Learn about Hawaiian arts & culture
Enjoy Hawaiian music, hula, multicultural performances, and more
Shop with the best island vendors from the PNW, Hawaiʻi and beyond
Sponsored by Kona Brewing
Interactive activities for children
Raffles & Giveaways will be going on all day
Children ages 10 & under receive FREE admission to 4 Days of Aloha events held at Esther Short Park. We know how important it is to get your keiki involved! There is no better way to teach your keiki the value of ALOHA than for them to experience it first hand. Join the fun with other ʻohana from the community who are looking to do the same.
Donʻt miss out on the full experience! Register your keiki for our cultural workshops taught by master cultural practitioners from Hawaiʻi. Space is limited.
Kumu and cultural practitioners of Hawaiʻi will be sharing their knowledge on Hawaiian arts and culture. Our cultural workshops offer something for all ages! Registration will be open soon.
Kumu Hula
Vicky Holt Takamine graduated from Kamehameha Schools and received her BA & MA in Dance Ethnology from the University of Hawaiʻi. She graduated as kumu hula (master teacher of Hawaiian dance) from Maiki Aiu Lake in 1975, and established her hālau hula (school of Hawaiian dance), Pua Aliʻi ʻIlima, two years later. In 1997 she co-founded ʻĪlioʻulaokalani Coalition, a coalition of Native Hawaiian artists and cultural practitioners to advocate and protect Native Hawaiian rights. She established PAʻI Foundation in 2001 to protect and preserve Native Hawaiian cultural traditions and the natural and cultural resources of Hawaiʻi for future generations and co-founded and served as president of KAHEA: The Hawaiian Environmental Alliance. As the co-founder and Executive Director of PAʻI foundation on Oʻahu, her group sponsors the annual Hapa Haole Hula Festival on Oʻahu and Las Vegas and is founder and show producer of MAMO: Maoli Arts Month’s annual Wearable Arts Show. She has also served as a judge at the Merrie Monarch Festival, the “Olympics of Hula” for many years. The kumu of our kumu, Aunty Vicky has been coming to share her manaʻo and talents at Days of Aloha events for 20 years and counting.
Kumu Hula
Carrington Manaola Yap is a native Hawaiian fashion designer from Kohala, Hawaiʻi. Inspired by his cultural upbringing as a life-long hula practitioner, he translates Hawaiian spirituality and Hawaiʻi’s unique beauty into prints that embody repetitious patterns in nature. Born into a family of award-winning hula practitioners and musicians, Yap learned costume design, research and styling from his mother, kumu hula and musician Nani Lim Yap through his studies in hālau. This hula foundation provided him with a platform to develop interests in textile and design, translating his talents into performance art. As a choreographer for Halau Manaola, Yap continues to carry on his legacy past down from his family.
Kumu Hula
Kauʻionālani Kamanaʻo, together with Kumu Hula Kunewa Mook, are renowned for their
direction of Hula Hālau ‘O Kamuela, an award-winning hālau. Born and raised in Honolulu,
Hawaiʻi, Kauʻi has been immersed in hula from a young age where he developed a love and
fascination with the art of hula.
In 1983, at the age of 5, Kauʻi was selected to represent the hālau as a soloist at the Queen
Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition and earned the coveted title of being the first inaugural
Master Keiki Hula. This accomplishment propelled him to excel in this art. Training from
Kumu Hula Paleka Leinaʻala Mattos included the flexibility to choreograph dances for multiple
competitions and assume the lead role in the coaching and development of the Kāne, Wāhine and
Keiki haumāna. Kauʻi would become instrumental in creating the style and grace portrayed in
every performance of Hula Halau ‘O Kamuela that you see today.
Paying tribute to his predecessors which include Samuel Naeʻole, Paleka Leinaʻala Mattos and
Kunewa Mook, Kauʻi has since expanded his reach to carry on the traditions, values and hula
style in Japan with the opening of Hula Halau ‘O Kamuela Iāpana.
It is because of his determination that Kauʻi has become one of the most esteemed Kumu Hula
both locally, and abroad.
Tahitian Dance
Tunui Tully is a renowned professional show director and instructor of performing arts in the entertainment industry of Hawaii and abroad. For more than 40 years he has been teaching traditional and modern/contemporary Tahitian dance as well as Hula and other Polynesian cultural dances. Tunui has always focused on developing the talents of young performers,
identifying, and nurturing their strengths, to deliver respected professionals into the
entertainment industry. He is highly regarded and respected by his students and through his quick wit he keeps his classes fun and enjoyable. Tunui was born into the talented families of Tehiva’s and Mariteragi’s. At an early age Tunui’s family members realized that he was gifted with the interest of continuing in his family's
footsteps and each one shared their knowledge of the culture with their gifted nephew and son. In turn, Tunui has continued to share his knowledge and artistry with many studios and hālau worldwide. Throughout his career, Tunui has dedicated himself to the island inspired performing arts introducing diversity and fusion of modern and universal influences while remaining a faithful guardian of “old school” traditional Polynesian arts passed down from his tupuna (ancestors).
Kumu ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi
Kahōkū Lindsey-Asing is the Kahu of Pūnana Leo o Mānoa, a Hawaiian Medium Education Preschool, focused on educating keiki, mākua, and ʻohana throught the ʻōlelo of our kūpuna.
For the last 8 years, he has cultivated relationships and partnerships with organizations in the community to fulfill the commitment to perpetuate ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. Kahōkū is also an ʻōlapa of Pua Aliʻi ʻIlima, a 2018 intercultural Headship Institute fellow, a PAʻI Foundation volunteer, a haku mele, and the Founder of Ka ʻIwa Hoʻolaʻi.
Hawaiian Music, Keiki Workshops
ʻIokepa Waiwaiʻole comse from a long line of Hawaiian music entertainment. Music has always been an essential piece of his life and Polynesian Cultural music has always been his music of choice Understanding culture, music, woven with emotion and principles of old helps him to understand his ancestors way of life and how it applies to this generation today.
At age 3, Pūnana Leo o Kawaiohaʻo was the beginning of his understanding of the Hawaiian Culture. Learning the Hawaiian language has helped Iokepa to better understand the way of life of his ancestors. Being a Hawaiian language student by day, and member of a musical family at night, he was able to combine culture and music fairly easily. Coming home to mom playing and rehearsing her ukulele really inspired Iokepa to want to learn how to play an instrument. Iokepaʻs mother would teach him and his brother simple chords and simple songs to keep us entertained and occupied. Looking back now at those precious moments, inspires him to do the same with all “keiki” or kids with interest in Hawaiian music.
Perpetuating culture through music will forever be Iokepaʻs goal and purpose to carry on his family’s traditions of Love, Aloha, Care, Malama, Respect, Hōʻihi, and Unity, Lōkahi!
Hana Lei
Aunty Rae Pacheco resides on Moku o Keawe in the rainy town of Hilo, Hawaiʻi. The slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, and the banks of the Wailuku River are her favorite gathering places for flora to create beautiful lei for special performances or gifts. A former member and alaka‘i of Hālau Kaleinani o Ke Kukui, she is a lover of nature and all things Hawaiian. Aunty Rae was taught the art of lei making when she was just a teenager, helping a friend prepare her adornments for a Merrie Monarch performance. This art form turned into a passion, and since then, she has taught many students, keiki to kupuna, about the process of gathering, preparing and creating beautiful lei for all occasions. She is blessed to share her knowledge of lei making toward perpetuating the art of Hawaiian culture, one lei at time.
Kuʻi Imu
Joey Kalanakilaokalāhui Palupe has been an active part of Hawaiian ʻāina based education for over 13 years. Born and raised in Koʻolaupoko, Oʻahu, Kalanakilaokalāhui has been afforded an upbringing rooted in Hawaiian values and practices. Intrigued and proud of his heritage and culture he continued to expand on the foundation that his family started; doing so through his educational achievements and career pathway. Graduate of Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with a degree in Hawaiian Studies, he has worked in various Hawaiian non-profit organizations and taught aloha ʻāina at Kamehameha Schools. He is currently the manager of Hawaiian Culture, Community Engagement & Education at Kualoa Ranch, where he is able to expand and further commit his kuleana to our ʻāina and kānaka through ʻāina based experiences and education. He hopes to bridge his family traditions with that of what he has learned from many great kumu to share more depth and insight into cultural practices such as imu, kuʻi kalo and more.
Ulana Lau Niu
Teal Kealohi Salvador was born and raised on O’ahu in ʻAiea. Her company is CocoKealohi which focuses on the art of ulana lau niu (coconut frond weaving). Tealʻs specialty is everything pāpale and has been weaving pāpale lau niu for the past 5 years. She also graduated with a BS in Entrepreneurial Studies from Grand Canyon University.
Kapa, Natural Dyes
Native Hawaiian Artist, Kekai Daunhauer was born and raised on the island of Molokai and currently resides on Maui. Her family is filled with lei makers, hula dancers, woodcarvers, and kapa makers. Growing up on her ancestral lands, Kekai often assisted in soaking lauhala in her family river, playing in the wood chips of her father’s carvings, smoothing bamboo flutes with beach sand, and curiously poking at her mother’s kapa creations and dyes. Kekai’s parents raised their daughters in the world of art and encouraged them to share their culture’s mo’olelo (legends) in the medium that individually fits their personalities. Kapa making was the perfect fit for Kekai and once she learned the fundamentals, she began to mix the traditional and modern materials to create unique art pieces. Kekai is inspired by the idea that her Hawaiian ancestors were artists that fearlessly pushed for more colors, patterns, and creativity. As a product of that culture, Kekai wishes to do the same.
Mea Kaua, Kuʻi Kalo
Aloha my name is Kapono Kapaekukuiokahilinai. I’m 32 years old and I’m currently living in Hilo with my ohana. I have been studying Hawaiian arts and weapon making for about 8 years. I started out with making papa kuʻi ʻai and pōhaku kuʻi ʻai under the direction of my first Kumu Alika Sing (ewa beach). I had always taken in interest in Lua (Hawaiian Martial arts) ever since I was young. I was invited to join a pā lua under the direction of Olohe Umi kai. Since joining the Pā I have been crafting Hawaiian tools, implements, and weapons. In my class I will teach you the basics of Mea Kaua (War instrument)
