Kauai Halau Keeps Late Kumu Hula's Spirit Alive Through Dance

When Hālau Ka Lei Mokihana o Leināʻala took the floor at the 63rd Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo this week, they did so without the woman whose name the halau carries. Kumu Hula Leināʻala Pavao-Jardin, who built the Kalaheo-based troupe into one of Kauaʻi's most celebrated hula companies, died in October 2025 at age 51, just six months after guiding her dancers to a second-place overall finish at last year's competition. In her place stood her daughter, Kumu Hula Breeze Ann Kalehuaonālani Vidinha Pavao.

"My mom always used to say we dance for an audience of one, but now we dance for an audience of two, which is Ke Akua and my mom right next to him," Breeze Pavao said.

Leināʻala was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2024 and fought the disease for 15 months. Born and raised on Kauaʻi, she learned from her own kumu, Rae Fonseca, and carried that lineage into every rehearsal, every competition, every performance the halau gave across the island. She is survived by her husband, Sean Jardin, and three children, including Breeze.

The scale of what she built became unmistakable at the 62nd Merrie Monarch in April 2025, when her niece and student, 24-year-old Jaedyn Janae Puahaulani Pavao, won the Miss Aloha Hula title and the Hawaiian language award. The halau placed first and second in multiple categories. When the dancers landed at Lihue Airport, hundreds of residents turned out to meet them. Kalaheo then staged what participants recalled as the town's first parade in recent memory, drawing roughly 500 people to celebrate Jaedyn's win. One resident put the stakes plainly: "In Kalaheo, it's our Halau that puts us on the map."

Leināʻala died weeks after that homecoming. Hundreds later gathered at Kilohana Plantation to mark her passing. Mayor Derek Kawakami called her "a cherished daughter of our island whose profound aloha, artistry, and unwavering dedication to hula enriched our community and elevated the cultural spirit of Hawaii."

The halau's continuity carries weight well beyond the stage. Its performances anchor community events across Kauaʻi, support hoʻokipa engagements that draw visitors, and sustain the network of musicians, costumers, and cultural practitioners that forms around a working halau. That ecosystem depends on a functioning pipeline of trained dancers and a kumu capable of holding it together. Breeze, who herself finished second in Miss Aloha Hula at the 61st Merrie Monarch in 2024, now owns that responsibility.

Today's Merrie Monarch Talk Story broadcast features a tribute to Leināʻala, bringing her legacy before a statewide audience at the same festival she helped define. After dancing "The Kumu Song," performed by vocalist Sean Naʻauao, at a tribute event following her mother's death, Breeze said it was "kind of a reminder to myself that my mom is always going to be there with me."

The halau's name, which translates loosely to the lei of the mokihana flower of Leināʻala, ensures that every future performance is an answer to the same question: what does this island stand on.