Meet my dear friend Norma Bell, septugenarian Italian hula queen from Brooklyn. Mind you, she’s lived in Hawaii since the early ‘sixties, and she’s got the aloha spirit. In this photo I’m playing guitar and she’s dancing a choreography she composed to my song Ukulele Hula, from my CD Living in Hawaii Style. We’re at her birthday party in 2004.
This is her hula halau (hula school), all senior women in her neighborhood in Keaau, Hawaii. The troup is called Pua Kea (white flowers). I love Hawaii. I hope I’m getting together once a week with my best girl friends to sway my hips to songs about nature when I’m in my seventies. Norma’s the last one on the right. What expression she has!
Alicia Bay Laurel 