Members of Ka `Imi Na`auao o Hawai`i Nei Institute are pleased to announce the upcoming release of a teaching video and series of lesson plans, “He Mele no Kane; Hawaiians as Scientists.” This innovative teaching tool promotes cultural learning through films and photographs of traditional chant and hula combined with related lesson plans geared to the classroom.
Appropriate for elementary through middle school grades, the DVD will be made available this fall as part of the continuing educational mission of Ka `Imi Na`auao o Hawai`i Nei Institute. Additional advanced lesson plans for high school and advanced levels will follow.
School principals, teachers and cultural leaders, librarians adding to Hawaiian resource materials, as well as anyone interested in furthering their understanding of Hawaiian conceptual knowledge may contact the Institute to reserve advance copies of this educational tool. Ka `Imi is a non-profit 501-C3 educational institute that has been in existence since the 1970s. The purchase price of the DVD and lesson plans will be nominal.
The “Hawaiians as Scientists” educational project grew out of the successful Ka `Imi staged hula chronicles of “Recalling Hawai`i,” choreographed and directed by Kumu Hula Bailey. Starring casts numbered up to 50 dancers and musicians of the Institute, hailing from school branches world-wide. The crowd-pleasing multi-media spectacular has proven its success in each of eight presentations to date, from Germany and Switzerland (2010), to Kaua`i (2011), Maui (2012), Hawai`i and O`ahu (2013), as well as Northern California (2014).
Following the Hilo Theater presentation, Brenda Lee, a Hawaiian activist, said, “Every school child in Hawai`i should have the opportunity to see and learn from this show.” Yumi Kawano Tinay, a teacher, wrote her thanks for the presentation, adding, “As a minority from the mainland and having lived with, studied with, taught people of indigenous backgrounds and continuing to teach Hawaiians. . .a restoration needs to take place.”
The seed is planted
At the beginning of this “seed” for an outreach project for schools and various interested individuals and groups, a preliminary announcement to gauge community interest was included within the program of the Nov 9, 2013, performance staged in Honolulu’s historic Hawai`i Theater. With the good response received from charter and Hawaiian immersion school teachers and organizational leaders, the outreach project was launched.
Heading the project committee, Carol Pescaia, a retired teacher and long-term Ka `Imi Institute member on Kaua`i–who also participated as a “Recalling Hawai`i” cast member– accepted the responsibility of writing a draft of lesson plans for review and finalization. The challenge faced was how to translate the magic and excitement that hula and experiential learning bring into an easy-to-teach and fun-to-learn classroom lesson plan. The key to meeting this challenge lies in the pairing of the visual performing arts and symbolic graphics to which anyone
can relate and respond with related classroom material for discussion and review. Suggestions for hands-on homework involving a student watching, experiencing, and thinking critically and creatively within everyday life surroundings are also included in the DVD plan.
“The Ka `Imi Board members and I are excited about the release of this project,” said Ka `Imi Institute founder and President Emeritus Roselle Keliihonipua Bailey on the cusp of a return trip to teach master classes in Europe. “Institute members are also excited about other good news with a global reach coming from the Institute in the recent past, and soon to come, too.”
Update on news with a global reach
On
July 7, 2015, Ka `Imi members of Institute branches in Switzerland, Germany and Austria performed at the official Independence Day reception at the permanent U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. This special performance was performed to the music of Na Ohana Ho`aloha from Moloka`i at the invitation of Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto, who grew up in Hawaii. The four U.S. ambassadors received their official guests–over 1000 diplomats from over 170 countries– wearing lei made by the Ka ’Imi dancers.
In November, members of various Ka `Imi branches from Hawai`i, the U.S. Mainland, and Europe will travel to the Badu district of Kolkata in West Bengal, India–also by invitation–to perform for the inauguration of a newly completed facility for the Jana Sanskriti International Research and Resource Institute. This new venture for Jana Sanskriti will provide a home for international exchange amongst practitioners of the Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) and related performance practices. Cast members and musicians will also tour in the villages of the district to present Hawaiian hula as a performance art in a cultural exchange. They will take along the educational DVD, and also preview it during a brief stop in Japan toward future cultural exchange now in the planning stages.
Expanded reports on both the recent Geneva and the upcoming Kolkata performances are available online at the Institute website, https://kaimi.org
How to order pre-publication
Also, to reserve your copy/copies of the educational DVD “He Mele No Kane; Hawaiians as Scientists” or request further information, please visit https://kaimi.org.https://kaimi.org. The website provides detailed information and links to the various Ka `Imi branches throughout Hawai`i and the Pacific, as well as the U.S. Mainland and Europe. Interested persons may alternatively write to: Hawaiians as Scientists Project, Ka `Imi Institute, P. O. Box 1686, Kapaa, HI 96746, U.S.A.
Members of Ka `Imi Na`auao o Hawai`i Nei Institute are pleased to announce the upcoming release of a teaching video and series of lesson plans, “He Mele no Kane; Hawaiians as Scientists.” This innovative teaching tool promotes cultural learning through films and photographs of traditional chant and hula combined with related lesson plans geared to the classroom.
Appropriate for elementary through middle school grades, the DVD will be made available this fall as part of the continuing educational mission of Ka `Imi Na`auao o Hawai`i Nei Institute. Additional advanced lesson plans for high school and advanced levels will follow.
School principals, teachers and cultural leaders, librarians adding to Hawaiian resource materials, as well as anyone interested in furthering their understanding of Hawaiian conceptual knowledge may contact the Institute to reserve advance copies of this educational tool. Ka `Imi is a non-profit 501-C3 educational institute that has been in existence since the 1970s. The purchase price of the DVD and lesson plans will be nominal.
The “Hawaiians as Scientists” educational project grew out of the successful Ka `Imi staged hula chronicles of “Recalling Hawai`i,” choreographed and directed by Kumu Hula Bailey. Starring casts numbered up to 50 dancers and musicians of the Institute, hailing from school branches world-wide. The crowd-pleasing multi-media spectacular has proven its success in each of eight presentations to date, from Germany and Switzerland (2010), to Kaua`i (2011), Maui (2012), Hawai`i and O`ahu (2013), as well as Northern California (2014).
Following the Hilo Theater presentation, Brenda Lee, a Hawaiian activist, said, “Every school child in Hawai`i should have the opportunity to see and learn from this show.” Yumi Kawano Tinay, a teacher, wrote her thanks for the presentation, adding, “As a minority from the mainland and having lived with, studied with, taught people of indigenous backgrounds and continuing to teach Hawaiians. . .a restoration needs to take place.”
The seed is planted
At the beginning of this “seed” for an outreach project for schools and various interested individuals and groups, a preliminary announcement to gauge community interest was included within the program of the Nov 9, 2013, performance staged in Honolulu’s historic Hawai`i Theater. With the good response received from charter and Hawaiian immersion school teachers and organizational leaders, the outreach project was launched.
Heading the project committee, Carol Pescaia, a retired teacher and long-term Ka `Imi Institute member on Kaua`i–who also participated as a “Recalling Hawai`i” cast member– accepted the responsibility of writing a draft of lesson plans for review and finalization. The challenge faced was how to translate the magic and excitement that hula and experiential learning bring into an easy-to-teach and fun-to-learn classroom lesson plan. The key to meeting this challenge lies in the pairing of the visual performing arts and symbolic graphics to which anyone
can relate and respond with related classroom material for discussion and review. Suggestions for hands-on homework involving a student watching, experiencing, and thinking critically and creatively within everyday life surroundings are also included in the DVD plan.
“The Ka `Imi Board members and I are excited about the release of this project,” said Ka `Imi Institute founder and President Emeritus Roselle Keliihonipua Bailey on the cusp of a return trip to teach master classes in Europe. “Institute members are also excited about other good news with a global reach coming from the Institute in the recent past, and soon to come, too.”
Update on news with a global reach
On July 7, 2015, Ka `Imi members of Institute branches in Switzerland, Germany and Austria performed at the official Independence Day reception at the permanent U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. This special performance was performed to the music of Na Ohana Ho`aloha from Moloka`i at the invitation of Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto, who grew up in Hawaii. The four U.S. ambassadors received their official guests–over 1000 diplomats from over 170 countries– wearing lei made by the Ka ’Imi dancers.
In November, members of various Ka `Imi branches from Hawai`i, the U.S. Mainland, and Europe will travel to the Badu district of Kolkata in West Bengal, India–also by invitation–to perform for the inauguration of a newly completed facility for the Jana Sanskriti International Research and Resource Institute. This new venture for Jana Sanskriti will provide a home for international exchange amongst practitioners of the Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) and related performance practices. Cast members and musicians will also tour in the villages of the district to present Hawaiian hula as a performance art in a cultural exchange. They will take along the educational DVD, and also preview it during a brief stop in Japan toward future cultural exchange now in the planning stages.
Expanded reports on both the recent Geneva and the upcoming Kolkata performances are available online at the Institute website, https://kaimi.org
How to order pre-publication
Also, to reserve your copy/copies of the educational DVD “He Mele No Kane; Hawaiians as Scientists” or request further information, please visit https://kaimi.org.https://kaimi.org. The website provides detailed information and links to the various Ka `Imi branches throughout Hawai`i and the Pacific, as well as the U.S. Mainland and Europe. Interested persons may alternatively write to: Hawaiians as Scientists Project, Ka `Imi Institute, P. O. Box 1686, Kapaa, HI 96746, U.S.A.
Prepared/submitted by Dawn F. Kawahara/DAWN Enterprises