About Us - po’o kumu Aruna
Kumu Po’o
Aruna Kekeha Po-Ching
A message from Aruna Kekeha Po-Ching
After a five-year hiatus, it is a real pleasure to re-start and rebuild our women’s hālau, Hālau Ka Waikahe Lani Mālie.
The long-term vision that led me to create The Hula Journey was always bigger than classes alone. My hope was to build a home for hula in Aotearoa — a place where we could nurture learning, create cultural exchanges, and eventually produce and present Hawaiian dance theatre productions that honour the depth, beauty, and mana of hula.
With the support of the Creative Communities Scheme, Kumu Hula Blaine Kamalani Kia of the Ka Lauaʻe Foundation came to Aotearoa and officially sanctioned the first Hawaiian hula school in Aotearoa’s history. I was appointed Poʻo, the head of the Aotearoa branch, and I continue to serve as the practising kumu of our hālau.
One of my proudest memories is knowing that I am part of a hula family that stretches across the world. In 2017, I had the honour of dancing alongside more than 300 of our hula ʻohana in Honolulu for Ko Ka ʻIʻini, a celebration of Kumu Blaine’s 30 years of teaching hula around the world.
I am an Aotearoa-born Samoan Chinese creative, and for more than 30 years I have worked across theatre, performance, film and television. Alongside my hula practice, I hold a Diploma in Screenwriting from AUT and trained in Documentary Directing and Research at South Seas Film and Television School. Over the years, I have been selected for and participated in national workshops as a director, writer and actor.
My short documentary Salamasina’s Daughters was selected for Doc Edge Film Festival, Wairoa Māori Film Festival, Pollywood and FIFO in 2018. I also have a licensed script with Show Me Shorts Film Festival, and I continue to develop original screen projects as a writer, director and actor represented in both Aotearoa and Australia.
At the heart of everything I do is story, culture, movement and connection. Hula has given me a global family, a deeper discipline, and a way to share aloha with others here in Aotearoa.
I warmly welcome you to join our hula family and experience this beautiful hula journey with us.