Press
Living the Island Life at the Aloha Festival
By Annabelle A. UdoAsian Week, Aug 4-Aug 10, 2006
Produced by the Pacific Islanders' Cultural Association (PICA), the festival returns in full force August 5-6, with a showcase of arts, crafts, literature, plants and wares from the islands, …and a grand finale performance that has always been filled by The Academy of Hawaiian Arts led by Kumu Mark Ho'omalu.
Hula Halau Fete
Asian Week, Aug 4-Aug 10, 2006Twenty-nine men's and women's groups competed in the annual program at the Edith Kanakaole Tennis Stadium in Hilo …The men's groups showed enormous energy and drew sustained applause from the capacity crowd, especially Mark Ho'omalu's Academy of Hawaiian Arts of Oakland, Calif. Read article
Kohala halau returns top honor to Big Isle
By Burl BurlingameHonolulu Star Bulletin. Apr 23, 2006
"Of course, it's different instruments, kahiko and 'auana," said Aileen Que, from the "Oakland
Raiders" halau of the Academy of Hawaiian Arts from California. "Drums
versus strings. Once you're on the floor, you do the best you can do; both are pretty strenuous.
Kahiko is pretty spiritual and expression plays a great deal in the performance. It's mostly in
honor of Pele, so we take it very seriously."'Auana, on the other hand, "is joyous and
you move differently," she said. "And it caters more to love songs."
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Article
Hula’s Season
By Wanda AdamsHonolulu Advertiser, April 19, 2006
In the group competition, there is sure to be interest in the appearance of perennially controversial
Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu and his Oakland, Calif.-based Academy of Hawaiian Arts. Ho'omalu is
the kumu hula, chanter, hula instrument designer and recording artist whose last CD, showcasing
his signature style of Westernized chant and song, was defiantly titled Call It What You
Like.
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Article
Merrie Monarch journal: from Hilo
By Wanda Adams
Honolulu Advertiser, April 19, 2006
Next on stage is Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu's Academy of Hawaiian Arts, and the mood is altogether
different... They work without direction, dividing up the stage, their backs to each other,
practicing the dances without benefit of accompaniment, counting out the rhythm to find their
places...
These dances are hell on the stomach and back muscles, requiring great flexibility and strength.
Also, because there is no foot movement, the eyes are riveted to the arms, making it all
the more vital that the movements be in unison — some would say a risky choice, but one that
could pay off in points.
Read article
Rain in paradise opens door to cultural splendor indoors
By Jeanne Cooper
San Francisco Chronicle, Apr 6, 2006
The dancers from the Academy of Hawaiian Arts in Oakland, led by Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu, have the distinction of representing one of only three mainland troupes invited this year [to compete in the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, Hawaii]. Read article
Say aloha to 'Alua'
By Jeanne Cooper
Oakland
Tribune, Nov 14,
2005
Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu believes "If you don't progress, you will lose the future."
It's a philosophy that has resulted in both praise and criticism for the hula teacher and founder of
the Academy of Hawaiian Arts in Oakland, which is making a name for itself for its non-traditional
presentations of Hawaiian dance. Bay Area audiences can see the company at "Alua," its newest
production, on Saturday at the Chabot College Center for the Performing Arts in Hayward. Keali'i Ho'omalu
has choreographed new songs and dances that explore the significance of cultural changes.
Rather than focusing on ancient legends, the dances examine day-to- day activities, such
as fishing, and how and why changes in these activities have occurred. Read
article
Toronto woman expresses herself in hula
Heather Greenwood Davis. Toronto Star.
Toronto Star, Mar 12, 2005.
At Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu's Academy of Hawaiian Arts school, he works alongside Kumu Hula Renee Ku'uleinani, teaching a new generation of people about the true history of the dance. They both reject the idea of limiting the art of hula to the popular variety. "I love my hula teachers and my hula family here in Toronto," says Jennifer Bugayong, "but I had reached a platform...
Academy of Hawaiian Arts Shakes Things Up
By Sandy Clark
Alameda Journal (CA), November 19, 2004
The Academy of Hawaiian Arts steps up to the challenge of expanding ancient traditions. Every discipline has its traditionalists and its rebels. For the rebels, love of their craft comes not from slavish devotion to historic forms, but from exploring the full potential of the activity. The rebels find synergy at the boundaries of their art. Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu of the Academy of Hawaiian Arts is just such an individual.
Academy of Hawaiian Arts Shakes Things Up
Oakland Tribune, Nov 18, 2004
ALAMEDA -- The Academy of Hawaiian Arts performs its dramatic hula production "Ho'okahi" Sunday in Kofman Auditorium. The performance fuses hula dance with chanting, drumming and contemporary Hawaiian music, taking the audience on a musical, rhythmical journey through the history and mythology of the islands. Read article
Master's intensity drives hula students
by Cecily Burt
Oakland Tribune, Jul 9, 2004
Ho'omalu demands attention and focus from his advanced students. That is critical because he doesn't write anything down, and students have to memorize steps and answer chants in class. A three-hour advanced class often lasts much longer. "He pushes the students to a whole other level through intensity and drive," said Kahai Tate, a dancer and board member of the nonprofit academy. "When he walks in people straighten up and check their clothes." Read article
This certainly isn't your typical hukilau
by Catherine Schutz - STAFF WRITER
Oakland Tribune, Sep 24, 2004
You don't usually think of "hula" and "intense" in the same sentence. The dancers at Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu's Academy of Hawaiian Arts are changing that perception. "Every performance has to make an impact -- powerful, emotional," says Aileen Que, who will be dancing Saturday at "Ke Ao Hou," the academy's inaugural concert that has sold out Centennial Hall in Hayward. Read article
Shy predators: Sharks and rays from oceans around the world come to
by Elizabeth Jardina
Oakland Tribune, Apr 2, 2004
Hawaii, too, has cultural legend about sharks. In their creation myth, the shark god Kamohoali'i created surfing when he brought the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele from Tahiti to Hawaii. For the exhibit, the Academy of Hawaiian Arts in San Leandro created and filmed an original hula dance telling the story. Read article
Hula Beyond the Islands
By Moon Yun Choi
Honolulu Advertiser, July 28, 2003
Although "American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawai'i" has its funny moments, the documentary
has a serious motive: to examine how Hawaiians who have moved to the Mainland sustain Hawaiian
culture through hula...Na Mele Hula 'Ohana, under the directorship of Ho'omalu, set high
standards in hula competitions along the West Coast and in Hawai'i, where the men placed
fourth at the Merrie Monarch Festival in 1998. Ho'omalu is now kumu hula of the newly formed
Academy of Hawaiian Arts in Oakland, Calif. Read the article
American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawai’i - View
the PBS Trailer
Bay Area instructors are featured in a TV documentary battling hula's stereotypes. The tradition goes far beyond the tiny bubbles
By Peter Hartlaub
San Francisco Chronicle, August 4, 2003
Across the bay in Oakland, Mark Ho'omalu works out of a cleaner-looking studio in a much rougher
neighborhood. Ho'omalu's hula adaptations are more subtle than Makuakane's, but in some ways his
unapologetic deviations from tradition are even more striking.
Ho'omalu tweaks the traditional music with a more layered, more aggressive beat, which makes
his compact discs popular among hula newcomers. Ho'omalu's dancers were models for last year's
Hawaii-based Disney animated film Lilo & Stitch, and three of his songs made it
onto the soundtrack.
Say aloha to Hula Festival
Family event draws thousands to Pleasanton
By Tony Cooper
San Francisco Chronicle, October 31, 2003
It gets a lot of people from Hawaii or (those) who have Hawaiian roots to celebrate the culture,'' said Bustamante, whose family is from Oahu. "This keeps the culture alive. We're trying to keep the culture going -- there are a lot of kids on the mainland who don't know what (Hawaiian culture) is.'' Added Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu, kumu hula at the Academy of Hawaiian Arts in Oakland, one of the oldest instruction houses in the Bay Area: "It's an eye- opener for students who are second- or third-generation (mainlanders) -- they have no clue. It shouldn't be lost.'' Read article