Dana Mathers

Kokua (Teaching Assistant)

Dana has always loved to dance. Originally from Pennsylvania, she has traveled extensively and enjoys learning about different cultures. She fell in love with Hawaiian Hula while watching a hula kahiko performance at the Polynesian Festival on the Santa Cruz Wharf where she describes the dancers as seeming to come up from the earth, chanting and wearing leaves and adornments. Her first and only hula teacher is Leolani Lowry. Dana is inspired by the Hula. She loves the people, the choreography and studying the culture. Teaching students to relax into their dancing and hold nothing back helps them enjoy dancing as much as she does. Understanding the story behind the dance, feeling the words and emotions that are inside the song creates confidence for students to be who they are and not to aspire to look like someone else. Dancing the hula is storytelling and it is important to understand what you are saying and feeling through every gaze and hand gesture. Dana loves to share the Aloha through this beautiful art form.