When Kumu Hula Kenneth “Aloha” Dean Alohapumehanaokalā Victor takes his Hawaiʻi Island-based hālau to Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition & Festival on Oʻahu this week, he said he hopes they compete to the best of their ability, while still enjoying being kids.
For some of his students, one of the most memorable parts of the competition might be boarding their first plane.
“That's one of the things I love about coming to keiki hula because it allows kids who've never gone on a plane before to be able to see the big city,” Victor said. “For some of these girls, they don't ever get to go back to Honolulu until they become adults.”
This year, Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition & Festival hosted by Hawaiian Council will bring 15 hālau from across the Pae ʻāina, to participate in contests from Thursday, July 23, to Saturday, July 25, at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center. Participants of the invitation-only competition are between six and 12 years old. The structure of the competition resembles Merrie Monarch with Miss & Master Keiki Hula 2026 on Thursday, Group Hula Kahiko on Friday, and Group Hula ʻAuana on Saturday.
Victor is the founder of Hālau Kala’akeakauikawēkiu, which he started in 2006. By its second year, his hālau had been invited to participate in its first Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition & Festival. Victor is also the founder of aloha wear brand Kauluaʻe Hawaiʻi, which creates designs “made in Hawaiʻi for Hawaiʻi,” according to its website.
When his hālau travels, they have matching outfits, he noted.
“They'll have matching luggage,” Victor said. “Because I just want everybody to be on the same page. Nobody has a better bag. Nobody has a better backpack.”
Want to attend the competition? Help your favorite hālau cover some of the costs of competition by purchasing tickets under their name on the Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition & Festival’s website.
The invitation to be on stage at Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition or Merrie Monarch “is an invitation to the greatest stage on earth for a hula dancer, and that alone deserves a trophy,” Victor told ASD.
For Hālau Kala’akeakauikawēkiu, the community helps fund the cost of getting students to competition, which is often about $2,500 per student, he said. Once on Oʻahu, the hālau visits cultural sites.
“A lot of people just go to Honolulu and they prep for the competition, but not us,” he said. “As soon as we land, we're going to the Royal Mausoleum. We go to ʻIolani Palace. We go to Bishop Museum. We go to different places on Oʻahu, so that they can see the city amongst preparing for competition. Because at the end of the day, these memories are everything. … I have girls that have danced with me that only travel because of hula, and so we try to make it not just a hula experience but a life experience.”
Through his hālau, Victor shares knowledge of his past teachers, which include Hualani Brandt, George Naope, Keoni Atkinson, Nani Lim Yap, Pat Nāmaka Bacon and Taupōuri Tangarō, who had influences on his style of dance, repertoire and teaching and cultural perspectives, according to Hālau Kala’akeakauikawēkiu's website.
His students participating in the Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition & Festival also create scrapbooks of their experiences.
“For my hālau, we build a book,” Victor said. “And in the book, we put all of our research. We put our choreography. We put our songs. We put our translations. We'll do field trips that connect ourselves to the song and then with that we put pictures. It's like a big scrapbook of their keiki hula experience.”
Three months before competition, practice is just two days a week, but the hours increase as the competition gets closer.
“But throughout all these intense practices, we'll do beach days,” Victor said. “But because I don't want them to sunburn, we do beach days at night. We'll go swimming at night. We'll do glow sticks, and we'll do a scavenger hunt at night. Because at the end of the day, I do not want these children to lose their childhood while being at keiki hula practice.”
Victor said that when he was growing up, he remembers watching the televised competition.
“When I was a young kid, I used to watch the Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition on TV, and I used to always be like, ʻWow, they were like the little Keiki Hula superstars because they were on TV,” he said. “Being from small towns — I'm from Kona and I was born and raised in Hōnaunau — and watching these kids on TV, they were like little hula superstars. They were the mini Merrie Monarch superstars because after keiki hula, you're eventually going to go to Merrie Monarch.”
Now, Victor is helping the next generation participate in the same festival. He noted that once they outgrow the keiki competition, he hopes they have memories they can talk about for the rest of their lives.
“These opportunities and experiences allow them to dream and to be inspired to do something great.”
Tickets, which include access to all three days of competitions, are $30 for adults and $25 for keiki. Get tickets.
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Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
