{"id":205400,"date":"2024-10-22T15:29:05","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T01:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=205400"},"modified":"2024-10-30T15:53:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T01:53:32","slug":"grothmann-hawaiian-japanese-dance-styles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/10\/22\/grothmann-hawaiian-japanese-dance-styles\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> Hilo alum creates with Hawaiian, Japanese dance styles"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"headshot\"
Keliʻi<\/span> Kalaukoa Masao Grothmann in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Hilo<\/a> alumnus Keliʻi<\/span> Kalaukoa Masao Grothmann has created a unique career that bridges his Native Hawaiian and Japanese heritage, merging the two cultures through dance and language. Now a kumu hula based in Japan, Grothmann, who earned a degree in Hawaiian studies<\/a>, not only teaches hula but also emphasizes the importance of ʻōlelo<\/span> Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> (Hawaiian language), ensuring that his Japanese students understand the meaning behind the dances they perform.<\/p>\n

Grothmann\u2019s passion for blending cultures began during his time at UH<\/abbr> Hilo. For his senior project in a Japanese theatre and performance class conducted by Professor Yoshiko Fukushima, he performed a fusion of hula and Noh, a classical Japanese dance theater style.<\/p>\n

“The more I studied about it, the more I saw the connections through hula,” Grothmann said.<\/p>\n

Hula lineage<\/h2>\n
\"people
Grothmann and students rehearsing for the 2024 Nagoya Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Festival.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His deep connection to the performing arts began long before his academic career. Both of his great-grandmothers were trained in sacred, kapu hula by masters who had witnessed the conquests of Kamehameha I. Grothmann also learned his family descends from the bushi, or warrior class, who were once patrons of classical Japanese arts, like Noh theater. The feudal rule of the Tokugawas was already at an end when his great-grandfather became a military officer, but his grandmother remembers her father being filled with a particular nostalgia for that bygone era.<\/p>\n

Noh actor debut<\/h2>\n
\"Grothmann
Grothmann wears a formal kimono on a practice stage right before his performance in Noh theater.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Japan, Grothmann has also taken up performing in Noh productions, training under master Noboru Sano. Additionally, he recently debuted a new production called Kulāiwi, Land of the Ancestors, which blends his two passions, hula and Noh.<\/p>\n

Grothmann hopes to bring the show to \u201cmany other shores\u201d and is already working on preparing to bring the performance back home to Â鶹´«Ã½.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more go to UH<\/abbr> Hilo Stories<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—Sophia Kim-O’Sullivan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keliʻi<\/span> Kalaukoa Masao Grothmann merged his Native Hawaiian and Japanese ancestral traditions into a career that honors dance and language.<\/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":[90,679,214,14],"class_list":["post-205400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-recognition","tag-language","tag-uh-hilo","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205400","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=205400"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205867,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205400\/revisions\/205867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}