ABSTRACT
A discussion between kumu hula, or hula teacher, Auli’i Mitchell and his head student Nāpali Souza about traditional Hawaiian puppetry, hula ki’i, or the dance of the sacred image, its history, suppression under colonialism, and current revival is presented. Mitchell recounts his forty-year path of learning about the sacred art, which was no longer being performed, his research on extant figures at the Smithsonian, and outlines elements of his current revival of the practice including how the sacred figures are made and performed. The art involves the mind, body, and spirit. Mana, or supernatural life force, is transferred from each haumana hula, or hula student, directly into the ki’i, or image carved. Students are taught the basic steps of carving and then instructed to look to their ‘ike papalua (intuition) and pay attention to their moe uhana (dreams) to finish each hula ki’i. The dancer, through ritual and ceremony, actually becomes the sacred image and dances, forming pictorial images of the many gods with their body, arms, and legs accompanied by oli, or chanting.
