Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 5, 1 May 2014 — 1925-2014 Leilani Alama, former Aloha Week queen, taught hula for 70 years [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

1925-2014 Leilani Alama, former Aloha Week queen, taught hula for 70 years

By Lynn Cook For seven decades thousands of students climbed 3 1 stairs onee or twice a week to leam hula in a studio in the O'ahu neighborhood of Kaimukl. At age 88 their teacher, Auntie Leilani Alama, was climbing the same stairs, teaching her classic, elegant hula to children, young women and graceful ladies. Her younger sister, 83-year-old Puanani Alama, has her own hula studio at the top of the same set of stairs. With Auntie Leilani's passing in April, dozens of stories have been shared about how she changed lives and carried forward the style of her first kumu. Kahelelani

Moniz Bishop. At age 12 Aunhe Leilani's sister was taking lessons and brought her along to the studio across from McKinley High School. Auntie Lei was a natural. By age 15 she was teaching for "Mama Bishop." At 18, after graduating from McKinley, she received her hula-teaching certificate and taught her own classes, full time, for 70 years. Her style was dancing flat foot, wrist and fingers gently moving, bent knees, perfect grooming and a smile. Maile Beamer Loo,

head of the Hula Preservation Society, recounts the great interviews they filmed, gathering the story of Auntie Leilani. She says Alama inspired music. Named Aloha Week Queen in 1957, she was gifted a song, Huhimanu, from court dancer Jennie Wilson. The song LeilaniEby Jack Pitman was not written for her but she introduced it, performing an impromptu hula. Her nieee, dancer

Te Moana Makolo, said Alama's signature song was Mi Nei, "anytime she would walk into a plaee where music was played the musicians would stop, mid-strum, and switch to her song." She performed USO shows with Auntie Genoa Keawe. For 73 years, with her sister Puanani Alama, Auntie Lei was the mainstay for the City and County of Honolulu's Nā Hula Festival. In

celebration of Auntie Leilani's 70th birthday, Gov. Neil Abercrombie proclaimed Aug. 4 "Leilani Alama Hula Studio Day." The mele inoa Kii'ii Lei Lani was written for Alama by John K. Almeida and was sung by her nephew, noted entertainer Kimo Alama Keaulana, at her memorial service in Honolulu. The song describes Alama as the "wahine

pu'uwaialoha," the woman with a heart of love. Dozens of dancers, her's and her sister's, surrounded the audience, celebrating Auntie Lei at Diamond Head Mortuary Chapel. April was a bittersweet time for her nieee, kumu Puanani Jung from Laguna Hills, California, entering the Merrie Monarch Festival for the first time. Her comfort was the hula aloha passed on by Aunty Leilani Virginia Alama. ■ Lynn Cook i.s a loeal freelance journalist sharing the arts and culture ofHawai'i with a glohal auāienee.

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Leilani Alama. - Courtesy: Hula Preservation Society

Alama was queen of Aloha Week in 1 957. - Courtesy: Alama Collection, Hula Preservation Society