Kumu Hula Rick Noʻeau Smith

started dancing at the age of 15 with Dances of the Pacific under the direction of Marge Bronson, and has been teaching hula, Tahitian, Māori, Tongan, and Sāmoan for over 40 years.

He has led his own hālau for over 25 years.

In his younger years he won first place in Tahitian ʻOri Tāne and as a Sāmoan Fire Knife dancer.

Rick has led dance groups on tours of England and Spain, has exhibited Tahitian at the Fete in Tahiti, performed Māori and Sāmoan dances at the Merrie Monarch, and won awards at hula and Tahitian competitions. He has taken his hālau on huakaʻi educational trips to Hawaiʻi on numerous occasions to dance the hulas they have learned at the places concerned in the mele.

His current focus is in presenting Hawaiian culture and hula thru thematic concerts of music, dance, oli, and education.

He was raised in Hawaiʻi and while in Hawaiʻi was a member of Kumu Hula Robert Uluwehi Cazimero’s hālau, Nā Kamalei in the 1980s.

Rick danced for many years as a member of Kumu Hula Patrick Makuakāne’s hālau, Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu.

Rick went through the ʻūniki process and graduated as Kumu Hula, ʻōlapa and hoʻopaʻa, under the direction of Kumu Hula Patrick Makuakāne.