Meet Kumu Andrea

Andrea is the Kumu Hula (master teacher) for Hālau Hula Ka Pi’o O Ke Ānuenue, with locations in Hawai'i and Oregon, and Ha'a Hula 'Ohana, the online branch of her in-person hālau. She has been teaching cultural dance over twenty-five years. Her inspiration and intention for founding Ha'a Hula 'Ohana in 2021 was to create an online community where she could share the teachings and Light of Hula more broadly than she could through her in-person hālau hula (hula schools).

Kumu Andrea has a Masters of Arts degree in Dance and Spirituality and has studied and taught two cultural dance forms - Bharata Natyam, a sacred temple dance style from south India, and Hula, the traditional, cultural dance from the islands of Hawai’i. For the last twenty-two years, hula has been Kumu Andrea’s primary path and life's inspiration.

Andrea's initial training was with Kumu Hula Raylene Haʻaleleʻa Kawaiaeʻa from North Kohala on Hawaiʻi island. Andrea was an ʻolapa in Halau ʻO Haʻalele’a and worked closely with Kumu Raylene in her own journey of becoming a kumu hula until Kumu Raylene’s passing in 2012. This in-depth support and mentoring gave Andrea the foundation needed to form the in-person hālau in 2007. Kumu Andrea continued on her journey with Kumu Hula Sybil Kuʻuipo Pruett and later under the training and guidance of Kumu Hula Keala Ching. In 2014, Andrea became an ‘uniki (graduated) kumu hula under Kumu Raylene and Kumu Keala, and the hula traditions of Halau ʻO Haʻaleleʻa and Na Wai ʻIwi Ola, respectively. She continues deepening in her path as a kumu through her connections with Kumu Sybil, Kumu Keala, and other esteemed cultural practitioners and mentors.

Kumu Andrea is honored to be a 2023 TAAP award recipient as a master artist (Traditional Artist Apprentices

You can learn more about Kumu Andrea's pre-recorded and live Zoom hula classes here.