Michelle Manumaleuna has done a lot of things – professional hula, professional football, martial arts consultant for Femme D’Action show, you know, the usual. In 2010, she taught at PAWMA camp and the large Seven Star contingent there realized that she was awesome and should come visit us. We were super stoked when she agreed to do a workshop with us in early 2011. Her martial art, lua, is a native Hawaiian martial art, a hard side precursor of hula. In 2011, she explained that lua is the Hawaiian word for pit, and they call it that because that’s where you put the bodies.

In a kajukenbo school, everyone’s eyes light up when you say something like that. Shark bite and stinging squid strikes? “Poi pounding” to tenderize an opponent’s flesh? Choking each other out with our belts? Yes, please! Read More →