Read this article in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi
Na Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker, Ph.D.
Warm greetings, friends who cherish the Hawaiian language. It is imperative that we perpetuate our beloved language by speaking Hawaiian each and every day in all places.
Do not assume that it is sufficient for the Hawaiian language to be heard one month of the year everywhere. It is wonderful for February to be designated as Hawaiian language month, however, a year of Hawaiian language or perhaps a century of Hawaiian language would be most impressive.
Those of us who are fortunate to have learned and speak Hawaiian have a responsibility to normalize and promote our language across the archipelago. We must continue to strive for the summit, dear Hawaiian language speaking friends.
The Hawaiian Theatre Program was established at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with the concept of increasing domains of Hawaiian language use. The program has staged and promoted Hawaiian stories in the Hawaiian language for our community.
This semester the newest production of the program, Lele Wale, written and directed by Ikaika Mendez will premiere. A native of Kanaio, Maui, Ikaika worked as a musician at the lūʻau in Lahaina before the devastating fires of August 2023.
Ikaika has written this play as a prayer for healing the land of the shaded breadfruit trees of Lele. So that we may remember the Maʻaʻa wind that lifts the coconut leaves of Lele and for us to understand that the strength of the people of Lahaina resembles the brilliant light that will not be extinguished despite the blowing of the Kauaʻula wind. Lele Wale will be presented March 4-8 at the Earle Ernst Lab Theatre.
This month there will be a staged reading of Lele Wale at an upcoming conference organized by ʻAhahui Noiʻi Noʻeau ʻŌiwi – Research Institute of Indigenous Performance (ANNO) – at Kennedy Theatre.
The conference is titled ANNO ʻ26: Bridging Generations, and is the second ANNO conference. The inaugural conference, Noiʻi Nowelo, was hosted in 2024. Last year, ANNO launched its first publication, Noiʻi Nowelo: A Survey of Hawaiian and Indigenous Performance, illuminating the expansive field of Hawaiian and Indigenous performance studies, its theory and its practice.
The conference on February 5-6 features three panels – “Hana Noʻeau Lima,” “Aloha ʻĀina Embodied: The Praxis of ʻAha,” and “Kumu Hula Legacy: The Art of Haku Mele;” nine hands-on workshops in the practices of hula, mele, kapa-making, wood carving, feather lei-making, puppetry, and dance; two film screenings, Molokaʻi Bound and Māhū: A Trans- Pacific Love Letter; an art exhibit; a student research poster session; an evening of music with Baba Tavares and the Krug ʻohana; and a sneak-peak of Lele Wale.
Join us for Hawaiian art and performance at UH Mānoa!
For more information on the Hawaiian Theatre Program go to: manoa.hawaii.edu/hanakeaka, and for ANNO: manoa.hawaii.edu/anno
