Unukupukupu, a hula hālau from Hawaiʻi Community College, performed at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. on June 26, 2012.
The hālau received a prestigious invitation from the American Folklife Center, part of a series aimed at promoting traditional, ethnic and regional music and dance that is homegrown in communities across the United States.
Unukupukupu consists of 25 faculty members, staff and students from Hawaiʻi Community College and UH Hilo. The hālau performed a free, one-hour show and will also be performing at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall starting Wednesday, June 27.
The group is part of an 80-member UH delegation that will be showcasing the university and community in exhibits that will be seen by more than a million people.
Watch Hawaiʻi CC hālau headed to DC to see the hālau prepare for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Smithsonian Folklife Festival
The University of Hawaiʻi will be among 20 public land-grant universities to be featured in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C. from June 27 to July 8, 2012.
The festival celebrates the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Morrill Act, which paved the way for higher education for rural and working class Americans.
The University of Hawaiʻi exhibits will feature traditional Hawaiian health and healing practices, a mini taro patch, non-instrument navigation, medicinal herb and organic farming and much more. Hawaiʻi Community College’s halau Unukupukupu and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Tuahine Troup will also perform.
See more on the University of Hawaiʻi’s Smithsonian experience.
