For Ke Kai O Kahiki, the return of the Merrie Monarch Festival this year, even with restrictions, is a welcome opportunity to re-engage with what they love.
Although COVID-19 protocols will prevent the festival from having live audiences, organizers plan for the resumption of annual hula competition after being canceled in 2020 for the first time in more than a half-century. La’akea Perry of Ke Kai O Kahiki told Big Island Times the members are grateful to come together and hula in hālau.
“We also miss being in Hilo and the atmosphere of celebration and all that being a part of the Merrie Monarch Festival has to offer,” he said. “Preparing for [Merrie Monarch] allows us to focus on bettering ourselves in all aspects and we miss that.”
There are adjustments in following all the prescribed COVID-19 guidelines, although the most significant has been the limit of the number of people it will take to the festival, he said.
“This limits our preparation somewhat, as I will have to determine who will make the line from the start,” he said.
Participants must undergo multiple COVID testings and a five-day isolation period before the competition. Daily screenings are also planned.
While leaving some people back limits the group's exposure and there's the chance one member of the group might contract the coronavirus, Perry said it also forces him to make hard choices.
“When selecting the few haumāna to be a part of this journey, I will have to take into account not only their skill level and integrity or if they are pono, but also their level responsibility to limit their contact with others and follow our new requirement to our kapu for competing haumāna so they donʻt jeopardize the whole group,” he said.
Perry said that the pandemic has provided an opportunity for transformation and renewal for the group, and the members have made sure not to waste the chance to reset, slow down and recognize what matters in life.
Hawaiʻi News Now’s KFVE will carry broadcasts of the competition over three nights starting on Thursday, July 1, according to the festival website. The competition currently has 15 hālau that will be participating.
Begun in 1963, the Merrie Monarch Festival was created to honor King David Kalakaua, known as the Merrie Monarch, who worked to revive hula and other Hawaiian arts, according to a festival overview.
As announced back in late November 2020, there will be no live audience but there will be a three-night television broadcast of the competition on Hawaiʻi News Now’s KFVE.