Kumu Hula Leihi'ilani Kirkpatrick

Kumu Hula Leihi’ilani Kirkpatrick is the Founder of Hālau Ka Lei Kukui Hi'ilani.  She started dancing hula in the 1950s with her 'ohana. She has been taught by several wonderful hula teachers/masters but has been most impacted by Uncle Joe Kahaulelio, Aunty Puamohala Kaholokula, and Lehua Kawaikapuokalani Hewett. She began dancing professionally in 1968 and has continued to grow in hula ever since, having graduated through traditional ‘uniki rites with Lehua Kawaikapuokalani Hewett.  With hula gaining popularity worldwide, students from Singapore, Japan, Europe and the mainland USA have been and are regularly coming to study with Kumu Lei on Kaua’i.

Kumu Lei teaches Hawaiian Studies in schools on Kaua’i. She is also the Kumu Hula and Kumu Huaka’i of an association of skilled and respected cultural practitioners on Kaua’i who work together to provide workshops, seminars and programs for people desiring to learn more about Hawaiian language, culture, history, hula and arts and crafts.

Kumu Lei shares her mana’o:

Hula has been a part of my life from a young age with my 'ohana and it is a natural extension of how I express what I believe in my heart, feel in my emotions, and experience in my life. Because of my inquisitive nature, my parents taught me that the best way to learn anything is to watch, listen, be quiet, and follow. By my parents’ example in their daily lives, I learned the values of aloha, mālama, lōkahi, kuleana, ha’aha’a, ho’omau, and 'ohana. The disciplines, values, ethics, traditions, and teachings of hula that I learned from my teachers reinforced what I learned from my family. When I became a Christian, I began to grow in the knowledge of God’s Word.  

God’s Word, His love, the values I learned from my parents, and the knowledge I learned from my hula teachers shaped me as a person and as a teacher. My desire is to pass this on to my family and to my students.

Alaka'i Hula 'Anakē Kahānoa Floresca (Kumu Hula in Training)

Auntie Kahānoa began dancing as a child growing up in O'ahu, Hawai'i and continued after attending college in Southern California. She leads the Mainland USA Extension of Kumu Hula Leihi'ilani Kirkpatrick's Halau Ka Lei Kukui Hi'ilani which proudly calls Dance North County its hula school home. In addition, she serves as the Resident Hula Instructor for the City of San Marcos Recreation Center Services since 2013.  She founded a FREE Hawaiian Hula Meetup in 2014 that is open to the public.  What once started as a FREE Hula In The Park Meetup is now a FREE Hawaiian Hula Ho'āno Meetup for those interested in worshipping God through chant, song and hula.

She has a rich hula lineage attributed to her current Kumu Hula, Leihi'ilani Kirkpatrick who resides in Kaua'i, Hawai'i, her first Kumu Hula, the late Auntie Philomena Keali'i Waine'e Mahelona Aranio, and other Kumu Hula who have influenced her. With these hula lineages connected to Lehua Frank Kawaikapuokalani Hewett, Kumu Hula Uncle Joseph Kamoha'i Kaha'ulelio and Kumu Hula Puamohala Kaholokula, she continues their teaching traditions in ancient hula (kahiko), modern hula ('auana), worship hula (ho'āno).

Auntie Kahānoa is also the Founder and CEO of Hawaiian Hula International, a non-profit organization dedicated to "Caring For The Hula Mind, Body, Soul & Spirit of dancers and Hawaiian cultural practitioners who preserve and perpetuate Hawaiian Hula, traditions, language and history.