Merrie Monarch Festival: Pi‘ikea Lopes wins Miss Aloha Hula 2022, follows in her mother’s footsteps

MERRIE MONARCH

Piʻikea Kekihenelehuawewehiikekauʻonohi Lopes was named Miss Aloha Hula for 2022.

UPDATED: APRIL 25, 1:30 a.m. PDT

After two years of the pandemic, the Merrie Monarch Festival, the premier hula competition in the world, returned with competitors dancing in front of a live audience. 

On Thursday (April 21), Piʻikea Kekihenelehuawewehiikekauʻonohi Lopes from halau Ka La ʻOnohi Mai O Haʻehaʻe on Oahu was named as Miss Aloha Hula at the 2022 Merrie Monarch Festival.

Lopes, under the direction of her parents and na kumu hula Tracie and Keawe Lopes, scored 1,168 points and also won the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Hawaiian language award.

RELATED: For more results in the group competitions, click here.

Pi'ikea Lopes winning performance was  a continuation of a family tradition. Her mother, Tracie Lopes, won the title in 1994. s 

In one of the festival's tightest contests in years, the top four finishers were separated by only 11 points.

Pi'ikea Lopes topped the other nine dancers in Thursday’s competition with a judges’ score of 1,168 points, also winning the Hawaiian Language Award with a perfect score of 50.

The 21-year-old Lopes, who is about to receive her master’s degree in Hawaiian language immersion education, is the second consecutive Miss Aloha Hula from the halau her parents operate. Last year’s winner of the Miss Aloha Hula competition was Rosemary Kaʻimilei Keamoai-Strickland, who also dances for the Lopeses’ school.

The younger Lopes paid tribute to her parents in her singing and Hawaiian chant.

She performed “Pua Be-Still” a “song of deep affection,” that honored her father’s side of the family and the region of Kohala. The song “encourages us always to take time to reflect and cherish the memories of home,” according to the festival program.

Piʻikea followed by kneeling and delivering an oli (chant) paying respect to Puna to honor and acknowledge those who came before.

The finalists are listed below:

1. Pi‘ikea Kekīhenelehuawewehiikekau‘ōnohi Lopes – Nā Kumu Hula Tracie & Keawe Lopes (1168) 1st place / ʻOlelo award
2. Auliʻionāpualokekūonaona Jon-Marie Hisayo Faurot – Nā Kumu Hula Kunewa Mook & Kau‘ionālani Kamana‘o (1105) 2nd place / 1st runner up
3. Marina Laʻakea Choi – Nā Kumu Hula Robert Ke‘ano Ka‘upu IV & Lono Padilla (1097) 3rd place / 2nd runner up
4. Manaia Kawaipuamakanakauʻikawēkiumekanoeuʻiokeolamaikalaniākea Dalire Moe  – Kumu Hula Kapua Dalire-Moe (1095) 4th place / 3rd runner up
5. Kyleigh Hōkūao Manuel-Sagon – Nā Kumu Hula Haunani & ‘Iliahi Paredes from Maui (1094) 5th place / 4th runner up

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