Kini Kapahu
| Kini Kapahu Wilson | |
|---|---|
Kini Kapahu, c. 1895
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|
| Born |
Ana Kini Kuululani March 4, 1872 Honolulu, Hawaiʻi |
| Died | July 23, 1962 (aged 90) Honolulu, Hawaiʻi |
| Other names | Ana Kini Kapahukulaokamāmalu Kuululani McColgan Huhu |
| Occupation | Hula dancer |
| Spouse(s) | John H. Wilson |
Kini "Jennie" Kapahu Wilson (March 4, 1872 – July 23, 1962) was a Hawaiian hula dancer, musician, and singer. In 1893–94, she toured the United States, Europe and Russia, performing for heads of state such as Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tsar Nicholas II. She married Honolulu Mayor John H. Wilson and was recognized as the "Honorary First Lady" of Hawaii.
Ana Kini Kapahukulaokamāmalu Kuululani McColgan Huhu was born in Honolulu on March 4, 1872, the fourteenth child of Hawaiʻian Kalaiolele and Irish tailor John N. McColgan. She became the hānai daughter of Kapahukulaokamāmalu, a stranger who had passed by and assisted her mother in her birth. Because Kapahukulaokamāmalu and her husband Kuʻula were childless, Kalaiolele gave her daughter in hānai to the couple. She was called Kini Kapahu after her hānai mother. She grew up next door to King Kalākaua and attended school for just three years. She learned to dance the hula from her mother, a court dancer and chanter. When she was 14, the King invited her to join the court's hula dancer troupe, Hui Lei Mamo. Although Kapahukulaokamāmalu opposed the public performance of the dance at the time, Queen Kapiʻolani later convinced her to give her permission when Kini was 16. She was one of seven dancers for the King and received training in Hawaiian dance, ballroom dance, singing and ukulele.
Following the King's death in 1891, Kini learned Hawaiian dance from Kauaʻians Kapaona and Namakeʻelua. She learned the sacred, traditional forms hula pahu and hula ālaʻapapa. In 1893, she toured the United States, performing in San Francisco, in Portland, Oregon, and at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The following year she toured Europe, performing in Paris at the Folies Bergère, in Germany for Kaiser Wilhelm II and in Russia for Tsar Nicholas II. She returned to Chicago in 1895.
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