Pasifika CD Release Concert at Rhythmix Cultural Works.
Honored to participate in the recording project Flying Leap by Caroline McCaskey.
The Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame Ceremony at the Halekūlani Hotel in Honolulu. I came to celebrate the induction of my dear friend and colleague Saichi Kawahara. I was thrilled to also see so many old friends.
I was invited to curate a series of presentations in sacred movement called Spirit in Motion which features a different sacred tradition monthly from March through June.
Our brand new studio home opened on March 1st with a blessing ceremony and a fun celebration!
I co-produced, along with Ashkenaz Music and Dance Community Center, an event called Mitambo yeKare Festival of Zimbabwe. It featured wonderful performances of traditional Shona music and dance by Anzanga Marimba Ensemble, Piwai, the Chinyakare Ensemble and Mafaro e Zimbabwe.
After 25 years of creating dance and music in West Berkeley, we lost our lease to our beautiful studio home. We said goodbye with our last fundraiser, and last class. This was our very last performance there.
What a delight to step out at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards with my handsome son Hoku! It was fun and exciting to witness the ceremony in person.
I was honored to be invited to curate a series of performances for the Berkeley Art Museum and Film Archive. The program was called Full and featured performances on the night of the full moon from January through March.
In January, my Hālau Ka Ua Tuahine was invited to perform with Grammy Award Winner Kalani Peʻa at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley. The song Kuʻu Poliahu has become a favorite!
The City of Berkeley proclaimed January 22, as Māhealani Uchiyama Day. Wow! This is a little bit of our thank you to Berkeley City Council the night of the proclamation.
We celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Mahea Uchiyama Center for International Dance with a gala concert featuring our beloved community, faculty and students.
*Photos by Danny Tan and Craig Scheiner.
Hālau Ka Ua Tuahine participated in the 5th and final Ka ʻAha Hula o Hālauaola at Hilo during the historic 2018 eruption of Kīlauea. The Hālau has attended every one of the Hālauaola, beginning in Hilo in 2001, Maui in 2005, Oʻahu in 2009, and Kauaʻi in 2014. Each of the conferences begins with an inspirational hula ceremony, but the one at Hilo in 2018 was the most amazing one of all.
*Photos by Mike Teruya
In 2018 I was appointed as co-Artisitc Director of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival along with my esteemed colleagues Kumu Patrick Makuakāne and Latanya Tigner. We presented the 40th Anniversary of this beloved Festival at the San Francisco Opera House.
I brought my lovely Kupuna dancers for a 3rd appearance at the Kū Mai Ka Hula Festival on Maui.
Final bow of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival at the San Francisco Opera House.
I had the distinct pleasure to open the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival season at the San Francisco Opera House with a welcome statement to our audience.
I was invited to do a book presentation at Basically Books in Hilo, Hawaiʻi during the Merrie Monarch Festival.
So blessed to perform with my Sister-of-the-Heart, award-winning Native American Flute Artist, Rona Yellow Robe in Where the River Meets the Sea, an Evening of Sacred Music.
What began as a collection of notes given to my students back in the 1980ʻs evolved to the Haumāna Hula Handbook. It was eventually published by North Atlantic Books | Penguin Random House.
Order your copy today
Performing at the Freight and Salvage during the Hawaiian Music Festival in celebration of receiving Ke Kanaka Poʻokela (Person of Distinction) Award. Mahalo Patrick Landeza!
Our first time at this prestigious hula competition on the island of Maui. We placed 2nd!
Hālau Ka Ua Tuahine performed for Summer Sounds at the Hollywood Bowl. Summer Sounds was a childrensʻ performance series produced by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. This was also an awesome road trip with some of my favorite people!
Hula Spans the Globe
I received support from the City of Oakland to teach mbira to the community.
My dancers performed for the Makaha Sons. This was also a dream come true!
Dedicated to my mom who transitioned not long before this song was composed, and to all moms. Celebrate and honor the connection of family both here on earth and those who have gone before us and are in generations to come.
We celebrated our 20th Anniversary with a gala concert at Regents Theater in Oakland.
My second CD of Mbira music from Zimbabwe.
My first mbira CD Ndoro.
Our last appearance at the Tahiti Fete of San Jose closed with this haunting tribute to the elders and the ancestors who held the stories of their people in the tattoos that they wore.
A Walk by the Sea is released, a chronicle of my life journey in song. This CD won the 2007 Hawaiʻi Music Award for Best World Music.
I brought my dancers back to Tahiti for our 3rd tour and we performed throughout the island of Tahiti during the Heiva. Crazy fun.
Here I am at historic Goree Island, Senegal, the departure point of many of our ancestors from the Continent of Africa to the Americas.
Tatau is my first all-Tahitian CD release and includes Pua Noanoa.
Some of the most fun Iʻve had at the Merrie Monarch has been performing in Hilo during the Festival Week with Kumu Rae Fonseca and Kumu Kawika Alfiche.
Our first performance tour was filmed and produced into a documentary called Black Pearl. It won 1st place at the Berkeley Film Festival.
Hula Ceremony for the very first Ka ʻAha Hula ʻO Hālauaola in Hilo, Hawaiʻi.
I visited India with my Sister-of-the-Heart, Lakshmi.
The first iteration of the Haumāna Hula Handbook was self published and made available to the public.
I had never contemplated recording a CD before, but then I met Ashley Moore, who encouraged me to try it. Tuahine Rain was my first commercial release.
In this decade I was a young mom and in adjunct faculty mode splitting my time between two different campuses as well as my own studio, which I opened in 1993. I also began to teach and perform Egyptian dance and tried my hand at modeling.
I opened my studio on Heinz Avenue with the goal of having a nurturing, inclusive place for the community to come together and learn culturally specific dance and music in a supportive environment.
