Sharon Balidoy’s Hawaiian roots run deep in Lahaina. She is the kumu hula of Hula Alapaʻi i Maluuluolele and the founder of Laeʻula O Kai Canoe Club.

Deeply loved and respected by many, Kumu Sharon is known for her humility and her unwavering trust in the ancestors who guide her. She lives her aloha through action more than words.

Kumu Sharon is deeply passionate about music and hula as living expressions of culture.

“Music transports me to different places on the island and the world—to different environments, sounds, fragrances, and people,” she shares. “It is an invitation to recall other times and memories, and an ability to travel when not physically able to do so. Music can lift your spirits, get you jammin’ while working at home. And for those mele that remind me of people who have passed, it brings tears of aloha.”

Her mother, Roselle Bailey, is not only her mom, but also her kumu hula.

Sharon reflects, “For my sister and me, hula was a way of life. I don’t remember learning the foundations, it is simply a part of me.”

Together, the sisters taught hula through their college years in Hilo, their graduate years on Oʻahu, and later here on Maui. Though her sister has since passed to be with the ancestors, Sharon feels her presence always. “Different hula remind me of her and make me smile,” she says.

For Kumu Sharon, chant and hula are not about competition or perfection. They are practiced out of deep respect for the ancestors, to understand their ways, the places they knew, and the stories they memorialized.

Lei making, hula, and aloha go hand in hand, they are inseparable and intertwined. “I have not yet settled on a particular hula,” she shares, “but let us hula and weave our lei with purpose, good intentions, and always with aloha. Aloha kekahi i kekahi—to have aloha for one another and for the ʻāina.”