Hawaii

These seniors are learning Hula to celebrate Hawaiian culture

Published

2 years ago

May 15, 2024

These seniors are learning Hula to celebrate Hawaiian culture

SAN RAMON, Calif. — “Hula is the language of the heart, and therefore the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people,” says Desiree Elder, a Hula instructor with the Polynesian dance revue, Island Spice.

“Many people visit Hawaii,” Elder says, “and they think that Hula is just wiggling around. But Hula is so much more than that.”

Elder teaches Hula to all ages, but her most unique class is probably the 55-and-over instruction for mature adults taught at San Ramon-Alcosta Senior and Community Center.

“The soft, graceful movements are really fun to do,” says Fiona Waterhouse, one of Elders students. “And the beautiful music which evokes everything Hawaiian.”

“This is like a godsend class,” adds another student.

Elder says she particularly enjoys teaching seniors because they’re a very engaging group of people.

“They want to learn,” she says, “they’re not done with life, they want to learn, they want to exercise.”

Many of Elders students agree, Hula dancing gives them an opportunity to move and exercise their bodies and their minds. They often give each other tips on how to learn the dance moves, allowing them to socialize and build friendships as well.

“When we came to this class, we didn’t know each other,” says Haldis Maeda, a student of the 55+ beginners class. “I had to learn all the different movements and what they’re called. And it’s really nice, because you’re all learning together. So it’s kind of like you’re helping one another out.”

Beyond creating friendships, the class immerses students in Hawaiian culture.

“When you teach them about Hula, you just can’t teach them moves and language,” says Elder, “They also learn about basic Hula dance traditions, because there are a lot of traditions that go with dancing Hula. How to stand, how to put your costume on, so there are a lot of different aspects of the Hawaiian culture that get brought into classes.”

Elder says learning about Hawaiian culture and Hula is especially impactful during Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage month.

“People from all over the world go to Hawaii and go there for vacation,” she says. “And then you forget about Hawaii. Hawaii has its own unique culture, you have a place that actually had a kingdom on United States land. It’s the only place that has a palace in the U.S. So it’s a very unique type of culture. And for people to recognize that during this month, AAPI heritage month, it’s very good because get a chance to be more inquisitive about it. Maybe they look into it, maybe take a Hula class, maybe buy a book about Hula, or about Hawaii in general.”

AAPI Heritage Month celebrates the accomplishments of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Through hula, these seniors honor the traditions of the islands.

“Every time we come together and dance hula,” Elder says, “we celebrate the Hawaiian culture.”

To learn more, and to sign up for a hula class, visit here.

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Hawaii

Community memorial service for Kazuo Todd today in Hilo – West Hawaii Today

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21 minutes ago

January 11, 2026

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Community memorial service for Kazuo Todd today in Hilo – West Hawaii Today

The funeral procession for deceased Fire Chief Kazuo Todd with pass-in-review for Hawaii Fire Department firefighters took place Saturday morning at HFD Administration in the County Building on Aupuni Street in Hilo.

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Hawaii

What’s Cooking: Celebrating Lunar New Year with Hawaii Dim Sum & Seafood

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12 hours ago

January 10, 2026

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What’s Cooking: Celebrating Lunar New Year with Hawaii Dim Sum & Seafood

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A family-run Chinese restaurant in Honolulu’s Chinatown is gearing up for Lunar New Year festivities.

Hawaii Dim Sum & Seafood Restaurant owner Karen Tam and her son Kirave Liang joined HNN’s Sunrise to showcase their dim sum and Chinese specialties.

Lunar New Year specials include a special jai with 18 vegetarian ingredients and the sweet, sticky, steamed rice cake gau in brown sugar and coconut flavors, which symbolize good fortune and prosperity.

”We eat food with a lucky meaning to start the great year,” Tam said. “We have jin dui (sesame balls) every day.“

Feb. 17 marks the start of the year of the Fire Horse, when families gather to celebrate with big meals and auspicious dishes. Hawaii Dim Sum & Seafood will offer set party menus and special orders for foods not commonly found in Honolulu, such as whole stuffed duck, braised abalone in oyster sauce, and basin meal.

“It’s the biggest fest of the year. We celebrate Chinese New Year by eating with family in a round table,“ Tam said.

Hawaii Dim Sum & Seafood also has private rooms with karaoke systems and a banquet hall to accommodate small family gatherings to large parties.

Hawaii Dim Sum & Seafood is located on 111 N. King St. and is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, There is street parking and paid parking behind the restaurant on Nimitz and Maunakea.

For more information, visit hawaiidimsumseafood.com or follow on Instagram @hawaiidimsumseafood.

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Hawaii

Hawaii suffers first defeat of the season against Loyola Chicago | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Published

1 day ago

January 10, 2026

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Hawaii suffers first defeat of the season against Loyola Chicago | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

The second-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team expected a different Loyola Chicago team to show up Friday night in the rematch of Thursday’s 94-minute sweep by UH.

They were certainly correct in that assessment.

Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said flatly the Ramblers were better after No. 7 Loyola Chicago handed Hawaii its first home loss in January in two years in a 25-23, 25-22, 24-26, 29-27 win before a season-high crowd of 5,811 at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Aleksandar Sosa put down a match-high 19 kills and setter Ryan McElligott set the tone with four of his five aces in the first set for Loyola Chicago (1-1), which out-served and out-blocked the Rainbow Warriors.

“I thought they touched a lot of balls on the block and those first two sets, the first set, we had three or four balls back on our side to score some points and we didn’t,” Wade said. “We kind of screwed it up. We weren’t quite as crisp and efficient and against a good team, we let them hang around and they come back and make some plays late.”

Hawaii looked done for the night trailing 20-13 when it mounted a furious comeback in the third set to avoid a sweep.

Loyola Chicago had five match points in the fourth set and finally put the contest away with a double block of Ofeck Hazan to complete the upset.

“I think they served way better and we really struggled passing their serve,” said Hazan, who started in place of Trevell Jordan in the middle. “They were more creative out of system. (Thursday) they just hit into our block and today they just found the touches or just played better.”

Louis Sakanoko led Hawaii with 18 kills and set a career high with 12 digs, and Kristian Titriyski added 16 kills before sitting out the fourth set. UH hit .254 for the match and had six aces to the Ramblers’ eight. Loyola Chicago hd 15.5 blocks to Hawaii’s 10.5.

“We weren’t clicking on all cylinders and I’m not trying to use this as an excuse, but (setter) Tread (Rosenthal) didn’t practice all week. He had a back that tightened up,” Wade said. “Trevell’s back tightened up and I thought Ofeck played pretty well and he gave us a nice spark, but you’re just a little off rhythm there. Kristian was kind of grabbing his back late and obviously we made the decision to go with Kainoa (Wade) to give us a spark and he gave us that.”

Kainoa Wade and Sakanoko each served three straight points for UH in the third set after it fell behind 20-13 and Finn Kearney came off the bench to serve the final two points that ended in blocks to get UH back in the game.

Hawaii hit just .171 in the fourth and made eight service errors. It had 20 serving errors for the match and served in at less than 80%.

“Obviously it’s a work in progress. We’re in game four of the year,” Kainoa Wade said. “We got a lot of work to do, but we’ve got to trust what we know. We’ve served a lot of balls in our lives, all of us, so we know we can go on runs and make plays.”

The Ramblers gave Hawaii a taste of its own medicine in the opening set with McElligott building a strong poker hand of aces during an 8-0 run during which Charlie Wade used both timeouts.

McElligott had three aces after Jake Read’s kill put him behind the service line, and despite two Hawaii timeouts and the media timeout, he poured it on until UH caught a break with a Loyola Chicago net violation on an overpass that almost certainly would have been a Ramblers point.

Sakanoko followed with back-to-back kills, including a deep tip into the far corner over a triple block that prompted Loyola Chicago to call timeout leading 17-14.

Hawaii extended the run to 5-0 after Titriyski put down a kill following a long rally to pull UH within a point.

The Rainbow Warriors got back to even at 22-all on Kainoa Wade’s ace as a serving sub. The set was tied once more until a Rosenthal service error and a McElligott ace for his fourth of the set handed UH its first set loss of the season.

Rosenthal wasn’t able to spin serve all night due to the back injury.

Neither team separated by more than a point in the second set until Justin Todd had two aces during a 4-0 UH run to put the ‘Bows ahead 13-10.

Hawaii led 21-19 when the Ramblers scored six of the next seven points to go up two sets to none.

UH’s only point during the final 6-1 run came on a Loyola Chicago service error. The Ramblers scored three of their points on errors by UH and another on their sixth ace of the match.

The Rainbow Warriors will have four days off before playing four matches in three days next week.

Hawaii has doubleheaders against Roberts Wesleyan and Rockhurst in reverse order on Wednesday and Friday.

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