Hālau Ha‘a Kea o Kinohi

Kumu Hula Paul K. Neves resides in Keaukaha-Hilo, Hawai’i on Hawaiian Homelands.  Kumu Paul is a student of the late Kumu Hula Wayne Kaho’onei Panoke, who in turn was a student of the late Kumu Hula Winona Kapuailohiamanonookalani Desha-Beamer. Kumu Kaho'onei was 'uniki from Aunty Nona in 1968. Kumu Paul was 'uniki from Kumu Kaho'onei in 1999 .  

Kumu Paul opened Hālau Ha’a Kea o Akalā in 1998. This hālau name is now under the direction of his daughter, Kumu Hula Akalā Nāhikulani Neves. Kumu Akala intends to open the halau in Mexico City, Mexico. In 2004 he opened Hālau Ha’a Kea o Kinohi. This hālau, named for his son Kinohi, is now based jointly in Hilo, San Francisco, and Kyoto, Japan. In 2006, Kumu Paul opened Hālau Ha'a Kea o Mokihana in Washington DC and named the halau in honor of his wife. He has judged and participated in hula competitions in Hawai’i and Japan.

Since 1984 Kumu Paul has been very involved in the spiritual, cultural, and political challenges facing Native Hawaiian nationals and is an advocate of justice for Hawaiians. In 1987, Kumu Paul was a founding member of Ka Lāhui Hawai'i a sovereignty initiative and served two terms as its first elected LT Governor. Kumu Paul served the Roman Catholic community for 21 years as a Pastoral Associate at Malia Puka o Kalani Catholic Church in Keaukaha, Hawai'i.

Kumu Paul is an Ali'i No'eau Loa, high chief of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I. He has given workshops on spiritual, cultural and political analysis of the Native Hawaiian Nationals in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, across the United States, Puerto Rico, Europe and at the United Nations in New York, the World Council of Churches and the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland. He has participated as an official observer for the Royal Order of Kamehameha I with regards to the Hawaiian Kingdom at The World Court in the Hague, Netherlands.  

Kumu Paul is a cultural practitioner of the traditional ways of the Kanaka Maoli, Native Hawaiian people. Kumu Paul emphasizes aloha as a lifestyle, and within a halau setting, ‘ohana (family),  alaka'i (leadership/ discipline), and lokahi (unity), as the core of our communal expression. Kumu Paul's purpose in supporting the creation of the hālau 'ohana communities is to lay a foundation of aloha with the goal of making a difference in the world today through the practice of Hawaiian culture and values.