FESTIVAL DANCERS

Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu

2012 PERFORMANCE

TITLES: Kumulipo, Māui Turning Back the Sky
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER: Patrick Makuakāne
DANCERS: Maile Apau-Norris, Nicole Arguello, Janet Auwae-McCoy, Heather Barrett, Kahala Bishaw, Jerome Borjal, Kaipo Bush, Manny Dacalanio, Makani da Silva Santos, Kaila DeFries, Jenny Des Jarlais, Marleen Esquerra, Ryan Fuimaono, Rose Guthrie, Malia King, Jason Laskey, Marlo Lualemana, Kiana Mabry, Edna Moran, Chris Pimentel, Jason Ogao, Tanisha Reshke, Neil Romabiles, Sylvia Tewes, Lola Tortolero, Chris Uesugi-Lauer, Princess Villegos, Heather Walton, Desiree Woodward-Lee, Lehua Zane, Linda Zane
MUSICIANS: Kristopher Lee (ta’iri parau, to’ere, pahu tupa’i rima), Patrick Makuakāne (ipu heke)

2008 PERFORMANCE

TITLE:
Māui Turning Back the Sky
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/ CHOREOGRAPHER:
Patrick Makuakāne
DANCERS: Maile Apau-Norris, Nicole Arguello, Janet Auwae-McCoy, Heather Barrett, Kahala Bishaw, Jerome Borjal, Kaipo Bush, Marlo Bush, Manny Dacalanio, Kaila DeFries, Marleen Esquerra, Ryan Fuimaono, Debbie Garcia, Jo-Anne Hongo, Malia King, Edna Moran, Janette Neves-Rivera, Jason Ogao, Jason Paranada, Chris Pimentel, Tanisha Reshke, Neil Romabiles, Makani da Silva, Sylvia Tewes, Lola Tortolero, Chris Uesugi-Lauer, Princess Villegos, Heather Walton, Desiree Woodward-Lee, Lehua Zane, Linda Zane
MUSICIANS: Kris Lee, Carlos Wright, and the Drummers of Nemenzo
VOCALS: Shawna Alapa‘i and Linda Kaholo

The world premiere Māui Turning Back the Sky retells several traditional stories: O Ka ‘Au Moana – Māui’s Travels by Sea; Pūka‘i‘ka‘i Ka Lani – Lift the Sky; E Ho‘oloulou ‘O Pimoe – The Hooking of Pimoe; Hulei Nā Moku – Raise the Islands; He Wahine Namunamu Ana – The Grumbling Woman; and He Pāhelele Ka Lā – Ensnare the Sun. The choreography combines modern and traditional Hawaiian hula, and the dancers use traditional Hawaiian percussive instruments, chant, and the anvil and mallet (kua and hohoai) which are used to make kapa (bark cloth).

Kumu Hula Patrick Makuakāne choreographed this piece for the Festival stage—in collaboration with historian Lucia Tarallo Jensen. In her book, "Māui Dialogues" Jensen retells the stories of Māui, a revered 1^st century ancestral navigator and explorer faced with twelve challenges. She explains how Hawaiian stories passed crucial information between islanders—and helped them memorize a navigational chart of the Pacific.

One story explains how the sun alters its speed throughout the year, and how the solstices battle—how the dark of night and light of day ensnare and defeat one another. Through these Māui stories, important local knowledge of stars, winds, and currents was communicated from one generation to the next.

Long ago, ‘Alae-nui-a Hina—a bailer turned beautiful woman—helped Māui catch his father, a giant, ancient ulua fish. ‘Alae swam fathoms to find the ulua, and she drove Māui’s magic hook deep into the ulua's jaw so Māui could reel him in. As the fish surfaced, a string of islands came up, hooked onto its craggy back. Māui’s brothers looked back, and this broke the spell. So the ulua slipped away – and the islands slid apart into their present positions.

This story is an astronomical map: Māui’s adventures follow the celestial placement of the Ka Makau I‘a hook (in Scorpio); attached to the Manaiakalani fishing line (cast through the Milky Way); by three Māui brothers in their canoe (Orion's belt); to the Ulua (in Cassiopeia/Gemini); baited by the ‘Alae (in Aquila).

Historian and author Lucia Tarallo Jensen is co-founder and curator of the indigenous Hawaiian contemporary art group, Hale Nauā III. Her recent book, Daughters of Haumea, won the 2006 Ka Palapala Po‘okela award for excellence.

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