Robin Bentley
This is an addition to Aunty Manuʻs obituary, which helps to expand on her life story:
Aunty Manuiki Moke Hoopii Lono was born in Koloa, Kauaʻi of pure Hawaiian ancestry. She was raised on Hawaiian traditions and customs, but was born in the era when ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi was discouraged in schools, so the language was only spoken at home. Both her parents spoke fluent Hawaiian, her father speaking the Niʻihau dialect.
At the age of nine, she received a certificate of hula from Aunty Ruby Ahakuelo. During her intermediate and high school years, she danced with Uncle Joseph Kahaulelio. Aunty was also a Kodak Hula Dancer for five years and recorded an album entitled Halona. She later became a Hauʻoli Dancer with Aunty Vicki Iʻi Rodrigues and Aunty Pauline Kekahuna and was part of that hālau when they went on to be the first ever winners of the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival! She has entertained with the Marieterangi Family (Paumotu) for many years, not only as a friend, but also as a member of that well-known Polynesian family.
As Kumu Hula of Hālau Hula ʻO Lono in the Seattle, WA area, she conducted Keiki, Teen and Young Adult, and multi-level Women’s hula classes. She taught chanting, oli, ʻukulele, singing, ʻōlelo, and hosted hula, ‘ukulele, and Hawaiian craft workshops. She brought her manaʻo to Tahiti and Japan, where she offered classes in hula and singing.
Aunty was a well-known adjudicator and judged hula competitions in Hawaiʻi and on the Continent. She went to Vancouver, B.C., Canada to lend her support to Festival Polynesia/Pacific Rim 2006 and returned as the principal adjudicator for Festival Polynesia/Pacific Rim 2007. More recently, Aunty Manu adjudicated a large hula and Tahitian competition in 2018 in Reno, NV.
Aunty Manu taught hula all of her adult life. She was instrumental in the development of the Ka Hula Leʻa Festival and the Hula O Nā Keiki held at the Kaʻanapali Beach Hotel on Maui. She was the coordinator for the Aloha Friday nights at the Ginger Palace restaurant in the Ramada Inn, SeaTac, as well as being the organizer for the Aloha ʻO Nā Kūpuna Music and Dance Festival (which became The Bridge of Aloha, in Ferndale, WA), and served on the steering committee for the Live Aloha Hawaiian Cultural Festival in Seattle since its inception in 2008.