Kumu Hula

ONLINE DANCE CLASSES

KALENA

Kalena has been dancing since childhood. She has choreographed original works and developed the dance company into an award-winning ensemble. Major appearances include the Haumana Movie Screening at the Harkins Theatre, International Home Builders Show, Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, Sunday Ann Arbor Artisan's Market , Gilda's Club, Detroit Festival for the Arts , Detroit Princess Riverboat, Fountain Hills Arizona Thanksgiving Day Parade, AZ Aloha Festival, Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure, and Arizona Exposition & State Fair. Tropical Polynesian Productions is known for their energetic and upbeat dances.

Kalena teaches the following dances: Hawaiian (Ancient and Modern), Tahitian, Fijian, Tongan, Maori New Zealand, and Samoan. In addition to dance classes, she conducts Tahitian drumming and Samoan fire and knife dance seminars. She designs some of the costumes, which you can purchase from this website.

Kalena has taught at Marygrove College-Institute of Music and Dance, City of Farmington

Hills-Cultural Division, YMCA, East Detroit Adult Education and has been a guest instructor at Oakland University in Rochester Hills, MI. She is available to teach seminars and educational programs. Kalena currently teaches preschool dance classes at the Arrowhead Montesorri in Peoria, AZ, adult dance classes at the Glendale Foothills Recreation & Aquatics Center, and has developed the Baby Hula Program to fight against childhood obesity. She is the Festival Director for the West Valley Island Cultural Festival.

Kalena describes her family heritage as a melting pot, her grandparents are Blackfeet Indian, Asian, European, Pacific Islander (Hawaiian/Samoan/Tongan), and African American. She has always said that her family has every color in the rainbow. She is single, color blind when making friends and dating (Kalena believes interracial relationships that are marriage-minded is a good thing that makes life more exciting), never had any children (does love them), and does other activities outside of dance.

Kalena has also served the community by assisting families in need through the Americorps program, as well as providing Polynesian educational dance seminars and performances for K-8 schools in poverty stricken areas.

Kalena designs knitwear, beaded embroidery garments, and gourd art. You can find out more on her other websites: www.sugarkdesigns.com and www.doggieknits.com. She also created a website for her dog - Pumpkin: pumpkinthediva.com. Pumpkin has over 18,000 followers on Instagram.

Kalena served as one of the board of directors for the Lau Kanaka No Hawaii Hawaiian Civic Club of Arizona during 2018 to 2019.