HILO >> While she grew up surrounded by hula, Kelina Kyoko Ke‘ano‘ilehua Tiffany Eldredge learned that taking on the challenge of preparing for a competition would deepen her love for it, spiritually and emotionally.
Eldredge, 22, of Ewa Beach, won the Miss Aloha Hula title Thursday night after a double tiebreaker pulled her ahead by a mere 0.2 points at the 54th annual Merrie Monarch Festival. She was one of 10 soloists competing for the title. Judges also selected her for the Hawaiian Language Award.
MISS ALOHA HULA RESULTS
>> Kelina Kyoko Keano’ilehua Tiffany Eldredge, Halau Hi’iakainamakalehua, 1075, 1499, 18.6
>> Julyen Machiko Kaloke Kaluna, Hula Halau ‘o Kamuela, 1075, 1499, 18.4
>> Chelei Kameleonalani Kahalewai, Kawaili’ula, 1024
>> Amanda Hiwalei Aliser, Halau Ka Lei Mokihana o Leina’ala, 1015
>> Miriam Anuhea Kamakanaokealoha Hokoana Arakawa, Halau Na Lei Kaumaka o Uka, 1006
“I have no words of the feelings, it’s so surreal,” Eldredge said immediately after learning that she had won at Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium.
On Friday morning the jubilation was still there, but put in perspective, it was all part of a journey that she has been on since she first fell in love with hula at a very young age.
When she was onstage, she said, she simply hoped to “dance my heart out.”
She was fully present in the moment Thursday night, performing an impressive, rapid-paced, kepakepa-style chant to begin her kahiko (ancient-style hula) number, “Maewaikalani” (swaying in the heavens), a composition about Queen Kapiolani’s long, flowing locks of hair.
Eldredge captured the poetry of the song in motion, swinging her length of hair like coconut fronds in the wind.
For ‘auana (modern hula) she told the story of the affectionate bond between two brothers through the late kumu hula Frank “Palani” Kahala’s composition “Pua Mohala i ka Wekiu,” which compares one’s beloved to a budding blossom placed in the highest heavens. Adorned in a ginger lei and dressed in a vivid, light green skirt the color of pala‘a ferns, she exuded joy and happiness as her fingers formed the shapes of blossoms reaching toward the sky.
She has three siblings — older sister Kiana, brother Kama and younger sister Kealani — who she is very close to.
“The song talks about a love for your siblings,” she said, “so I definitely wanted to portray that, how much I love my siblings.”
Eldredge’s family owns the Aloha Hula Supply shop in Honolulu, where she works. Both of her parents, Duane and Sue Eldredge, dance hula. Her first teacher, she said, was her mother, who used to run the Kulani Dance Studio in Ewa Beach, teaching hula and Tahitian, Maori and Samoan dance.
Eldredge said she had been dancing since the age of 2 but that it was after attending Kamehameha Schools that she went on to seek out a halau to deepen her hula experience beyond professional dancing for entertainment, which she also does for Magic of Polynesia.
When she saw Halau Hi‘iakainamakalehua under the direction of kumu Robert Ke‘ano Ka‘upu IV and Lono Padilla competing at their first Merrie Monarch Festival in 2014, she loved it and knew it was where she belonged.
“Merrie Monarch and dancing for halau, there’s a whole different side and level to it, which is what makes it amazing,” she said.
Ka‘upu and Padilla said they selected Eldredge for her childlike innocence as well as her willingness to work hard. She spent weeks just practicing her oli, or chant, for kahiko, before getting to the movements.
The relatively new halau, based in Kalihi on Oahu, is competing in the festival for the fourth time and will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year. Thursday’s Miss Aloha Hula win is the second consecutive one for the halau, with the title going to Kayli Ka‘iulani Carr in 2016.
Carr performed a farewell dance in a sparkling blue gown Thursday evening as the scores were being tallied, thanking all the people who supported and encouraged her. She also shared some words of wisdom from former Miss Aloha Hula and singer Natalie Ai Kamauu: to remember that “aloha comes first” in Miss Aloha Hula.
Eldredge says the journey will continue beyond the competition and that hula will always be part of her life.
“It’s a whole life journey,” she said. “Miss Aloha Hula, it’s not just to be pretty and an ambassador of hula; it’s a journey of bettering yourself as a person and sharing aloha with everybody, always. … That’s the bottom line of it all. We share aloha — aloha is the first thing in Miss Aloha Hula.”
Click here for more of our coverage on the Merrie Monarch Festival.
