Update: Ka Lā ʻŌnohi Mai O Haʻehaʻe placed No. 1 in the Overall Wahine and Wahine ʻAuana divisions, third place in the Wahine Kahiko, and fourth place in the Kāne ʻAuana and Kahiko divisions.
A University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa medical school scientist is preparing to perform for the fourth time at the 61st annual Merrie Monarch Festival. Andrew Kekūpaʻa Knutson is a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Cardiovascular Research at the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) and a member of Ka Lā ʻŌnohi Mai O Haʻehaʻe, under the direction of Kumu Hula Tracie and Keawe Lopes. Keawe is also a Hawaiian language professor at UH Mānoa. Knutson along with the hālau’s kāne line will be competing for the third year in a row.
“As hula people, we say that ‘hula is life,’ and we really take that to heart,” said Knutson, who has been dancing since he was eight years old. “It permeates and touches every part of our lives, whether it be our families, how we interact with our environment, or even at work.”
Knutson first took the Merrie Monarch stage in 2002 with Kumu Hula Leimomi Ho and Kealiʻikaʻapunihonua Keʻena Aʻo Hula, when he was 14 years old. It would be 20 years before he would compete on that level again.
He attended college on the U.S. continent and pursued his passion for science when he returned. However, his love for hula never waned.
“Hula connects me to my history, my land, my culture, my kūpuna,” Knutson said. “In science, I’m studying biology, which is the study of life. So, hula is another aspect of studying life. It gives you a different perspective.”
Related UH News stories:
- UH educators dance in Merrie Monarch opening ceremony, April 2, 2024
- UH Hilo celebrates Merrie Monarch, April 2, 2024
Hula: Lab stress relief
Hula centers me and grounds me in understanding why I’m doing what I’m doing.
—Andrew Knutson
While the rigors of hula can be mentally and physically taxing, Knutson said it’s a good outlet for the stresses that come from working in a lab, where he studies heart health, specifically how behavior and environment influence genes in the cardiovascular system, with a focus on chromatin factors (DNA and protein complexes).
“Hula re-energizes and reinvigorates me,” Knutson said. “There’s a mental and a spiritual aspect that takes me out of the worries and stresses associated with doing biomedical research. I’m working with mice and genetic and genomic techniques. I can kind of get lost in the minutiae of things. Hula centers me and grounds me in understanding why I’m doing what I’m doing.”
