The University of Hawaii at Hilo Performing Arts Center is kicking off its 2025-26 season tonight with a multifaceted presentation of stories told through music, dance, poetry and imagery that celebrates the significance of nature’s interwoven tapestry.
Performers Keoki Apokolani Carter and Yvonne Yarber Carter from Waianae, Oahu, will be joined by four additional musicians, multiple hula dancers — including a mother-daughter duo from Hilo — and an entire UH Hilo contemporary dance class for their show, “Pulama Ohana: Cherish Family Earth.” Original music by their group, Apokolani, will guide the show as it outlines the interconnection of the natural elements of the earth with the life forces of plants, animals and humans to create a source of hope and gratitude.
“I love that venue. I’ve been seeing things there since the ’70s,” vocalist Yvonne Carter said of the Performing Arts Center. “I think it’s the perfect, perfect venue for multi-dimensional sharing.”
The multi-dimensional sharing Carter refers to is the organic flow of harmony which is created by the artists that come together on stage.
“It’s diverse, and maybe not a performance — we really consider it community sharing, and that’s the deepest kind … where we learn from each other, and it’s a beautiful sound,” she said. “Everyone performing has been teachers and continue to be, and yet do their art. With performance and learning, we don’t think you can separate them. When people ask, ‘What genre of music do you play?’ We play what fits the story.”
The pair said they like to let the art guide the people performing it and draw new collaborators in as well.
“The music, the lyrics, I call them gifts from heaven,” said Keoki Carter, who creates the music in addition to playing the baritone ukulele, guitars and singing. “It talks about global issues (and) personal experiences … to try to get the community involved. Wherever we go, we try to provide a platform so others can join us and share their art form. That’s a blessing that makes me excited and happy when that happens because it’s a big surprise for me, too.”
The Carters said several of the musicians and dancers joining them tonight have a long history of sharing the stage with them, giving the show a true ohana vibration.
Saxophonist Paul Lindbergh has the longest history with the group as a collaborator since 2012, but keyboardist Elliot Maker became instant family when he joined several years ago because he teaches at Waianae High School, the Carters’ alma mater. Gregory Maker, the brother of the keyboardist and special guest from New York, on upright bass and newest addition Michaeloha Elam on trumpet round out the musicians.
Keoki Carter’s cousin Kea Kapahua is a dance instructor at UH Hilo and will be bringing her full Beginning Contemporary Dance — Hawaii Themes class on stage to dance to the music during the show. Laupahoehoe native June Kaililani Tanoue returns to Big Island for the opening show of the season to share the hula prowess she now shares in her new home of Chicago.
Local mother-daughter hula dancers Leila Dudley-Frasier and 5-year-old Maka Dudley-Frasier also will be dancing hula to the music in the show, offering a full-circle moment for Leila Dudley-Frasier, who has been performing with the Carters for over 10 years. She recalled how she performed at the Performing Arts Center throughout her childhood in both a showing of “Pinocchio” and international nights where she sang and danced in French with her mother.
On Friday, her own daughter, at the same age Leila Dudley-Frasier was when she first graced the Performing Arts Center, will perform there with her.
“I have so many good memories from the many international nights and Pinocchio that I was in there when I was a small keiki,” she said. “I’m so excited Maka will be able to have a similar experience in that space.”
Tickets for “Pulama Ohana: Cherish Family Earth” at 7 p.m. are $10 for UH Hilo/Hawaii Community College students and children under 17, $15 for faculty/staff/alumni and seniors over 55, and $20 for general admission, with $5 added to each price for night-of purchases.
Tickets for all shows at the Performing Arts Center are available at pay.hilo.hawaii.edu/pac/tickets/.
Email Kyveli Diener at kdiener@hawaiitribune-herald.com.