LIHUE — When Ka Lei Mokihana O Leina‘ala returned to Kauai on Sunday night, they were welcomed and congratulated by nearly 200 supporters at the Lihue Airport. They stepped off the plane to people screaming and cheering for them with flowers and lei.
“I had my girls do their oli, or their chant, as a makana, a gift, to our people who were there,” said Kumu Hula Leina‘ala Pavao-Jardin. “There wasn’t a dry eye, because all these people who we were looking at and chanting to were the very people who we honored on stage. These were our families, the people that supported us. So it was so nice to come home to that welcome, because we surely had all of them in our hearts in Hilo.”
“The feeling of walking into that airport with all of our ‘ohana — all our hula sisters and all our hula brothers here on Kauai — there to greet us is probably a bigger accomplishment than winning,” added one of the group’s leaders, 27-year-old Nikki Ishibashi from Lihue. “Knowing that Kauai and our ‘ohana was so proud of us, that they were there for us with so much love and support, is probably more rewarding than actually placing at Merrie Monarch.”
Kauai’s hula dancers shared their aloha last weekend by performing at the 55th Merrie Monarch Hula Festival.
“This year, we just felt so much joy,” said Pavao-Jardin. “We kinda put everything on the side and said we are just going to celebrate our island’s beauty and celebrate our people. And that’s what we did. It felt like we were having a joyous celebration on stage.”
“Each and every year, we approach each mele or performance the same way,” she continued. “We really research, we learn about the mele in depth before even learning the movement to the song. This is our style of learning the hula and bringing various songs to life.”
After two days of competition, Ka Lei Mokihana O Leina‘ala placed third overall, just short a dozen points from first place.
“I am thrilled that my haumana was recognized for their hard work and their passion,” said Pavao-Jardin. “You practice for months, and then you take the stage and this is it. This is the seven minutes that you’ve been practicing for.”
The wahine from Kauai placed third in Kahiko and second in Auana. The high-scoring performances led to Ka Lei Mokihana O Leina‘ala finishing second in the Wahine Overall category.
“It makes me so proud to see the next generation stepping up and taking lead,” Pavao-Jardin said. “I get to kinda sit back and watch all of our work over the many years unfold.”
Ishibashi said performing at the event created a whirlwind of emotions.
“Being there is probably one of the biggest honors as a hula dancer,” Ishibashi said. “It’s such a huge honor and privilege being there amongst all these award-winning halau. It’s such an amazing feeling.”
“Getting second place was just a cherry on top of everything,” she added. “It just meant the world to us to get recognized for all of our hard work that we put in this year.”
