Andrea is the Kumu Hula (master teacher) for Hālau Hula Ka Pi’o O Ke Ānuenue and has been teaching dance as an expression of embodied spirituality for over twenty-five years. She has a Masters of Arts degree in Dance and Spirituality and has studied and taught two cultural dance forms - Bharata Natyam, a sacred  temple dance style from south India, and Hula, the traditional, cultural dance from the islands of Hawai’i.

 

For the last twenty years, hula has been Kumu Andrea’s primary path and inspiration. Her initial training was with Kumu Raylene Haʻalelea Kawaiaeʻa from North Kohala on Hawaiʻi island. Andrea was an ʻolapa in Halau O Haʻalele’a and worked closely with Kumu Raylene in her own journey of becoming a kumu hula until Kumu Raylene’s passing in 2012. This in-depth support and mentoring gave Andrea the foundation needed to form the hālau in 2007. Kumu Andrea continued her training with Kumu Sybil Ku'uipo Pruett and later under the guidance of Kumu Keala Ching, receiving her traditional ʻūniki (graduation) ceremony in 2014. She continues deepening in her path as a kumu through her connections with Kumu Sybil, Kumu Keala, and other esteemed cultural practitioners and mentors.

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Kumu Andrea is honored to be a 2023 TAAP award recipient as a master artist (Traditional Artist Apprenticeship Program) and is on the Oregon Culture Keepers Roster.