NĀ LEI HULU I KA WĒKIU

Founded in 1985 by Director/Kumu Hula Patrick Makuakāne, the company of dancers is known for its unique contemporary style called hula mua, or “hula that evolves.”

The style combines traditional hula, chants, and songs with a stylized aesthetic often delivered with irony, wit, and charm. It’s hula dancing accompanied by a contemporary craftsmanship in music that can be extravagantly bold or delicately nuanced, a provocative treatment of tradition that leaps forward in surprising ways. Both hula mua and traditional pieces are showcased in the companyʻs annual performances at the Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center in San Francisco.

Nā Lei Hulu i ka Wēkiu has enjoyed tremendous national success, captivating audiences and critics throughout California and cities including New York, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Honolulu.

Makuakāne has earned numerous awards for his cultural and artistic impact. In 2023, he became the first Native Hawaiian to receive the MacArthur Fellowship. Other honors include  the Isadora Duncan Dance Award (“Izzies”) and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival.

Nā Lei Hulu i ka Wēkiu is a dance company and extended community — we are a cultural crusade committed to an authentic representation of Hawaiian culture through traditional and innovative means.

Our Mission

Nā Lei Hulu i ka Wēkiu is dedicated to exploring and preserving Hawaiian culture through hula.

KUMU PATRICK MAKUAKĀNE

Kumu Hula, choreographer, director, and raconteur

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, he studied intensively with two of Hawaiʻi’s most revered hula masters, Robert Uluwehi Cazimero and Mae Kamāmalu Klein. He graduated as a Kumu Hula in a traditional ʻailolo ceremony curated by Mrs. Klein in Kailua, Oʻahu and received a kīhei (a symbol of honor) from Mr. Cazimero on the craterʻs edge of Kīlauea volcano, acknowledging their relationship and further endorsing his status as Kumu.

In 1985, Makuakāne founded the Hawaiian dance company and cultural organization, Nā Lei Hulu i ka Wēkiu of San Francisco, and is known for his creativity and ground-breaking theatrical performances. While a passionate preserver of tradition, his artistry also crafts a provocative treatment of tradition that leaps forward in meaningful and surprising ways.

In 2023, he was the first Native Hawaiian to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship—one of the most prestigious awards given in the U.S. to individuals who exemplify extraordinary creativity, the capacity to inspire others, and the courage to challenge and disrupt systems when necessary—a theme advanced in many of his highly-lauded productions, most notably, The Natives are Restless. This epic hula drama—the first of its kind, explored the current U.S. occupation of Hawaiʻi and the effects of colonization and Christianity on all levels of Hawaiian society. His production, MĀHŪ uplifts Native Hawaiian transgender artists through story, song, and dance; engaging hula as a way of nurturing community and providing agency to inmates in San Quentin State Prison.

In 2024, he released his debut album, KUPUKUPU, collaborating with several Hawaiian musical artists. He was executive producer of the short documentary MĀHŪ, based on the stage show he created championing Native Hawaiian transgender artists and practitioners. The film was directed by Lisette Flanary, professor of Indigenous filmmaking at the University of Hawaiʻi and director of award-winning hula and Hawaiian music documentaries.

Makuakāne is director and choreographer of Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree, the first major Hawaiian-language opera. Premiering May 2026 on Oʻahu, it shares the untold story of Timoteo Haʻalilio, a Hawaiian patriot who managed an extraordinary mission—ensuring the Hawaiian Kingdom’s recognition as an Independent Sovereign State.

Makuakāne is also co-writer, creative, and choreographer for The Epic Tale of Hiʻiakaikapoliopele, a new musical based on the volcano goddess Pele and her sister, Hiʻiaka. The unparalleled stage production fuses myth-making with traditional and contemporary expression and a Broadway aesthetic, debuts on Oʻahu this fall.

In passing down the customs of his own hula lineage, Patrick Makuakāne is helping to preserve a dynamic cultural heritage; in experimenting with music, dance, and the cultural zeitgeist, he is crisscrossing between Native tradition and artistic evolution. The surprising result is the subject of the award-winning book, The Natives Are Restless: A San Francisco Dance Master Takes Hula into the Twenty-first Century.

PATRICK MAKUAKĀNE NAMED 2023 MACARTHUR FELLOW

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