Edith Ke’kuhikuhiipu’uoneonaali’iokohala Kenao was born in Honomu, Hawaii.
By the time she was born, Native Hawaiian culture and traditions had been oppressed for decades by Western imperialist policies that prohibited performing the native Hula dance and teaching Hawaiian languages. Even so, Kanakaʻole’s father, a musician, and her mother, a hula dancer, taught their children the traditional Hawaiian arts. Later, Kanakaʻole continued to learn hula dancing with Akoni Mika, a prominent dancer and chanter. In the middle of 7th grade, she quit school and spent time catching fish at the beach and developing her art.
In addition to dancing, Kanakaʻole was a talented musician, composing songs and oli (Hawaiian chants), often combining choreographing hula with oli. Her performances gained popularity, and in 1950, Kanakaʻole toured Canada, the US, and several countries in Asia.
In 1953, at 40, Kanakaʻole founded the Halau o Kekuhi hola school, where she served as Kumu Hula – the chief practitioner of traditional Hawaiian dance and culture. There, she created a distinct style of hula that derived from the dancing traditions of her native Hilo area. Kanakaʻole’s hula dance has characterized by dancing with deeply bent knees and dynamic movements.
Over time, Kanakaʻole’s efforts to preserve the Hawaiian culture expanded into other areas, including the Hawaiian language. The rise of the Hawaiian Renaissance in the late 1960s and early 1970s was the perfect opportunity to promote the cause. She helped develop the first Hawaiian language program at the Keaukaha School in Hilo and the Hawaiian Studies Kupuna Program for the public schools.
During the 1970s, Kanakaʻole worked as a teacher at Hawaiʻi Community College and the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, where she served as the lead Hawaiian language teacher and established the Bachelor of Arts degree in Hawaiian Studies. In her classes, Kanakaʻole taught all aspects of Hawaiian culture, including genealogy, Polynesian history, ethnobotany, land ownership, myths, and chants.
She died of cancer at the age of 65.
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