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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 10, 2005 Malia's art, the hula, shares spirit, beauty and culture By Cindy Blankenship For the Daily Tidings Aunty Malia's Hula Troupe is known for award-winning entries in Ashland's Fourth of July parade, participation in Ashland's Festival of Lights, and performances at the Craterian, as well as other engagements in the community, from weddings to church services. Recently, Malia Nelson and her dancers were invited to represent Oregon in "The Spirit of Hula: Photos and Stories from Around the World" by Shari 'Iolani Floyd Berinobis. Published in Hawaii by Bess Press, the book is available at Barnes and Noble. Raised in Honolulu, Malia first learned hula from her father's sisters (her father is half-Hawaiian), then in public school, and later in a Kona hula halau during visits with her grandmother on the Big Island. While seven of her 82 students are performers, most join for fun and exercise, says Malia, adding, "They also learn how to be graceful and beautiful. They walk away with the aloha spirit. And the troupe becomes like ohana, family, to them. We encourage each other." Malia enjoys dancing in Ashland, a town she calls "beautiful and very welcoming," unlike places where some audience members have wanted more of a kitschy, lounge show. "I tell them, 'We are not lap dancers.' Hula is how the Hawaiians have always expressed themselves. The Hawaiians are dying out � the hula is how they passed their stories down from generation to generation. When I came here there was nothing like that. It kind of broke my heart, but now, my dancers are sharing hula all over the world." Malia moved to Ashland with her husband and children about 15 years ago. After devoting 18 years to home schooling her sons, she opened her halau about five years ago. Malia's studio is in her home overlooking the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, yet visiting Malia is like visiting a friend in Hawaii. First, there's her Hawaiian greeting, a hug instead of a handshake. She's dressed in a tropical blue and green skirt, a flower tucked behind her ear. The music of Bill Keale and just a hint of plumeria wafts through the room where everything is Hawaiian or Polynesian - from the tapa cloth that adorns one wall, to a large photograph of Duke Kahanamoku, Hawaii's champion surfer and first Olympic medalist (and an acquaintance of her grandmother, also an Olympic swimmer). A pair of surfboards leans against another wall, seashells rest on an adjacent shelf. There's the feel of hardwood floors and soft rugs under bare feet, and the picture window view of the Ashland hills that invites nature into the home as the hula invites nature into the heart. In her costume room, Malia picks up a pau skirt (the cloth skirt that the missionaries made hula dancers wear over their ti leaf skirts) with hand-painted tapa designs, one of 30 she created. Feathers for a Tahitian dance are laid out on another shelf next to Malia's sewing machine. In her dance room, ipo (calabash drums) rest in front of a studio mirror. Another beautiful view of the outdoors is enjoyed here by Malia's dance students, ages 12 to 72. The hula instructor welcomes all students, regardless of faith, ethnicity - or the possession of two left feet. Gracefulness, notes Malia, is not a requirement, but rather a result of dancing hula. Malia seems to enjoy being part of this transformation as much as she enjoys dancing, and through hula, sharing aloha. "Hula for me is spiritual," Malia says once again. "The Lord uses me to love other women through dance. Some walk away crying because it is so beautiful and they can be part of this beauty." For information, call 890-7767 or see the Web site www.maliahula.com DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc libor rate Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress afsa studentloans home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms fasa student loans Matchmaking & Dating Scripts African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems student loan consolidation wholesale diamonds Currancy Exchange web conferencing Online Casinos Community Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams