It is always so sad when the world loses a wonderful kumu hula and Clarice Wahinealii Nuhi was very active and undoubtedly beloved by her students, friends and family. But too often these amazing kupuna pass without there being a comprehensive record left of their work and life--what they do and accomplish is built into the bodies, hearts, minds and souls of their students, and their legacy is passed on in this way, but written records are often scarce and seldom compiled. And so our hula history passes from us...

If you "google" Clarice Nuhi you will find some record of her work as a kumu hula in Southern California. She led Ka Pa Hula o Wahineali'i in Carson, CA, and there is also mention of her artitistic direction in performances of Na Kupuna Wahine o Kaleponi Hema. She also served as VP of the Hawaii's Daughter's Guild, and perhaps in other capacities as well. Her halau participated in E Hula Mau in 1996 (and probably in other years too--but this is just a smattering of what I've found via the search engines).

Some sweet memories of "Aunty Clarice" are shared on the blog www.moiha.com.

If anyone has memories and details to add about Aunty's life and work, please post here. Mahalo!

Below is a beautiful FWD from Kapilioha, a student of Auntie Clarice Wahinealii Nuhi. I postt it here with permission.
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Mahalo for your thoughts and prayers.

Auntie Clarice was born in Keaukaha, Hawai`i and as a
toddler survived the destruction of the tidal wave in
1946. She was the daughter of a kumu hula and hula
was her legacy. She lived by her motto: "Life is Hula
and Hula is Life."

Auntie was the Kumu Hula of Halau Ka Pa Hula O
Wahineali`i, based in Carson, California. She was
the founder of Kulia i Ka Punawai, the Kumu Hula
Assoc. of Southern California. She was also a member
of Lei Hulu of California and The Hawai`i Daughters
Guild. She was very active in the Hawaiian Community
here and in many other states. She was currently
working with Halau Ka Lama Mohala in Sandy, Utah on a
weekly basis and in the past had worked with halau in
other states, including Alaska.

Aside from hula, she also taught lei hulu, preserving
the teachings of Auntie Mary Kovich, the founder of
Lei Hulu of California. She loved to teach and she
loved to share her mana'o with everyone, whether it
was within the Hawaiian Community, or just someone she
met out on the street. It's what drove her.

With kumu, the halau was fortunate enough to
participate in events like the World Sacred Music
Festival with Halau O Kekuhi, The World Hula Festival
in Hilo and many other hula conferences here on the
mainland and in Hawai`i. She opened up a whole new
world to all of her haumana; making her culture ours.
Not only did we learn hula; we learned all thing
Hawaiian. We learned to make our implements, haku our
leis, speak the language. We learned to weave
lauhala, how to make ohe kapala, cook kalua pua'a and
laulau...There was nothing that kumu would not teach,
if she "knew how". I could go on forever, with the
things kumu shared with us.

All the grace, knowledge and passion that I have for
hula and the Hawaiian culture, I owe to this
wonderful, big-hearted woman.

I used to always say: "Hula is not something I do.
It's who I am." In reapeating those words now, I
can't help but feel a huge void in my life without
kumu to lead the way.

She was and will always be my muse and my light.

E kumu e...
(from Kapilioha)