It definitely helps that I'm from Hawaii!
Shaka Braddah!
CALIENTE
ALOHA
Tucson's Hawaiian community growing
FOR THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.28.200
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In a small Midtown studio covered in photos and flowers of Hawaii, Louise Leiola Aquino Galla throws out her hand, extending her thumb and pinky, and laughs.
"Shaka, braddah!" she says, talking about running into other Hawaiians in Tucson.
The Old Pueblo's Hawaiian community is growing steadily, fueled largely by military transfers and expatriates driven away by the high cost of living on the islands.
On this day, every member of Leiola Hula Halau has a funny story to tell of how they met others from Hawaii.
"We park our car, put gas in, someone goes, 'You Hawaiian?'" Galla says in a thick accent, while members of her halau, or school, laugh and nod in agreement.
"The pidgin English bring us together."
Pidgin, a form of broken English and a staple of the life and community in Hawaii, is often the first part of island life lost after moving away.
"My boyfriend, who has gone to Hawaii with me, eaten the food and heard the pidgin, laughs because I come back from hula practice and he says, 'Your accent is stronger!'" adds Serina Diniega, a member of the halau who has been dancing hula since she was 5.
For Hawaiians, leaving a tight-knit community where even your neighbors are known as your 'aunties' and 'uncles,' can be difficult.
That's why many are turning to local groups, such as the Tucson Polynesian Society, to find one another.
"People from Hawaii, they come out here and the first thing they do is look for other people from Hawaii," says Lisa Leina `Ala Ibarra, instructor at Halau Hula O Leina `Ala. "That's their security. To know people from your homeland that you can lean on gives you that family feeling that Hawaii is all about."
Tucson's Hawaiians can also be found in Hawaiian-themed restaurants.
The owners of both Lani's Luau and Northshore Hawaiian Cuisine are from the islands, as are the teachers of two hula schools here in Tucson, Leiola Hula Halau and Halau Hula O Leina `Ala. One such restaurant, Golden Spring Hawaiian BBQ on North Wilmot Road, recently closed.
The Arizona Aloha Festival, an annual two-day event in Phoenix, draws more than 80,000 in celebration of the Pacific Islands, and the Phoenix-based club Lau Kanaka No Hawaii consists of about 225 families.
"When my husband first came out here in 1963, he used to look for Hawaiians everywhere," says Anne Stillman, membership chairman of Lau Kanaka No Hawaii. "He used to look in the phonebook under the 'K's' and there were none. Now the Hawaiians have come to Arizona."
While a move from Hawaii to California is more common, Stillman says she thinks the rising cost of living there has pushed islanders inland to Arizona.
But being Hawaiian is not a prerequisite to getting involved in Hawaiian clubs or hula schools.
Many people who have never been to Hawaii are members of Lau Kanaka, Stillman says, and Tucson's hula schools are filled with dancers who have been to Hawaii only on vacation but feel pulled to adopt the culture as their own.
"There are people that will tell you they have a feeling they belong to Hawaii," Stillman says. "Somewhere in their soul, they feel a connection."
Christy Friske-Daniels, a member of Halau Hula O Leina `Ala who is not from Hawaii, can relate.
"Ever since I was little, I was fascinated with Hawaiian culture," Friske-Daniels says, gold Hawaiian bracelets adorning her wrists.
"My grandmother brought me little hula dolls when I was 4, and since then, it's all I've wanted to do."
From taking up Hawaiian dance to attending a local luau, Tucsonans are immersing themselves in the Hawaiian culture to learn more about the islands or to reconnect with their roots.
"You find people with the aloha spirit, regardless of their race, that are from Hawaii," Ibarra says. "That aloha spirit is within a person. . . . That kind of love just grows."
Kelly Lewis is a journalism senior at the University of Arizona who is apprenticing at the Star. She grew up in Kailua on the east side of Oahu.
I loved doing this article!
Here's another component to it (there were 5 parts altogether!) , if you're interested!
CALIENTE
Learn the hula at a halau
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.28.2008
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You can learn all about hula by joining a hula halau, or school.
Leiola Hula HalauAt Leiola Hula Halau, discipline, respect and appreciation for Hawaiian culture come with each hula lesson.
"One needs to know before she dances why she is dancing," says kumu (instructor) Louise Leiola Aquino Galla. "It hurts me, as a Hawaiian, when people don't understand."
After the closure of the Kau sugar plantation on the Big Island of Hawaii, Galla lived briefly in Oregon before coming to Tucson and teaching hula.
"I would go to Japan, Africa, anywhere in this world and teach hula the way it's supposed to be taught," says Galla.
"In order for us to perpetuate, or back up our king and queen and the words they give us, the model, each Hawaiian should be able to follow (the traditions) and keep it going."
Although it may look simple, ancient hula, or kahiko, is steeped in history, stemming back to the days when some viewed it as paganist.
These days, hula is often centered on Christianity, with many dances done in praise.
"There are mixed reactions to Christian hula," Galla says. "Some think we shouldn't dance about God, sing about him. If we are performing and someone requests that we not do Christian hula, we won't."
Galla teaches both private and group classes in ancient hula many days a week, and her halau is available for performances upon request.
"When we come here, we pretend we are dancing on the sand, listening to the ocean," says Sandi Rosso, a member of the halau originally from Oahu. "When you're from Hawaii, hula is just a part of the essence in who you are."
Prices vary at Leiola Hula Halau but are around $50 a month. Classes are held at 2030 E. Broadway. For more information, call 881-0147 or go to www.leiolahulahalau.com.
Halau Hula O Leina `AlaAt the Pan Asian Community Alliance, on South Craycroft Road near East 22nd Street, dancers chant to leave their worries behind before entering the studio to study hula.
Here, dancers come to learn both ancient and modern hula. Modern hula is more free-form than the ancient style.
"We are preserving our culture and passing it down," says instructor Lisa Leina `Ala Ibarra. "If there aren't people to share, the culture will die."
Dancing together for the past eight years, members of this halau have taken their love of hula beyond Tucson by traveling to the World Conference on Hula.
The group also has been involved in the opening ceremonies of the Arizona Aloha Festival in Phoenix, and plans to attend this year.
"Before, you had to come to one class, learn one chant and try out to be in a hula school. It wasn't open for everybody," Ibarra says. "Now, it's in every race, every creed."
Lourees O'Heir, a member of the halau, says she fell in love with ancient hula when she traveled to Hawaii for her honeymoon.
"When I went to Hawaii I saw kahiko and it touched my soul," O'Heir says. "I fell in love with it. It was like a painting; I had never seen something so beautiful."
Now, years later, hula has become a dance passed down to her children and grandchildren, who all are in various stages of dance.
There are misperceptions about hula that the dancers constantly struggle with.
"They think all we do is shake our hips and wear coconut bras," O'Heir says. Tahitian dance, which includes heavy emphasis on hip-shaking, is very often misrepresented as Hawaiian hula, adds Ibarra.
"For me, it's ancient, it's my ancestors," Ibarra says. "We educate our audience when we perform. (Hula) is an evolution, a history. It's not just a dance."
Halau Hula O Leina `Ala holds practices on Sundays at the Pan Asian Community Alliance, 940 S. Craycroft Road. The cost is $40 a month. For more info, call the alliance at 512-0144 or Lisa Ibarra at 682-6539.
— Kelly Lewis
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