{"id":42501,"date":"2016-03-28T10:00:27","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T20:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiicompro.wpengine.com\/?post_type=discover&p=42501"},"modified":"2023-07-20T12:01:52","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T22:01:52","slug":"miss-aloha-hula-competition-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaii.com\/miss-aloha-hula-competition-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"A Close Look Behind the Scenes of the 2016 Miss Aloha Hula Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Miss

Miss Aloha Hula candidate, Kayshlyn Keauli’imailani Victoria De Sa dances during practice Wednesday night at Edith Kanakaole Multi-Purpose Stadium. (Photo: Hawaii Tribune-Herald)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Merrie Monarch Festival\u2019s hula competition officially starts Thursday when a dozen young women vie for hula\u2019s most prestigious solo title, Miss Aloha Hula.<\/p>\n

Three Hawaii Island halau are entered in this year\u2019s competition, but only one, Johnny Lum Ho\u2019s Halau O Ka Ua Kani Lehua, has a wahine representing Moku O Keawe in the solo competition. She\u2019s 22-year-old Kayshlyn Keauli\u2018imailani Victoria \u201cAuli\u2018i\u201d De Sa, a senior nursing major at the University of Hawaii at Hilo who works at Hawaiian Style Cafe.<\/p>\n

A 2011 graduate of Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii, this is her second time competing solo on hula\u2019s biggest stage. The first time was in 2013, the festival\u2019s golden anniversary. It\u2019s also her third time dancing in Lum Ho\u2019s wahine line at Merrie Monarch. Her first time was in 2010, when she watched her sister, Taysha-Lei Kapuauiokalehuamamomaeole De Sa, place second in Miss Aloha Hula.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been dancing with me since she was a child,\u201d Lum Ho said. \u201cThe last time I entered the competition and she danced, I got a lot of compliments about her. Many people told me she was their favorite. And I thought she did excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Sa, the daughter of Tony and Shelley De Sa, thinks she\u2019ll do even better this time.<\/p>\n

“I’ve Had A lot of Time to Grow, to Mature”<\/h2>\n
\"Kumu

Kumu Hula Johnny Lum Ho talks with Miss Aloha Hula candidate, Kayshlyn Keauli’imailani Victoria De Sa during practice Wednesday night at Edith Kanakaole Multi-Purpose Stadium. (Photo: Hawaii Tribune-Herald)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI was so young the first time. I turned 19 just before Merrie Monarch,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of time to grow, to mature, to gain confidence. Also, the last time, I was living in Honolulu, so practicing was really hard. I only got to practice once a month with Uncle Johnny, if I was lucky. Other than that, I was in Honolulu practicing with Tasha (Natasha Oda, Miss Aloha Hula 2001) in her backyard, maybe in somebody\u2019s studio. The first time has helped me a lot for this time, but there\u2019s still so much to do until I step up onto the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The physical nature of her dancing is apparent.<\/p>\n

Taking a break during a rehearsal, De Sa\u2019s forehead was dotted with perspiration despite a chilly wind whipping through the Edith Kanaka\u2018ole Multi-Purpose Stadium on a cold, blustery evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cUncle Johnny\u2019s style is, we move all over the stage, everywhere. We don\u2019t just stay in one area,\u201d she explained. \u201cI\u2019m putting that into my dance, working with my body, working on my facial expressions, just trying to put everything together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dancer and Teacher are Excited About Presenting Their Hula Kahiko<\/h2>\n

For her hula kahiko<\/em> (ancient hula), De Sa is dancing to a chant about High Chiefess Kapi\u2018olani \u2014 not to be confused with Queen Kapi\u2018olani, wife of King Kalakaua, the Merrie Monarch \u2014 and her conflict with Pele, the goddess of Kilauea volcano.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, Chiefess Kapi\u2018olani is a Christian,\u201d De Sa said. \u201cSo, her journey to the volcano, to Halema\u2018uma\u2018u, she wanted to protest to everybody. She walked 100 miles from Kona to defy Pele and she told everybody along the way, \u2018If I take this stone and throw it into the crater, and if I eat these ohelo berries and nothing happens to me, then you need to believe in God. But if something happens to me, then you guys continue to believe in Pele.\u2019 So, she threw the stone into the crater and she ate the ohelo berries and nothing happened to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lum Ho, who composed the chant, said he and De Sa are both \u201cexcited about presenting this dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Story of the Woodrose<\/h2>\n

Lum Ho said the original mele<\/em> he composed for De Sa\u2019s hula \u2018auana (modern hula) is inspired by a woodrose he saw at a plant nursery on his way to work at his halau<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day, I saw the woodrose hanging from a high tree with the yellow flowers,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the fruit is kind of brown. The people let us pick the fruit and the flowers because they said it\u2019s kind of a pest. The flowers, of course, they died. But we had one of our ladies fashion the fruit into her lei.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Sa said she doesn\u2019t know for sure but thinks Lum Ho wrote the song for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody in Hilo loves to represent Hilo, and that song is so fitting for me,\u201d she said. \u201cIt talks about a girl who goes and picks woodroses from all the vines she can find for a lei. It\u2019s such hard work for her, but in the end she made this beautiful lei, and once she put it on, she felt like the most beautiful girl in the world. And, in the dance, my dad is actually going to give me the lei. When it comes to my dad, he brings confidence to me. He\u2019s definitely my No. 1 supporter in everything I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miss Aloha Hula Contestants “Bring Their A Game” to the Stage<\/h2>\n

While the image of Miss Aloha Hula is one of beauty and grace, the other side of the coin is one that embodies the passion of competition. As De Sa, whose father is the baseball coach at Hilo High School, noted, \u201cEverybody brings their A game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second time was the charm for last year\u2019s Miss Aloha Hula, Jasmine Kaleihiwa Dunlap, who was second runner-up in 2013. Her halau, Oahu\u2019s Hula Halau \u2018O Kamuela, under the direction of na kumu hula Kunewa Mook and Kau\u2018ionalani Kamana\u2018o, will try to make it two in a row, represented by \u2018Aulani Kamea\u2018i\u2018omakamae Latorre-Holt.<\/p>\n

Another Miss Aloha Hula contestant who might be the odds-on favorite is Ashley \u201cKili\u201d Lai, who\u2019s vying to become the only third-generation Miss Aloha Hula.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s the granddaughter of the late, legendary kumu hula Aloha Dalire, the first Miss Hula, as the title was called then; daughter of Kapua Dalire-Moe, Miss Aloha Hula 1991; and niece of Kau\u2018i Dalire, Miss Aloha Hula 1992, and Keola Dalire, Miss Aloha Hula 1999.<\/p>\n

Lai is dancing for her mother\u2019s Halau Ka Liko Pua O Kalaniakea of Kaneohe, Oahu. She was first runner-up two years ago, when she danced for her grandmother\u2019s Keolalaulani Halau \u2018Olapa O Laka in Aloha Dalire\u2019s final Merrie Monarch.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me and Kili, it\u2019s our second time. She wants to represent her grandma, and I want to represent my kumu. We\u2019re both representing people who are very important to us,\u201d De Sa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Just Want My Dance to Touch Somebody”<\/h2>\n

De Sa said the pressure of competing for hula\u2019s most coveted individual honor at the Merrie Monarch Festival\u2019s golden jubilee was intense.
\n\u201cIt was the 50th anniversary. Everybody wanted to win,\u201d she said. \u201cI believe that everything happens for a reason. That night, when my name didn\u2019t get called, I was sad. I just had a lot of emotions going through me, but I specifically remember Uncle Johnny telling me to never mind crying because it wasn\u2019t going for me. And that\u2019s true, because if I didn\u2019t win, it wasn\u2019t my time. It was somebody else\u2019s time. But I was grateful to have that experience. I thought it was going to be our last Merrie Monarch. Just to have that experience, representing Uncle Johnny Lum Ho at Miss Aloha Hula, was a big deal for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

And this time?<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want my dance to touch somebody in this room,\u201d De Sa said in the stadium. \u201cIf it\u2019s everybody, that\u2019s good. If it\u2019s just one person, then fine, so be it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miss Aloha Hula Contestants 2016<\/h2>\n

\"miss
\nJazzlyn Kawailani Y.P. Kaleohano
\nKumu Mark Keali\u2018i Ho\u2018omalu
\nAcademy of Hawaiian Arts<\/p>\n

\"miss
\nKamie-Lei Kahealani Yoshiko Fujiwara
\nKumu Napua Greig
\nHalau Na Lei Kaumaka O Uka<\/p>\n

\"miss
\nBrandi Nalani Morales
\nKumu William Kahakuleilehua Haunu\u2018u \u201cSonny\u201d Ching and Lopaka Igarta-De Vera
\nHalau Na Mamo O Pu\u2018uanahulu<\/p>\n

\"miss
\nAshley Leina\u2018ala Juan
\nKumu Hi\u2018ilei Maxwell-Juan
\nPukalani Hula Hale<\/p>\n

\"miss
\nChristie Mariko Keahonui Kimura
\nKumu Haunani and \u2018Iliahi Paredes
\nHalau Kekuaokala\u2018au\u2018ala\u2018iliahi<\/p>\n

\"miss
\nCeriann Akemi Moana Espiritu
\nKumu Raquel Dudoit
\nMoana\u2019s Hula Halau<\/p>\n

\"miss
\nKayli Ka\u2018iulani Carr
\nKumu Robert Ke\u2018ano Ka\u2018upu IV
\nand Lono Padilla
\nHalau Hi\u2018iakainamakalehua<\/p>\n

\"miss
\nKayshlyn Keauli\u2018imailani Victoria De Sa
\nKumu Johnny Lum Ho
\nHalau O Ka Ua Kani Lehua<\/p>\n

\"miss
\nBrylyn Noelani Aiwohi
\nKumu Leina\u2018ala Pavao Jardin
\nHalau Ka Lei Mokihana o Leina\u2018ala<\/p>\n

\"miss
\nAshley K. Lai
\nKumu Kapua Dalire-Moe
\nHalau Ka Liko Pua O Kalaniakea<\/p>\n

\"miss
\nEcstasy Jetta Laverne Kamakalikolehua Ligon
\nKumu Tracie and Keawe Lopes
\nKa La \u2018Onohi Mai O Ha\u2018eha\u2018e<\/p>\n

\"kamanao\"
\n\u2018Aulani Kamea\u2018i\u2018omakamae Latorre-Holt
\nKumu Kau\u2018ionalani Kamana\u2018o and Kunewa Mook
\nHula Halau \u2018O Kamuela<\/p>\n

For more information about the Merrie Monarch Festival, visit hawaii.com\/tag\/merrie-monarch-festival\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Merrie Monarch Festival\u2019s hula competition officially starts Thursday when a dozen young women vie for hula\u2019s most prestigious solo title, Miss Aloha Hula. Three Hawaii Island halau are entered in this year\u2019s competition, but only one, Johnny Lum Ho\u2019s Halau O Ka Ua Kani Lehua, has a wahine representing Moku O Keawe in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":42516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3064],"tags":[3898],"class_list":["post-42501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-big-island","tag-merrie-monarch-festival"],"yoast_head":"\nMiss Aloha Hula Contestant Interview<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We take a look at what it's like to be a Miss Aloha Hula contestant. 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