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KALUA
 Specialized in Polynesian Dance and Culture,
Hawaiian Hula, Tahitian, Samoan, and Maori dance since 1972
in Hawaii, California, and Washington, Kalua’s dancing and
dance-teaching career in Polynesian culture didn’t start off that
way. For ten years, from age 6 until 16, she was, as Billie Jean
Smith, a featured performer of tap with the USO in Washington State,
where she was a member of, and featured soloist in, a special USO
Entertainment Troupe/Armed Services Unit.During that period she was also
a featured act at many civilian venues, including a stint at the
Palomar Theater in Seattle opposite Cab Calloway, Delta Rhythm Boys,
the Will Maston Trio, that included trading steps with Sammy
Davis, Jr. Even then, though, she was teaching, where, from age
10, she often substituted in classes for her tap teacher.
At age 12, while continuing to
perform and teach as a hoofer, hula began to take her interest, which
was to become a lifelong occupation. She eventually went on to
study at length hula’s broader
context, Polynesian dance, culture, and history.
 Her hula
teachers, beginning with Verla Flowers, Janie Kuuipo Dahl, and Betty
Healani Lanz in Seattle, were to include several famous Kumu Hulas in
Hawaii, Auntie Emma Sharpe, Auntie
Pele Pukui, Puanani Alama, Uncle George Naope, et al.
She married and raised two
children, several times relocating as a result, between and within
California and
Washington. Before leaving Washington entirely, she created The
Polynesian
Dance Studio, formed her own professional troupe - acting as director,
trainer,
choreographer, and costume designer - was featured hula soloist with
Tu’i
Manao’s Polynesian Dance Troupe, and taught classes for the Parks and
Recreation
Department at City Hall in Mountlake Terrace. She trained
amateurs
and professionals, adults and children, as well as trained other hula
troupes.
 Her business
provided full package Polynesian luaus, including decorating, cooking
and entertainment for private parties and benefits throughout
Washington State - some of which received full radio and TV coverage,
featured in shows on Seattle’s major stations, KING and
KOMO.
In California, Kalua organized
Hawaiiana studies for middle-school students that combined hula,
Hawaiian language and history; formed the Hawaii and Pacific
Association, a
dance company and teaching studio; and was a featured hula soloist with
the Antelope Valley Symphony and Choir.
 Finally, she was
to move to Hawaii, where she performed in venues on the several islands
there - Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Hawaii (Big Island) - and at other
Polynesian island nations - Tahiti, Samoa.
In Honolulu, she featured at
The Bishop Museum, Bishop Museum’s Heritage Theater, Royal Lanai, Ala
Moana Hotel, Sea Life Park, and at other well-known Hawaiian
locales.
 Kalua
trained and worked as a docent at The Bishop Museum in Honolulu;
studied under the most highly regarded Hawaiiana expert, Jim Bartels,
Curator at Iolani Palace; took classes at Hawaii Pacific University
under Gaven Daws, author of “Shoal Of Time, A History of
the Hawaiian Islands."
About a decade ago,
Kalua married the man who was her fiance, while he was in the U. S. Air
Force Bands, at the time she was yet a teen. Though the pair
parted, not to see one another again for 35 years, they finally tied
the knot in Hawaii, and now live in and continue in their respective
disciplines - he in music - in and out of Long Beach, California.
Kalua's memberships
include the Bishop Museum, the Hawaiian Historical Society, and the
Hawaii Yacht Club.
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