Many are familiar with the hula from romanticized images of women dancing in Hawai'i tourist kitsch and from old Hollywood movies. Few are aware of the sacred traditions of the dance, and the role of the male hula dancer has long been overshadowed by Western concepts of gender and sexuality.
Men learned the dance from ancient times, along with the martial arts of battle. The hula was later suppressed under missionary ban, and survived underground for many years until the cultural renaissance of the 1970s.
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In 1975 at the height of the revival, master hula teacher Maiki Aiu Lake asked her student, legendary entertainer Robert Cazimero to open an school for only male dancers. With six young high school students, Robert Cazimero founded Halau Na Kamalei. In celebration of their 30th anniversary, Na Kamalei: The Men of Hula tells a story of Hawaiian pride through the examination of male roles in Hawaiian culture both in the past and present.
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In conjunction with our special presentation of Na Kamalei: Men of Hula, we are pleased to have Robert Cazimero as our special guest on the Tuesday, May 6th episode of Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox at 7:30 pm. PBS Hawaii will also bring you a special encore of this interview immediately following the premiere of Na Kamalei on Tuesday, May 8th. |
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