Culture Moves - Michael Lanakila Casupang & Ka'ohi Yojo

Michael Lanakila Casupang began his study of hula in 1983 under the tutelage of kumu hula (Hula Master) Robert Cazimero and his hula school, Hālau Na Kamalei. In 1986, he began dancing in Robert Cazimero's Royal Dance Company in which he danced for six years continuously at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel for the Brothers Cazimero. As a member of the Royal Dance Company, Casupang has danced in the United States in California and at Carnegie Hall, New York. He has travelled abroad extensively in Australia and Japan. In 1995, Casupang graduated as a kumu hula under Cazimero and began his own hula school, Hālau I Ka Wekiu in 1998. At Mid-Pacific Institute, Casupang began as a choir teacher in 1987, but started to teach hula at the school in 1988 with an initial enrollment of 16 students. After 18 years, under the name Pūpūkahi I Ke Alo O Nā Pua (United as One in the Presence of the Flowers), the hula students of Mid-Pacific Institute have received numerous awards for their participation in the Hawai'i State Secondary Schools Hula Kahiko Competition where they have received 9 Overall Winner Awards and 5 Hawaiian Language Awards.

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Michael Lanakila Casupang

Michael Lanakila Casupang began his study of hula in 1983 under the tutelage of kumu hula (Hula Master) Robert Cazimero and his hula school, Hālau Na Kamalei. In 1986, he began dancing in Robert Cazimero's Royal Dance Company in which he danced for six years continuously at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel for the Brothers Cazimero. As a member of the Royal Dance Company, Casupang has danced in the United States in California and at Carnegie Hall, New York. He has travelled abroad extensively in Australia and Japan. In 1995, Casupang graduated as a kumu hula under Cazimero and began his own hula school, Hālau I Ka Wekiu in 1998. At Mid-Pacific Institute, Casupang began as a choir teacher in 1987, but started to teach hula at the school in 1988 with an initial enrollment of 16 students. After 18 years, under the name Pūpūkahi I Ke Alo O Nā Pua (United as One in the Presence of the Flowers), the hula students of Mid-Pacific Institute have received numerous awards for their participation in the Hawai'i State Secondary Schools Hula Kahiko Competition where they have received 9 Overall Winner Awards and 5 Hawaiian Language Awards.

Ka'ohi Yojo
Ka'ohi Yojo established her roots in dance through hula, and has recently returned to her hula studies with na kumu hula Karl Veto Baker and Lanakila Casupang at Hālau I Ka Wekiu. Ms. Yojo's focus is contemporary dance, with most of her dance training in jazz and modern. A graduate of the University of Hawai'i, Ms. Yojo holds a Bachelor's of Education degree with an emphasis in secondary English. While attending university, Ms. Yojo studied ballet with Paul Maley and Eve Walstrum Sanders, and continued her studies in Hawaiian language. After living in New York City and Europe, Ms. Yojo returned to Hawai'i to teach, and is currently on the dance faculty at Mid Pacific Institute's School of the Arts. Performance credits include: Stage:"Miss Saigon;" Television: “Strangers with Candy”, “Pacific Expeditions”, “Outside Hawai'i”, “Blood of the Samurai”, and “Ninja EX”.