George Na'ope

George Lanakilakekiahiali'i Na'ope (February 25, 1928, Kalihi, Hawaii) is a celebrated kumu hula, master Hawaiian chanter, and leading advocate and preservationist of native Hawaiian culture worldwide. He has been teaching hula dancing for over sixty years, and has taught in Japan, Guam, Australia, Germany, England, North America, and South America in addition to the Hawaiian Islands. [ [http://honoluluweekly.com/cover/story-continued/2007/03/the-merrie-master/ Honolulu Weekly Article August 29, 2007] ]

Na'ope is a scholar of ancient hula, which is hula developed and danced before 1893. He first studied hula at three years old under his great-grandmother, Mary Malia Pukaokalani Na`ope, who lived to be over 100 years old. At the age of four he began to study with Mary Kanaele who was mother and teacher to Edith Kanaka'ole. When he moved to O'ahu at the age of ten, he studied for ten years with Joseph Ilala'ole. After graduating from high school, Na'ope moved to Honolulu where he opened the George Na`ope Hula School, then later continued his studies under Kumu Hula Lokalia Montgomery and Tom Hiona. [ [http://www.kanehulafestival.com/Uncle%20George%20Pictures.htm Profile at the Kane Hula Festival] ]

Na'ope began to teach hula at the age of thirteen. His family was poor, so he taught hula for fifty cents per week in order to continue to pay for school. He taught chant and kahiko to the Ray Kinney dancers, and travelled with Ray Kinney. [ [http://www.kalena.com/uncle_george.html Excerpt from the March 1996 Hula Mae'ole Seminar Brochure] ]

In 1964, Na'ope founded the Merrie Monarch Festival, an annual week-long festival of traditional Hawaiian arts, crafts, and performances featuring a three-day hula competition. The festival became both a popular success and an important part of the Hawaiian Renaissance. In an interview Na'ope said of founding the festival, "I felt the hula was becoming too modern and that we have to preserve it. David Kalakaua (king of Hawaii 1874–91, aka The Merrie Monarch) brought the hula back to Hawaii and made us realize how important it was for our people. There was nothing here in Hilo, so I decided to honor Kalakaua and have a festival with just hula. I didn't realize that it was going to turn out to be one of the biggest things in our state." In 1960, the state of Hawaii designated Na'ope a "Living Golden Treasure". Na'ope has since been honored with numerous other awards, including being named a "Treasure of Hawai`i" by President George W. Bush and the Smithsonian Institute and receiving the National Heritage Fellowship Award by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2006. [ [http://www.nea.gov/about/NEARTS/15-2007vol1/15p10naope.html National Endowment for the Arts Journal Article] ]

Na`ope is also the founder of the "Humu Mo’olelo", a quarterly journal of the hula arts. He still teaches hula out of a small studio in his home in Kona, Hawaii. [ [http://www.hulasource.com/georgenaope.html The Hula Source Article] ]

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