Mike Foley's blog
The Kamaluwehiokapalai halau hula from Japan
Story and photos by Mike Foley
[First published in the Polynesian Cultural Center blog, February 2017]
As it has for the past several years, the Polynesian Cultural Center hosted its annual Moanikeala Hula Festival on February 4, 2017, in a perfect setting — under the monkeypod tree in the Hawaiian Village. [Read more…]
[Story and photos by Mike Foley: Originally published in the BYU–Hawaii electronic “newsroom” on 27 February 2009]
Cy M. Bridges [pictured at right], Theater Director for the Polynesian Cultural Center and a noted Hawaiian cultural expert, shared his love, passion and expertise on historical and genealogical aspects of modern hula with Brigham Young University Hawaii students during the February 25, 2009, Honors Program colloquium in McKay 101.
“The hula was really our hard drive — our textbook,” said Bridges, who in addition to his work at the PCC is an entertainer, musician, genealogist, kumu hula or master, and periodic judge for the well-known Merrie Monarch Hula Festival in Hilo. “Everything was committed to memory, because there was no written language; so we chanted, sang and danced about our lives.”
My wife, Sally, and I went to a graduation party last night for our nephew, Gabriel Kai Chan, combined with a birthday party for his sister, Jenna’s three-year-old, Kyra. Their mom, Ida, is Sally’s youngest sister and pal. We often have extended family gatherings at Ida and Peter’s house because it has a very large […]
As the third in a series on my blog about how things have changed a lot since I was a kid, I’m reminded of a prof years ago at the University of Hawaii who told us that our personal “stories” or historical heritage begins with the memories of the oldest people we’ve known. If that’s […]
I was going through some personal family history stuff, and came across an old program I kept (for some reason) of the Mapusaga High School May 6-8, 1965 production of South Pacific. It was a pleasant reminder of some people I hadn’t thought about in years. Mapusaga High — built by Latter-day Saint labor missionaries in Malaeimi, […]
[Story and photo by Mike Foley, originally published in Kaleo, April 9, 1998] Tuione Pulotu shows his nearly completed Hawaiian wa’a kaulua. When the young man from the tiny island of Fangai in Tonga’s Ha’apai group first visited Ala Moana Shopping Center in 1961, he fell in love with Hawaiian tikis. “I really admired them,” said Tuione […]
