#Hula

No one choice received a majority of votes in our most recent monthly poll, but the option garnering the most was “All or a combination,” with 337, or 29% of the total vote.

A lineup of performers, hula performances and Hawaiian arts and craft demonstrations will be announced in the weeks ahead.

Hālau Ka Lei Mokihana o Leināʻala was awarded second place overall at the prestigious hula competition held in Hilo on the Big Island.

The prequel to the festival’s 3 days of hula competition, which kick off at 6 p.m. Thursday with the individual Miss Aloha Hula contest, also celebrated Native Hawaiian culture by honoring 40 years of efforts by ‘Aha Pūnana Leo to revitalize and normalize ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i (Hawaiian language). The festival also collected donations to help recovery efforts in Lāhainā, Maui, after a deadly wildfire devastated the community in August 2023.

In 2022, Hālau Ka Lei Mokihana o Leināʻala – led by kumu hula Leināʻala Pavao Jardin – took first place in every category in which it competed.

To kōkua (help) the people from West Maui, many of whom lost loved ones, their homes or both, the Merrie Monarch organizers decided to allow free admission to this year’s Hō’ike Night at Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium tonight, with the option to donate to the Lāhainā community at the door.

There Merrie Monarch Festival was recently named the top cultural festival in the United States in an online poll by USA Today’s 10Best. It’s just one of several examples during the past couple of years of the people, places, culture and things of Hawai‘i, including the Big Island, being nationally awarded or featured nationwide.

Hula still connects people today to the foundation of Hawaiian knowledge and culture. It is a vehicle for historical and social commentary and passing down stories and information.

Recent visitors to Kaluapele, the summit area of Kīlauea, have left behind roasting pans filled with meat, poke to unopened packages of Chips Ahoy cookies, fruit, candy bars and burning incense sticks. Officials from Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park say they’ve been left as offerings to pay respects to Pelehonuamea, the elemental deity of volcanism and […]

The classes include drawing for keiki, beginner to advanced hula, qi gong, yoga and knitting.

Kona Dance and Performing Arts, which is about to begin its 8th season in Kealakekua, is holding a keiki-friendly open house.

From the Hoʻolauleʻa and opening ceremonies on Easter Sunday to the Hōʻike, Miss Aloha Hula, group hula competition, the arts and crafts fair and everything else, what was your favorite part of the 60th Annual Merrie Monarch Festival?

This year marks the full return of the annual event since the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the competition in 2020 and forced gathering restrictions in 2021 and 2022.

If hālau do have lehua or liko in their lei, the dancers can return it to the ‘āina on their own by leaving it at mile markers 12 and 16 along Daniel K. Inouye Highway on the Big island.

The three-day competition started Thursday with Miss Aloha Hula and continued on Friday with Kahiko (ancient) hula. The event culminated with the ‘auana (modern) performances on Saturday.

The official Merrie Monarch Hawaiian Arts & Crafts Fair that showcases and supports more than 150 of Hawai‘i’s best artisans and creators will be open one more day, on Saturday, at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium and Butler Buildings in Hilo on the Big Island.

Wāhine and kāne dancers from 23 hālau took the stage Friday on the first night of group competition at Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium in Hilo on the Big Island.

With 1,148 points, Agnes Renee Leihiwahiwaikapolionāmakua Thronas Brown, who dances with Oʻahu hālau Ka Lā ʻŌnohi Mai O Haʻehaʻe, won the title of Miss Aloha Hula 2023 on Thursday during the first night of competition for the 60th Annual Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo on the Big Island.

The historic and much-anticipated 60th Annual Merrie Monarch Festival officially kicked off at the Edith Kanaka‘ole Multi-Purpose Stadium in Hilo on the Big Island with a Hōʻike Night for the ages.

Generations of kāne and wāhine dancers taught by the late Kumu Hula Johnny Lum Ho will take the stage tonight to honor him at Hō‘ike Night, which kicks off the 60th Merrie Monarch Festival.