The performers in a multi-media show, “Recalling Hawaii,” join together not just as a way to educate and inspire audiences. The show created by Roselle Kelihonipua Bailey is more than a medley of hula and music offering historical retrospective. It
The performers in a multi-media show, “Recalling Hawaii,” join together not just as a way to educate and inspire audiences.
The show created by Roselle Kelihonipua Bailey is more than a medley of hula and music offering historical retrospective. It is a live stage production with significant meaning for each of the show’s talented 50-member cast, 12 of whom are from Kauai.
“Recalling Hawaii” hula dancer Kawehi Martin took up the art form 40 years ago.
“I wanted to be more in touch with my culture,” Martin said. “I never understood why my mom had a British accent when I was growing up. She was 75 percent Hawaiian and 25 percent Chinese. And we drank tea all the time.”
Through research and Martin’s involvement with the historically accurate tales in the show that she now performs in, she discovered and understands the influence of the British way of life on her mother and Hawaiian ancestors.
“It made me go back and look at our real history and how life really was for the royals,” Martin said.
The show takes audiences through a dramatic journey from the formation of the Hawaiian Islands to the revelation of their beauty and their waterfalls, flowers and rain.
As a musician in the show, Dawn Kawahara is always able to watch the opening unfold. Their upcoming production scheduled for June 21 on the Mainland will be her fourth time participating with the multi-generational cast.
“I still get chicken skin when I watch it,” Kawahara said. “I find I have tears all throughout the program.”
The June production in California will be the group’s eighth performance of the carefully choreographed and executed show. The other shows were performed in Germany, Switzerland, Kauai, Maui, Hilo and Honolulu.
Prior to each production, the dancers, all of whom are from the Hawaiian Islands and Europe, convene for a two-day marathon of rehearsals.
“It all comes together like a puzzle,” Kawahara said.
“Prior to that, we’re practicing with DVDs and recorded music,” Martin said.
“There is a close bond between us,” Kawahara said. “It’s like a sisterhood. And we’re from all walks of life and all age groups.”
Besides performing a relevant piece about the history of Hawaii, they share a common passion.
“The love of our land is something you can’t take away from us. I get very emotional when I think about it, it’s similar to how the royals felt about the land in Hawaii,” Martin said.
The lyrics in one of the numbers in the show are, “Cry for the people,’” said Keahi Manea, a long-time kumu, dancer, drummer and chanter, “‘Cry for the land that was taken away.’”
The performers mingle in the aisles with the audience during the final song about the island being the Hawaiian’s paradise.
“It’s really emotional for a lot of them,” said Kim Wellington.
The performers debuted the historical show in 2010 in Germany and Switzerland. They are dedicated to their craft and the story of Hawaii.
“I practice in my living room,” Wellington explained.
Her heritage is Spanish, Filipino and Scottish. She got the hula bug when she moved to Kauai from San Francisco in 1979.
“I just love the storytelling and the movements,” Wellington said.
“I started dancing when I was 8 years old and learned hula from a kumu on a Navy base in Florida,” said 71-year-old Manea. “At the age of 13 when we moved to Hawaii, I continued dancing. I’ll do it until I die.”
“Recalling Hawaii” is a Kaimi Naauao O Hawaii Nei Institute production. Their mission is to search for the truth of the Hawaiian culture. They teach how to understand, enjoy, and appreciate the medicine, science, art, language, crafts, philosophy and religion of the Hawaiian people.
For further information or to donate money for the travel expenses of performers or to support the educational pursuits of the institute, visit www.kaimi.org. The cost for the tickets of the June 21 California production are $25 each. It will be performed at The Dominican University of California in the Angelico Hall in San Rafael.
• Lisa Ann Capozzi, features and education reporter can be reached at lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com.
