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Founded in 1985 by Hawaiian dancer and cultural preservationist Patrick Makuakāne, Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu celebrates the company’s 40th anniversary with “Aloha ‘Āina.” In conjunction with YBG Festival’s 25th anniversary season the organizations have come together to create an event that honors the natural environment and embraces Bay Area’s Indigenous communities in “aloha ‘āina,” a Hawaiian phrase that translates as love of land. “As a Native person, I want to encourage people to think deeper about Indigenous communities,” says Makuakāne, who was awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship in 2023. “How do we make land acknowledgements more meaningful and more clearly heard and felt? ‘Aloha ʻĀina’ is my attempt to set an example and try harder.” Featuring new site-specific works as well as signature Nā Lei Hulu repertory pieces in a 90-minute performance, “Aloha ʻĀina” expands the company’s core of 24 dancers with more than 200 guest hula dancers and live Hawaiian music by the award-winning duo Kūpaoa. Makuakāne also teaches Hawaiian traditions and rituals to attendees, who are invited to participate in the final dance, filling the Gardens to the brim with hula! “Yerba Buena Gardens is an oasis in the heart of the City,” Makuakāne says. “It’s the only San Francisco venue where our performance can integrate all of the natural, artistic and traditional elements, and where so many people can participate in the traditional way – in the open air, under blue skies, touching the ground and grass in community.”

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