HOLDEN & ARTS ASSOCIATES

• Fine Arts: Performance, Film, Multi-media design

• Language Arts: Oral History Interviews, mele inoa (Hawaiian name chant)  

• History/Social Studies: Native & Indigenous Cultures; Man’s relationship/connection to Nature; Hawaiian history, History of Olympic Swimming, History of Surfing

• Social/Emotional Learning Development: Bravery, Resilience, Community, Racism, Self-Awareness, Social Awareness, Self Management, and Relationship Skills.
  
  Excerpt from “Being Duke” by John Berger in Honolulu Star-Advertiser (full story here.)​
  “Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku was born a subject of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1890. His life spanned the overthrow of the Hawaiian government, the dark times of the Republic of Hawaii, the entire 59 years of the Territory of Hawaii and the first nine years of statehood.
  
  As an athlete he broke several American swimming records in Honolulu Harbor in 1911 and then repeated those feats in mainland swimming pools to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team. Kahanamoku won his first two Olympic medals — one gold, one silver — at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden; he won more medals at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, and at the 1924 Olympics in Paris.
  
  [In 1925, when a 40-foot yacht called Thelma capsized near Newport Beach in a turbulent sea, he used his surfboard to swim out to the craft three times to save eight passengers from drowning.]
  
  In the years that followed, he served 12 terms as sheriff of the City and County of Honolulu, appeared in two dozen Hollywood films, and partnered with Kimo Wilder McVay to open his namesake nightclub, Duke Kahanamoku’s, in the original International Market Place.
  
  Kahanamoku is also credited with reviving the sport of surfing and popularizing it outside Hawaii. For many years, he used a traditional Hawaiian koa surfboard that was 16 feet long and weighed more than 100 pounds. In 1917, he rode it on a single wave for more than a mile along the surf breaks of Waikiki; the construction of the Ala Wai Canal in 1928 caused so many changes in surf patterns off Waikiki that a similar nonstop ride is no longer possible.
  
  [Actor and playwright Moses] Goods also plays several other characters. He included them so that HTY audiences could hear many of the accolades Kahanamoku received from sportswriters and others during his life. Goods and HTY director Eric Johnson also tell the story with a mele inoa (name chant) about Kahanamoku that was originally published in a Hawaiian-language newspaper a century ago.
  
  “Duke was born at a very interesting time,” Goods said. “He was born right before the kingdom fell, and he died right before the Hawaiian Renaissance, so he lived through the time when Hawaiians were struggling to find our identity. Duke gave Hawaiians someone to look up to.”

Remote Outreach & Workshops

Please contact us if additional remote outreach or workshops is something you'd like to explore. A member of the creative team may be available to deliver pre or post show workshops or a live Q&A for participating audiences. Please connect with us about outreach activities that best engage your teachers and schools.