Naninohea Kapana, CEO of Hot Lavalava Productions, a subsidiary of Puka Imua Lanakila, has been in the performance world for more than 25 years, where he not only succeeded as an entertainer, but also learned the management and promotional aspects of the business.
Nani became involved in the performance of hula during his relationship with his daughter’s biological mother Pauline Andrews Yee. A former kumu hula under hula halau o Kamuela with Paleka Mattos. After Pauline passed, he met Kahealani Silva another Kumu Hula and married. Participating in performances, he found great success as an amateur, which led him to travel throughout the country. Nani ultimately ended up in Las Vegas, Nevada, “the Entertainment Capital of the World,” where, in 2004, he began his professional entertaining career. By May 2005, he became the first Polynesian dance troupe in Las Vegas to win the Best in Otea Amui Group Dance and first All Women’s Tahitian drumming group. He then moved to Honolulu & Hilo Hawaii where he and his lovely wife began their dance studio, which established stability in his career in 2006.
In 2009, he & his wife also founded Hot Lavalava Promotions, a promotional/management company that promoted music / entertainment concerts, bookings and management in Hawaii, for various artists. In between promotions and entertaining, he is a grand father to his first grandson.
Nani’s entrepreneurial mind has taken Hot Lavalava in many directions. His latest endeavor is the Hot Lavalava Dance Studio, home of the Hot Lavalava Amateur Training Program (ABATP), a program that trains, educates and mentors the at risk youth in the sport of dancing, drumming, singing and in life. |
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