Biography of kanoe miller
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Resident Artists
Each Festival the culture of Hawai‘i is presented together with representatives from Asia and another område of the Pacific. Our featured resident artists of 2017 are:
Hula Halau: Ka Pa hawaiisk dans O Kauanoe Wa‘ahila
Under the direction of Kumu hawaiisk dans Maelia Loebenstein Carter
Korea National University of Arts (K-ARTS)
Kanokupolu Dancers
Dancers of Tonga beneath the direction of Cotton Robusta Siale and guidance of Her Majesty Queen Nanasipau‘u
Dance Critics
Lisa Kraus’ career includes performing with the Trisha Brown Dance Company TBDC), choreographing and performing for her own company and as an independent, teaching at universities and arts centers, presenting the work of other artists as Coordinator of the Bryn Mawr College Performing Arts Series, and writing reviews, features and essays on dance for internet and print publication. With TBDC she appeared in television and film projects including Beyond the Mainstream and created roles in several works
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Former Miss Hawaii Kanoe Miller shares life wisdom
Sponsored by Arcadia Family of Companies
Kanoe Miller has been the featured dancer at the Halekulani since 1977. She studied hula with Maiki Aiu Lake when she was 13 years old. In 1973, Miller won the Miss Hawaiʻi America title and travelled the world representing Hawaiʻi’s aloha spirit.
“When I represented Hawai’i in the Miss America Pageant, of course I hoped to place or win because I wanted to represent my state, and do well,” she explains. “But in my heart, I knew I was comfortable if I did not place or win because I felt that representing Hawaiʻi, my home, was more important to me and that it was something I could do well.”
For most of her professional life, Miller balanced two careers: modeling and hula dancing. She has also produced fashion shows and corporate image workshops.
“I have been able to use my talents to do the things I love and care about,” Miller says. “I
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Growing up, Kanoelehua Kaumeheiwa often felt embarrassed by her Hawaiian first name. Even then, Hawaii was a very multi-cultural place (she herself was of Hawaiian, Chinese, and German heritage) and though her fellow students had last names like Kahale, Fukushima, or Chung, their first names were all Westernized — Stephanie, Myron, Dave, Mary. “Every time the teacher would call roll, she’d struggle over my name,” she says. “Every grade, every class, even through high school, they struggled to pronounce my name. So much so that, whenever she was calling roll and it got to the K’s and you could see the teacher stop, the whole class would go, ‘Oh, she’s here!’”
Kanoe can smile about it now, but at the time she felt differently. “That always made me ashamed because it singled me out,” she explains. “I was shy. This was 1960, before awareness of ethnicity, ethnic pride. And I thought about changing my name. And of course, when I told that to my parents, especially my father, who was