Hawaii sways its way to Vancouver park
Free festival features Gresham residents
JIM CLARK / The Gresham Outlook
Staff photo by JIM CLARK Ka'ili Tabandera, Kapuanani Antonio, Martha Drum, Kanani Yacapin-Montrose and Deva Yamashiro will be among the many dancers taking part in the Ho'ike and Hawaiian Festival in Vancouver, Wash., on Saturday, July 26.
“Aloha” means everything from “Hello” to “Goodbye” to “I love you,” according to the five women Polynesian dancers.
“It’s kind of the golden rule for us,” notes Kanani Yacapin-Montrose of Gresham. “You give it. You share it.”
Her hula teacher, Deva Leinani Aiko Yamashiro of Vancouver, Wash., echoes that point.
“This world would be a better place if everyone shared some ‘aloha,’ ” she says.
The Northwestern Polynesian community plans to do just that Saturday, July 26, when Hawaiians, Tahitians, Samoans and other Polynesians converge on Esther Short Park for the sixth annual Ho’ike and Hawaiian Festival.
Last year’s festival drew between 8,000 to 10,000 people, notes Yamashiro, who directs the hula school Kaleinani o ke Kukui (The Beautiful Lei of the Kukui) of Vancouver/Beaverton as well as the Ke Kukui Foundation, which is dedicated to preserving and promoting Polynesian culture.
The Ho’ike (translated meaning recital or show)and the festival is drawing some fairly prominent names in the contemporary Polynesian world, including Robert Cazimero, who was instrumental in the resurgence of Hawaiian culture that began in the 1970s.
Cazimero, a highly passionate and demanding dancer, composer and instructor from Hawaii, was featured in “The Men of Hula,” a riveting documentary Oregon Public Broadcasting recently televised, which details the 30th anniversary of Cazimero’s men’s dance school in 2005.
Another prominent Hawaiian on hand for the festival will be Victoria Holt Takamine, who has worked since the 1970s to promote Hawaiian culture, preserve customs and protect the islands’ environment.
Cazimero’s and Takamine’s passion for Polynesian culture is shared by the women taught by Yamashiro, whom they call “Aunty Diva,” a term of both respect and obvious affection. In particular, they note that hula dancing is part and parcel of their lives, a rich art form that tells stories through movement.
Some of the dancers have had to move from Hawaii for various reasons, yet they all note that although they live in the Northwest, their hearts are in the islands, a devotion their dancing expresses. A native of Hawaii, Ka’ili Tabandera of Gresham says the hula feeds her soul.
“It transports me to a different place when we dance, and we make gestures that go along with the music,” she says. “This is what balances me and keeps me centered.”
“It brings Hawaii into my heart,” adds Kapuanani Antonio, a member of the Ke Kukui Foundation board. “This is my family now.”
Indeed, the dancers consider one another sisters, and those family members include non-Polynesians as well like Martha “Puakeanani” Drum, a Gresham resident of Scots-Irish ancestry. Drum says she developed an interest in Hawaiian culture through visits to the islands, and she has studied Polynesian dance and culture for almost 15 years.
Drum says her Hawaiian language instructor bestowed her Polynesian middle name, which means “beautiful white flower.” Like the other women, she says she particularly enjoys the bond the group has developed through dancing as one.
“When you get there, it’s an unbelievable physical connection,” she says.
“Hula has been my connection to just about everything,” Yacapin-Montrose adds. “Whereas it started as my connection to my culture, it’s turned into my connection to people.”