Vicky Holt Takamine

Vicky began studying hula at the age of 12 with her kumu. She describes hula as the art of Hawaiian dance that expresses everything we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and feel. Today, Vicky has her own school of dance, Pua Ali'i 'Ilima, which she has been teaching at for over 35 years.  Hula perpetuates the oral traditions, language, history, religious beliefs, principles, values and cultural practices of Native Hawaiians. Hawaiians didn't have a written language. Everything was documented through chant and dance.

As an advocate for the preservation and protection of traditional cultural practices and the natural and cultural resources of Hawai'i, Vicky's leadership extremely valuable. "We understand that much of the decision making in Hawai'i is made by a handful of individuals in leadership positions throughout our state. The majority are not Hawaiian and some were not born or raised here in our islands. They must be educated, along with businesses, residents and visitors to our islands, about our principles, values and cultural practices and we must vote so that our voices are heard."

Vicky is the Executive Director at the PA'I Foundation in Honolulu, which works to preserve Native Hawaiian culture and arts for future generations. PA'I is currently partnering with Artspace, a non-profit developer of artist housing and creative art spaces to build an affordable housing and creative art space for artists. PA'I will have a permanent 4,000 sq ft space for our programs and operations, a dance studio, offices and gallery space to showcase native Hawaiian art.