that I dance with all my ancestors before me,” Elizabeth (Momilani) Awa said. “(I want) to continue to share the culture with not only our future generations but everyone so that we don’t lose what was almost lost and what is now growing through hula.”

A native Hawaiian, Awa understands that every dance and chant reflects the history and culture of her people. Learning the origins and meaning of each one is important to her.

“Honoring the past is woven throughout all that we are taught,” Awa said. “We don’t take anything that we learn lightly.”

Her first lesson was the most special: Mele Kahea, or the permission chant. When she requests to enter her school, she is reminded of the values of humility and respect.

Awa said she is constantly seeking connections between Hawaiian culture and her Catholic faith, including respect for the earth and its creatures.

“There is beauty and truth in all faiths, and I have made discoveries through my hula journey and my faith journey where the paths have crossed,” she said.

To Awa, hula is more than a dance. The relationships she has built with her hula sisters are priceless.

“It nurtures the soul,” she said. “That sense of belonging and being connected to something bigger than yourself is all part of the beauty of hula.”

Cultivating community among those who value Hawaiian culture inspires each of Koe’s classes.

“It’s important for me to keep these groups of people together and connected, and that value was really tested when the pandemic happened,” said Koe, the only one of Edgar’s four chosen students teaching in Ventura County.

She hopes to motivate her 20 students, some of whom she inherited upon Edgar’s retirement, to care for themselves and each other.

Grateful to have resumed in-person lessons, Koe said, she has enjoyed watching Awa and the other women in her class become more aware of their responsibility. The past three years in her leadership role have challenged Awa to be a better example to her fellow students.

“It’s helped me grow,” Awa said. “I definitely don’t feel worthy, but I’ve been working to live up to the honor.”

To learn more about Halau Hula O Pualanina`auali`ioha, go to halau805.org.