"People who don't know how to dance, but who have a loving spirit, can be cultivated to be dancers." ~ Aunty Maiki Aiu Lake

"Take what I have given you and make it better." ~ Aunty Maiki Aiu Lake

"Remember, you learn, but it is not yours to give until your teacher allows you that right." ~ Aunty Maiki Aiu Lake

"Hula holds the host culture." ~ Coline Aiu

"We are not practitioners of hula, because we do not 'practice' hula. We live it. A select number of us (kumu) are privileged to live the hula; so now we must actively protect it." ~ Alicia Smith

"We're not just people who entertain you. There's much more that we know. There's so much that we're involved in (referring to dancers' language study, research at Bishop Museum and the State Archives)."There's much more to hula than choreography and dancing to the music…I like the idea of researching. You learn so much more, you find more stuff." ~ Michael Canopin

"I could receive the (Merrie Monarch) score sheets and we could come in last and it wouldn't matter, because they had outstanding performances."
~ Wm. Kahakuleilehua "Sonny" Ching

"We believe that in order to accomplish something, you have to sacrifice…It's not only with hula, it's with anything you do. You're always sacrificing to achieve something else. It's just one of the sacrifices we make so that we're physically ready, mentally ready and spiritually ready." ~ Wm. Kahakuleilehua "Sonny" Ching

I always say, 'Make your dance live.' It's senseless to dance motions and feet. You need to gain mastery over the dance, so you are able to bring these things back to life -- which builds your personal mana, which builds the mana of the group." ~ Wm. Kahakuleilehua "Sonny" Ching

"I tell the children that we call it a competition, but when we go in we look at it as a ho'ike (show) - a sharing. Your trophy is when you're done with your hula and (you have) that good feeling: Wow, you feel so good. That's your real trophy. The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part. The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle." ~ Joan Sniffen Lindsey

"The competition isn't important. Not all of the kids are talented, but this is the group I'm going to take. I can have impossible dancers, but the impossible dancer is going to be part of the group, because that's how it goes. They pay tuition, they come to hula, they're there when we need them; so I can't and I will never pick just the best in the group to perform or to compete, because that's not part of learning. That's not the Hawaiian way. The Hawaiian way that I know (is when) the one who needs the most love and the most time, you need to give them that time - you know, you come from a Hawaiian family. That's how it is: So all your (other) kids are perfect, but you have an imperfect child. All your attention is going to the imperfect child. Not that you cherish that child more than the other children, but that child needs to get on track." ~ Joan Sniffen Lindsey

"When you dance there are two of you, your spiritual self and your physical self. The spirit has to dance." ~ Aunty Mae Ulalia Loebenstein

"…and we all work together as an 'ohana." ~ Shirley Recca