MAHEALANI UCHIYAMA

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival Children’s Garden Seriesfeatures interactive performances specially designed for kids and families every Friday from June to August in the Yerba Buena Children’s Garden at Fourth and Howard Streets.   Two performances – 11:00am-11:30am & 12:15pm-12:45pm.

Māhealani Uchiyama

The founder and artistic director of Berkeley’s Māhea Uchiyama Center for International Dance, Māhealani Uchiyama is an award-winning dancer, musician, composer, choreographer, recording artist, and teacher. Currently an artistic director for the renowned San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, she champions Pacific Islander culture through the company Hālau Ka Ua Tuahine and as the creator and director of the annual Kāpili Polynesian dance and music workshops. For this program, Hālau KaUaTuahine  shares songs and dances of Hawaiʻi and Tahiti, offering a cross section of classical and contemporary Hawaiian hula as well as joyful rhythms of the traditional Tahitian ʻōteʻa and ʻaparima.