This is one of my teachers, a noted figure in Hawaiian history, one of Maui’s legendary Kumu Hulas, meaning Hula Master, a renowned exponent of the hula. 

She studied with Kauhai Likua, a dancer of King Kalakaua’s court.  She also studied with Iolani Luahine, perhaps Hawaii’s most famous Kumu Hula; Luahine was the Curator, as well, of Hulihee Palace.  Auntie Emma also studied with Mary Kawena Pukui, soaking up the language and history of Hawaii from this great creator of the most respected and definitive Hawaiian-English dictionary. 

Auntie Emma is a member of the Farden family, famous for their music, compositions, songs, and hula.  She is one of the founders of Na Mele O Maui, which today is still an annual event on that Island.  I knew her back in the 1970s when she, along with others, was helping to establish its growth. 

When I was studying with her, where she lived in Kahana, 1-hour classes became 3- to 4-hour classes of intense work.  After a class, we, my daughter and I, would limp back to Pioneer Inn, crawl upstairs, go to our room and practice til bedtime.  Then the following day, with notebooks in hand, we would return to Kihei for more training. 

As taught by Auntie Emma, hula came alive.  All sense of time and place disappeared.  “Delight” would be the word to describe her willingness to teach Hawaii’s great dance tradition. 

There was no distinction made between Hawaiian and haole.  There was only the dancer and the dance.