MEN OF HULA. Na Kamalei: The Men of Hula, a film by Independent
Lens, introduces viewers to hula master Robert Cazimero and his unique
all-male hula school during the celebration of its 30th anniversary of
reviving the art of men dancing the hula. Pictured are the men of Halau Na
Kamalei throwing leis into a volcano (left) and dancing at the Merrie
Monarch Hula Festival. (Photos courtesy of Lehua Films)
From The Asian Reporter, V21, #09 (May 2, 2011), page 15.
Dance like men
Na Kamalei: The Men of Hula
Directed by Lisette Marie Flanary
Produced by Lisette Marie Flanary and Keo Woolford
Distributed by Lehua Films
Airing Thursday, May 5 on Oregon Public Broadcasting Plus
By Josephine Bridges
The Asian Reporter
Dare to hula. Leave your shame at home," an old Hawai’ian proverb
encourages. Na Kamalei: The Men of Hula follows Robert Cazimero —
legendary master teacher and founder of Na Kamalei, the only all-male hula
school in Hawai’i — and his dancers as they celebrate the school’s 30th
anniversary in preparation for the largest hula competition in the world,
the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival.
The school won the competition in 1975, but times have changed, and women
and younger men’s groups have been favored in recent years. Can this band of
enthusiastic underdogs — 18 to 55 years in age — led by the tough and tender
Cazimero triumph over time? There’s only one way to find out.
Hula, originally an offshoot of lua, a "bone-breaking and
joint-dislocating" fighting art taught to chiefs in the old days, has
survived both missionaries and wealthy white tourists. The former attempted
to ban the traditional dance while the latter tried to reduce it to
entertainment. Na Kamalei: The Men of Hula is a tribute both to the
strength and resilience of the sacred dance of Hawai’i and to the discipline
and delight of the men who dance it.
Na Kamalei director Lisette Marie Flanary is herself a dancer and
teacher of hula, and it shows. Kitschy tourist footage, interviews with
Cazimero and the dancers of Na Kamalei, and rehearsal segments are
interwoven with the mesmerizing music of the island paradise. The result is
riveting.
Cazimero uses the analogy of sending three dancers grocery shopping to
describe the perseverance he seeks: "Kaulana, if I were to send you to the
store and say ‘get me eggs,’ if the store didn’t have eggs, you’d be like
me. You’d come home and go, ‘They were sold out.’ Keo would go to the second
and third store. Bully would go around the island … Bully gonna bring them
back. What you’re not doing is you’re not bringing it back. You’re not
bringing back the eggs. You sort of like went, but you never find them, so
you said, ‘Well, okay, no more on the whole island.’" Then he concludes with
self-disclosure, reaching out to his youngest dancer, "I used to do that."
"Hula taught me how to love more," says firefighter Edward "Babooze"
Hanohano. Filmed at the dinner table, Hanohano’s son admits, "I don’t show
how much I am proud of him, but I am. It makes me feel good that my dad does
what he loves and he can do it proudly." Wiping away tears, Hanohano adds,
"It touches my heart to hear my son say that."
Tension builds as Cazimero and the dancers of Na Kamalei prepare for the
competition by printing loincloths, sacrificing to the goddess of the
volcano, and twining flowers into costume adornments.
When the first night of the competition — Kahiko, ancient music
and dancing — finally arrives, Cazimero urges his students: "When you walk
inside there, you still make sure that you’re friendly, and then when we get
on stage, then we attack."
Before the second night’s performance of Auana, with stringed
instruments and a more modern style of dancing, he reminds the dancers:
"Like how we made them cry last night, without really realizing it, tonight
we want them to smile."
If it’s crying and smiling you’re looking for, if it brings you joy to
watch masculine and graceful dancers kissing and hugging and laughing and
weeping, unafraid to show the depth of their feelings of love for their
islands, their art form, and each other, you need look no further.
Na Kamalei: The Men of Hula airs at 3:00am on Thursday, May 5 on
Oregon Public Broadcasting Plus. To learn more, call (503) 293-1982, or
visit <www.opb.org> or <www.lehuafilms.com>.
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