Kumu shared love for hula and life through decades of teaching

Renowned kumu hula Leilani Alama died Friday at St. Francis Hospice in Ewa, surrounded by family and friends.

She had been in hospice care for the last five months, battling stomach cancer. She was 88.

Alama, a former Aloha Week queen, was loved and respected by thousands of students from throughout the world who learned hula at Leilani Alama Hula Studio in Kaimuki.

Born in Honolulu, the McKinley High School graduate received her hula teaching certificate from kumu Kahelelani Moniz Bishop in 1943 and never stopped teaching.

She taught for more than seven decades and never planned to retire. Up till November she continued climbing 31 steps to get to her studio at Wai­alae and 9th avenues.

"She was wonderful," said niece TeMoana Makolo. "She loved everyone. She loved life. Most of all, she loved hula and she loved God."

A continual stream of students and friends would come by to visit Alama, to dance, sing and reminisce, according to Makolo, who helped care for her. Alama continued to dance from her wheelchair and, later, her bed.

It was just after three of her original students, now in their 70s, had visited and finished a rosary prayer that she slipped away Friday shortly before noon, according to Makolo.

Her younger sister, Pua­nani, 83, was also by her side.

From the 1940s to the 1970s, Alama was also a producer, director and coordinator of Aloha Week celebrations. She and the late Auntie Genoa Keawe performed together for decades.

Since 1940, Leilani and Pua­nani participated in the city’s annual Na Hula Festival every year up to last year.

She and Puanani were also recipients of the I Ola Mau ka Hula (To Perpetuate the Hula) award from Hula Grill restaurant in 2012, upon the recommendation of the Hula Preservation Society.

At the time, she told the society: "For me, when a person dances … as long as they can express themselves with the aloha spirit in their hula, that’s all that matters. Then you can feel them, too. Otherwise you lose connection, yeah? When you dance, it comes from the heart. And that’s the way I love it."

Last year, in celebration of her 70th anniversary teaching, Gov. Neil Abercrombie proclaimed Aug. 4 as "Leilani Alama Hula Studio Day."

This year Alama’s niece Pua­nani Jung of Laguna Hills, Calif., will be competing in the Merrie Monarch Festival for the first time.

It will be bittersweet, said Jung, who had originally hoped her aunt would be able to attend the festival.

"Auntie was definitely another teacher of mine and had a big influence on my hula," said Jung, who considered her aunt as a second mother. "She was one of those people who made you feel welcome from the minute you said hello. Her spirit and energy, and just her passion for hula and life were an inspiration."

Jung described her aunt’s style as very expressive.

"Her movements were very flowy and fluid," she said. "She always had a little twinkle and rascalness in her eyes. She was very playful, put it that way."

Yet she always made sure to maintain the dignity of hula as an art form, she said. One of her favorite phrases during hula practice was "Get it going," which Jung now uses with her own students.

"She’s going to be very, very missed. She’ll be watching us from above. I know that."

Aside from her sister and niece, Alama is also survived by numerous other nieces, nephews and other relatives.

Services will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. April 16 at Diamond Head Memorial Park, 529 18th Ave.

Graveside services will be 10 a.m. April 17 at Hawaiian Memorial Park, 45-425 Kame­ha­meha Highway.