{"id":176266,"date":"2023-04-24T12:00:55","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T22:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=176266"},"modified":"2023-04-24T12:01:51","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T22:01:51","slug":"uh-kumu-hula-merrie-monarch-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/24\/uh-kumu-hula-merrie-monarch-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa kumu hula leads h\u0101lau to Merrie Monarch victory"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>
\"Women
H\u0101lau Ka L\u0101 ʻŌnohi<\/span> Mai O Haʻehaʻe<\/span> (Image courtesy: Hawaii News Now<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kumu hula R. Keawe Lopes, Jr.<\/strong> of H\u0101lau Ka L\u0101 ʻŌnohi<\/span> Mai O Haʻehaʻe<\/span><\/a> said he is very proud of his dancers after winning the 2023 Merrie Monarch Festival. Lopes is a Hawaiian language professor at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa and the director of the Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language<\/a> at the Â鶹´«Ã½nuākea<\/span> School of Hawaiian Knowledge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Very humbled for the honor of being selected the overall winner of the 60th anniversary,” said Lopes, whose wife Tracie is also a kumu hula for the h\u0101lau. “Just thankful that we were able to present something that the esteemed panel of judges thought worthy of the title, and we are just ecstatic about that, for sure.”<\/p>\n

Lopes\u2019 h\u0101lau finished with 1,231 points edging out H\u0101lau N\u0101 Mamo O Puʻuanahulu<\/span>, which finished second with 1,230 points. H\u0101lau Ka Lei Mokihana O Leināʻala<\/span> came in third with 1,229 points.<\/p>\n

“I think every kumu hula and every dancer that makes a commitment to the Merrie Monarch needs to be congratulated because the huakaʻi<\/span>, or the journey, to the Olympics is not an easy one,“ said Lopes. “My hats off to all that commit devoting their time and their efforts and their family and their support to making it to the Olympics of the hula.”<\/p>\n

For the third straight year, a dancer from Lopes\u2019 h\u0101lau won Miss Aloha Hula, with Agnes Renee Leihiwahiwaikapolionāmakua Thronas Brown taking the 2023 title. His daughter, Piʻikea<\/span> Kekīhenelehuawewehiikekauʻōnohi<\/span> Lopes<\/strong>, a UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa graduate student, captured the 2022 title<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Men
H\u0101lau Ka L\u0101 ʻŌnohi<\/span> Mai O Haʻehaʻe<\/span> (Image courtesy: Hawaii News Now<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keawe Lopes, Jr. of H\u0101lau Ka L\u0101 ʻŌnohi<\/span> Mai O Haʻehaʻe<\/span> said he is very proud of his dancers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[598,33,1057,551,1041,411,9],"class_list":["post-176266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-faculty-recognition","tag-hawaiian","tag-hawaiian-language","tag-hawaiinuiakea-school-of-hawaiian-knowledge","tag-hula","tag-kawaihuelani-center-for-hawaiian-language","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176266"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176292,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176266\/revisions\/176292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}