Our Work
Annual Queen Lili'uokalani Keiki Hula Competition
With each passing year, Kalihi-Pālama Cultute & Arts Society is amazed, proud and honored to showcase the talent of our keiki hula dancers to the world at our signature event: "The Annual Queen Lili‘uokalani Keiki Hula Competition." For nearly five decades the Kalihi-Pālama Cultute & Arts Society has celebrated Hawaiian dance, language, music and culture. Each event brings together over 500 keiki hula dancers and thousands of family, friends and neighbors from across the Hawaiian island chain and Japan. With the introduction of our live television broadcast (KFVE) in 2019 in conjunction with and the advent of streaming platforms, our event not only attracts nearly 5,000 hula fans per day at the Neil Blaisdell Arena but also we reach millions viewers around the world.
Nānā I Na Loea Hula: Look to the Hula Resources (Volume 1 (1984) & Volume 2 (1997).
In the Spring of 2022 the Kalihi-Pālama Cultute & Arts Society announced its partnership with Kamehameha Schools Publishing to publish Volume 3 of what is arguably the most important collection of first person narratives of Kumu Hula history in existence today. Master Photographer Shuzo Uemoto, who captured all of the images in both published works, has agreed to lend his artistry once again in the production of the next volume in this invaluable soon-to-be three book collection.
Lohe I Ka Leo: Hear the Voice
Kalihi-Pālama Cultute & Arts Society is the caretaker of first-person Kumu Hula knowledge that dates back to the monarchy. Lohe I Ka Leo: Hear the Voice is the initiative by the Kalihi-Pālama Cultute & Arts Society to create and publish a digital, multi-media library of first-person narratives of Kumu Hula histories as told by the Kumu Hula themselves. The cornerstone of our extensive collection includes handwritten notes and voice recordings on magnetic cassette tapes of over 140 Kumu Hula, many of whom have died. The collection also contains tens of thousands media including color slides; still photos; negatives and hundreds of magnetic video tapes. To facilitate the worldwide dissemination of this collection, Kalihi-Pālama Cultute & Arts Society has entered into a historic Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Hawaiʻi State Archives (HSA) to preserve its media in perpetuity as well as place all of the Kalihi-Pālama Cultute & Arts Society materials onto the State of Hawai'i platform in addition to the Kalihi-Pālama Cultute & Arts Society platform.
The Queen Lili'uokalani Keiki Hula Japan Competition and Festival
For the first time in its history, Kalihi-Pālama Cultute & Arts Society is producing its signature Queen Lili'uokalani Keiki Hula Competition under its own banner and at the Chigasaki Civic Hall in Chigasaki, Japan. On February 11, 2023, hundreds of Japanese keiki hula dancers supported by thousands of their family and friends will perform hula with winners to appear in Honolulu at the 2023 Annual Queen Lili'uokalani Keiki Hula Competition.
The 2020, 2021 & 2022 Keiki Hula Film Productions
During the COVID years, it was impossible to hold our live Annual Queen Lili'uokalani Keiki Hula Competition, without risking the health, safety and welfare of our Kumu Hula, keiki hula dancers and all of our precious keepers of knowledge. Instead, Kalihi-Pālama Cultute & Arts Society elected to produce films capturing the beauty and resilience of the Hawaiian culture.
A. The 2020 Queen Lili'uokalani Keiki Hula Hō'ike film was an Emmy Award-Winning production that taught as well as entertained. Hula segments were interspersed with historical/cultural interludes including cultural commentators on language, cultural artifacts filmed at the Hawai'i State Archives, and interviews with Kumu Hula.
B. The 2021 Queen Lili'uokalani Keiki Hula Celebration film did what no other Hawaiian based film has ever done before; travel to 56 locations and film every kumu hula and their hālau on their ahupua'a. Visually and artistically our 2021 program allowed our kumu hula to tell the story of their mo'oku'auhau while on their land surrounded by their inspiration for dance.
C. The final film in the Queen Lili'uokalani Keiki Hula trilogy turns our vision inwards to our own origin story. Uncle George Na’ope and Kahu Wendell Silva founded Kalihi-Pālama Cultute & Arts Society to fill the need to teach a new generation as a means of preserving authentic Hawaiian culture through hula, language and music.
Our Sponsors
