Hula Instructor
Shauna Rivera, was born and raised in Waipahu, Hawaii. She started hula at the age of 9 at Halau Hula O Hokulani. From there she performed in Japan, Merrie Monarch, California, Queen Liliuokalani Keiki Hula Festival, and Island wide. While dancing and competing with Halau Hula O Hokulani, the experience was impeccable. She met and danced for celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, and the cast of Baywatch.
After her Journey with Halau Hula O Hokulani, she has found the love of teaching hula at the Mililani YMCA in 2007 and found her passion to educate children on the fundamentals of Pacific culture and arts. She also directed and wrote plays for the YMCA such as Lilo and Stitch Jr, The play is that, Aloha OZ, and Grease Jr. With the Y performing Arts, her students has competed in Spotlight Competitions which were recognized for overall categories in solos, duos, trios, group and directors choice. This experience has gained recognition in Oahu Midweek at the YMCA. She has been under the direction of Teressa Osthoff at the Y performing Arts till 2013.
In 2010, Shauna joined Teressa’s Daughter Wendy Calio, who played Nina on Disneys Imagination Movers dance studio Pasdedeux located in Waipio. She has gained experiences since teaching at Pasdedeux dance Studio and her students competed at Spotlight and Jump Competitions. She had the opportunity to choreograph for Disney’s Imagination Movers in Hawaii on tour with her dancers. Also, her dancers were in the opening ProBowl segment. In 2015, she had the opportunity to choreograph hula for Leeward Community College for their play the “Waipahu Project”.
She had the “Kahea” from Kumu Dennis Immamura to study under him to eventually become a Kumu Hula. In 2018, she became a Kumu and officially opened her Halau, Ka Huaka’i O Kealohapau’ole in Ewa. She still teaches hula in Ewa and Waipio at Pasdedeux Dance Studio. In Dec 2020, her students got to be on the show Moving with Military and shared hula in Hawaii at home during the shutdown.
Aside from hula, she is a Certified Nurse Assistant, Educational Assistant at Waikele Elementary, Event Planner/ Co Business Owner (Simply Justified Events) and Play Writer.
Her main goal and focus is to bring back old Hawaiian traditions by learning Hawaiian vocabulary and culture. She increases knowledge of hula by incorporating Auana/Kahiko dances and structured basic steps. Her main philosophy is about family; coming together to learn, grow, and thrive the Hawaiian culture to work together as one unit.
