Maui's only adult hula competition turns 20 this year, and organizers are marking the milestone with a full day of kahiko and ʻauana performances inside the Maui Arts & Cultural Center's Castle Theater on Sept. 12. Kū Mai Ka Hula draws male and female dancers from Hawaiʻi and the continental United States to compete in solo, group and kūpuna categories, with award-winning hālau returning to a stage many of them have competed on for years.
The event, presented by the Maui Arts & Cultural Center in association with Kauahea Inc., is being billed as Maui's premier yearly hula competition, according to Maui Now. The competition's roots stretch back to 2000, when the late Kumu Hula Akoni Akana launched an adult competition called Maui Festivals; before his passing, Kumu Hula Hōkūlani Holt agreed to preserve the event, rebranding it as Kū Mai Ka Hula, meaning “Hula Appears,” in 2006, per the Hawaii Islander.
Holt, who directs Ka Hikina o ka Lā, Hawaiʻi Papa o ke Ao at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College, has led her own hālau, Pāʻū O Hiʻiaka, for more than 35 years. She previously served as culture manager for the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission and co-founded the Pūnana Leo O Maui Hawaiian language preschool, according to the National Park Service. Kauahea Inc., the nonprofit she founded, supports Hawaiian arts and culture and co-presents the competition alongside the MACC.
What Sets the Competition Apart
Solo competitors vying for the Mr. and Ms. Hula Maui titles face more than a dance routine. They must complete an interview with judges while crafting a traditional lei that they then wear during competition, with judges evaluating their cultural knowledge of mele, adornments and plant materials alongside dance execution, according to Maui Magazine. The competition also presents two perpetual honors: the Leianaikaroselani O Maui Award for overall performance excellence and the ʻŌlelo Makuahine Award, which recognizes the hālau exhibiting superior Hawaiian language proficiency among its musicians and hoʻopaʻa, or chanters, per Kū Mai Ka Hula.
The competition's reach extends well beyond the islands. While drawing competitors from Hawaiʻi and the mainland, Kū Mai Ka Hula also features international entrants from Japan, where Japan-based Hālau ʻO Kealani under Kumu Hula Yukiko Minami won the festival's overall excellence award in 2025, according to the same organization. The event's international pull reflects the scale of hula practice in Japan, which supports a major Hawaiian cultural ecosystem with thousands of active dancers.
Students Open the Show, Community Asked to Give Back
Students and faculty from Ke Kula ʻo Piʻilani will open the event with oli, mele and hula, per Maui Now's report. The school is an independent Hawaiian culture immersion private school founded on Maui in 2016 that serves kindergarten through fifth-grade students, grounding its environment in Hawaiian culture and values with a mission to nurture lifelong learners and passionate community leaders. According to the Hawaii Community Foundation, the school provided tuition waivers to Lahaina families displaced by the 2023 wildfires to help maintain educational stability.
Patrons attending are asked to bring non-perishable items for the Maui Food Bank, part of the MACC's ongoing support for victims of wildfires, hurricanes and floods. The request lands amid documented strain on the island's food assistance network: the Maui Food Bank distributed 537,996 pounds of food in October 2025 as monthly demand surged 18% heading into late 2025, according to Maui Now.
Venue, Tickets and Marketplace
The competition takes place inside the MACC's 1,200-seat Harold K.L. Castle Theater, a three-tiered indoor facility with a sprung-wood dance floor where no seat sits more than 90 feet from the stage, per the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Adult tickets cost $40, and children's tickets cost $20 for those 12 and under, with MACC members receiving a ten percent discount. Ticket sales are online only at mauiarts.org.
Before and during Saturday's performances, the MACC will offer made-in-Hawaiʻi products from local crafters and artisans, along with food and beverages for purchase in the Yokouchi Pavilion courtyard. The gathering is expected to bring together both residents and visitors who enjoy hula, continuing a tradition that survived a forced cancellation of its live 2020 competition during the COVID-19 pandemic. The event operated virtually for two years before returning to live, in-person performances at the Castle Theater in September 2022, according to Ledcor Maui.
The competition's 20th anniversary also arrives as Maui's hula community pushes to expand its physical footprint beyond a single annual event. Maui County and federal leaders are constructing the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art in Wailuku, planned to open around 2027 as Hawaiʻi's first dedicated hula center, anchoring downtown revitalization efforts while offering classroom, performance and emergency resiliency space for future generations of dancers.
