Alumni News

Whether through dance, photography, music, comics, books, radio or film, these SF State alums, students and faculty are finding innovative ways to tell their stories

SF State Magazine’s Spring/Summer 2024 issue, now available online and in print, explores inventive storytelling, with articles, profiles and even comics that shine a light on how Gators are sharing their perspectives with the world.

The issue’s cover story focuses on two groundbreaking choreographers — Associate Professor of Dance Ray Tadio and alumnus and kumu hula (master hula teacher) Patrick Makuakāne (B.S., ’89) — who use traditional dance to express who they are and where they come from. Another feature article presents a gallery of portraits of Gator musicians — with all the photos courtesy of Journalism students. In a first for the magazine, the center spread is a comic book-style exploration of the University’s Creative Nonfiction Comics Making certificate, also created by student artists. And journalism legend Ben Fong-Torres (B.A., ’66) returns to the magazine to conduct an in-depth interview with cryptocurrency pioneer and philanthropist Chris Larsen (B.S., ’84). 

The issue’s departments expand on the storytelling theme with stories about the unique programming on campus radio station KSFS and a scientific illustration grant that supports the work of artists through SF State’s Estuary & Ocean Science Center. And the magazine is filled with profiles of amazing Gator storytellers, including:

• Community newspaper pioneer Juan Gonzales (B.A., ’70)
• “Olgies” podcaster Alie Ward (B.A., ’99)
• Twin writing team/alums Shawneé and Shawnelle Gibbs (both B.A., ’02)
• And much more!

Check out the full issue of SF State Magazine now.

U.S. Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam Caryn McClelland presents her Letter of Credence to His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam.

Caryn R. McClelland was appointed to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Brunei Darussalam in 2021

Caryn R. McClelland spent more than three decades as a diplomat in the United States Foreign Service, a path she’s unknowingly been preparing for since childhood. Her parents’ wanderlust had the family moving every few years to cities in New Jersey, Maine, Michigan and California, eventually ending up in San Francisco. With each move she’d reinvent herself. For some, that might grow tiresome, but the San Francisco State University alumna says she thrived — and developed resilience and adaptability that helped her climb the ranks of the U.S. Foreign Service.

McClelland (M.A., ’90) is now ambassador to the nation of Brunei Darussalam, an absolute monarchy strategically located on the island of Borneo. The U.S. Senate confirmed her appointment in 2021, the culmination of 33 years in the Foreign Service. She was accepted into the program in the early 1990s while earning a graduate degree in International Relations from San Francisco State. (She earned her B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles and later earned an M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.) Since joining the Foreign Service, she’s had posts in Vietnam, Latvia, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Turkmenistan and other nations.

And then there are major multinational projects, such as getting a pipeline built to transport oil and gas from former Soviet nations to international markets. She authored a pipeline strategy in 1995. The main pipeline project, which required the coordination of many agencies within the U.S. government, international lenders and commercial entities, took about 10 years to complete. “It required bringing everybody together,” she said. “But when the tap on that pipeline opened, it changed the trajectory of those countries that it went through.”

The work is rewarding but also challenging, something she relishes, she says. One of the most important lessons she’s learned is that “no” is not the end of the conversation, it’s just the beginning.

“Everybody is different and every scenario is different, but I think the commonality is a certain persistence to always look at new ways to achieve an end,” she said. “The people who are most effective in this job are the ones who are constantly willing to reinvent themselves and reinvent the way they think about things to get to ‘yes.’… It’s always constantly adapting and refocusing and reprioritizing and being willing to look for avenues that you didn’t originally see, which requires you to learn so much from other people.”

For students considering a career in the Foreign Service she recommends looking at all the different ways to join. There’s the Foreign Service exam — the route she took — but there are also fellowships and internships. Students can visit Department of State Careers to view options. There are also other employment opportunities at other federal agencies, such as the Department of Commerce, that have career opportunities abroad, she adds.

The Foreign Service is not for everyone, she acknowledges. To start, it’s an “up or out” organization, like the military. Officers either get promoted or they must leave. But the most common reason people leave is that moving around every few years can be taxing, especially on families. She has a daughter, so she knows the difficulties.

For McClelland, the benefits far outweigh the downsides. “When I joined the foreign service, my goal was not to become an ambassador. My goal was to have a rewarding career filled with wonderful experiences, meeting new people and constantly reinventing myself,” she said. “It was, ‘How could I do good but also constantly challenge myself?’”

After more than 30 years with the same organization, it’s safe to say she found her answer.

In 1946, SF State became the first university in the U.S. to establish a Department of International Relations. Learn about studying International Relations at SF State today.

The Tony Award winner discussed the challenges he had to overcome as a queer Asian American actor

Award-winning actor and alumnus BD Wong recently returned to the stage at San Francisco State University not to perform, but to share insights gleaned from his decades-long career in film, theatre and television. A Tony Award winner for his groundbreaking role in “M. Butterfly” on Broadway, Wong is also known for appearances in films like “Mulan” and the “Jurassic Park” and “Father of the Bride” series.

While on campus at San Francisco State’s Little Theatre Tuesday, March 12, Wong answered questions from students and faculty as part of two forums, one hosted by Professor of Theatre and Dance Yutian Wong and the other by Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Amy Sueyoshi and Asian American Studies Professor Russell Jeung. Wong talked about his craft, shared advice for students hoping to launch careers in the arts and discussed the lessons he’s learned navigating the entertainment industry as a queer person of color.

Wong began acting in high school. The San Francisco native credited his high school drama teacher for instilling a sense of confidence in his ability to perform. Often cast as a lead in school productions, he never thought about his race. Then he came to SF State … where, unfortunately, he felt invisible. It was the late 1970s, and he was the only Asian American student in the theatre department. Faculty didn’t know how to serve him, he told students.

“They were certainly not programming anything that I could do that would have helped me assume my potential,” he said. “Nor were they transcending race and giving me roles that were not related to who I was as a person.”

Since then, the University has made a concerted effort when it comes to fostering a diverse, equitable and inclusive community. But Wong’s experience at the time caused him to drop out of college in 1980 and pursue theatre in New York City. Eight years later he made a huge splash in “M. Butterfly,” launching a career that would later include recurring roles in several TV series, including “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Oz” and “Awkwafina is Nora from Queens.” He accepted an honorary doctoral degree from SF State at the University’s 2022 Commencement, and he recently returned to San Francisco again to star in the play “Big Data” at the American Conservatory Theatre.

Though things have improved for Asian American actors since he began his career, Wong says he still wishes there were better parts and more representation. He’s had to learn to speak up and take action to open doors.

“Nothing good can happen from being passive, so I taught myself and started to enjoy fostering the conversation. It began with myself and then it bled into having this conversation with other Asian American actors who I could relate to and who could relate to me and that led to a form of activism,” he said. “It was small battles being won and them getting larger and larger. And today we have a presence that we simply didn’t have before. It’s partly because of this whole journey of micro-successes and discussions.”

Wong advises students starting out in the industry to be open to any role, whether it’s as an extra, a production assistant or a stand-in. It’s important to get exposure and to learn, he says.

“I did extra work, and it was really helpful to me just to be an observer on a set to watch the professional principal actors work with a camera,” he said. “I was in crowd scenes and stuff like that. That’s not fun, but I found it very valuable. I was fascinated by the process.”

Theatre Arts student Connor Diaz was in the audience Tuesday and found the event invaluable. “It was just really incredible to see someone in the industry explore all aspects of the craft,” Diaz said. “As a performer, I really want to invest myself in other people’s work. From someone with so much experience it was truly a gift to have that.”

Multi-instrumentalist Nate Mercereau has collaborated with pop stars like Lizzo, Shawn Mendes, The Weeknd 

When hip-hop legend and actor André “3000” Benjamin released an album by surprise last fall, he was not the only multi-hyphenate involved. San Francisco State University alumnus Nate Mercereau is a member of the nine-time Grammy winner’s ensemble on the album, “New Blue Sun,” and on tour.  

Mercereau (B.Music, ’10) is in a different universe of guitarists. He uses an electric guitar, a guitar synthesizer and a Midi-guitar.  

“He hardly ever sounds like he’s playing guitar, but he’s an awesome guitarist,” Benjamin, of the hip-hop group OutKast, told National Public Radio. “He’s kind of like a magician in a way.” 

On stage, Mercereau samples the band’s live performance by hand, using Abelton software to record a loop of sound, creating an in-the-moment composition. This improvisational technique creates a new sound with every note.  

“I have a microphone going directly into the sampler, and I also plug my own guitar into the sampler,” Mercereau says. “I’m either sampling the sound of the group live with me, or I’m sampling myself live. ... The sample becomes my ‘instrument,’ pitched all up and down the fretboard.” 

Mercereau’s magic is not just on guitar. He plays up to a dozen instruments on songs he has co-written for Lizzo, Shawn Mendes and Leon Bridges. Drums, piano, violin, French horn, glockenspiel, you name it.  

Mercereau’s own recordings are more exploratory, describing them as “music with a sense of discovery and “a searching quality.” In 2021 he garnered national press for an album of “duets” pairing his guitar work with the wind-blown hum of the Golden Gate Bridge.  

Dissonant sounds 

Before being admitted to San Francisco State’s School of Music, Mercereau had to audition. He didn’t know it yet, but his ambitions would swerve in a different direction.   

“They ended up accepting me as a guitar student with the caveat that I would also play French horn in the Wind Ensemble,” he said. 

Exceeding that requirement, he played in over five other student ensembles and made a name for himself off campus. 

“I was playing every possible gig I could,” he said. “I was playing weddings. I was playing restaurant gigs. I was playing bars and clubs all around the Bay and also in the church.” 

Joining the SFSU Gospel Choir band, led by student Mike Blankenship, opened Mercereau to an entirely different way to play music. No longer did it have to be an academic, conceptual exercise. 

“It was like, ‘Let’s get to the stuff. Let’s deliver this music. Let’s really play,’” Mercereau said, noting Blankenship’s mentorship. After graduation, they both joined Sheila E.’s band for five years of touring worldwide. 

“Nate was one of those students who just has it. I could tell that major success was ahead of him,” said Paul Wilson (B.Music, ’08), the longtime staff technician for the SF State School of Music. “His musicianship was always off the charts, and he was also just the nicest humble guy.” 

Deep listening 

Mercereau is still absorbing lessons from SF State Professor Hafez Modirzadeh. Modirzadeh told students that he enjoys listening to two radio stations at the same time to hear how the dissonant sounds blend together. It took Mercereau years to decipher. 

“I find through the years an influence in the small things that he did say to me, or even just a look in his eyes when he would walk by,” Mercereau said. “When he was talking about stuff like that, I wasn’t ready for it, but it was something that stuck with me. And now I think about those things a lot more.” 

Mercereau thinks about Modirzadeh when sharing the stage with Benjamin’s ensemble. He appreciates the professor as “a creative thinker.” 

Benjamin and each member of the “New Blue Sun” ensemble are also creative thinkers, on the same wavelength. Connecting on levels musical and personal, they practice “deep listening”: being present, open, emotional and thoughtful with each other. 

“Each of us is bringing our whole lives to the moment of creation together,” Mercereau said. “I’m very into being here on the Earth, and I’m very into getting involved in things and feeling how it feels to be alive. To move through life with that level of awareness, it feels really powerful.” 

Learn more about the SF State School of Music. 

Vincent Matthews was a 2023 San Francisco State University Alumni Hall of Fame inductee. He accepted the award at the University's annual celebration.

Former SFUSD superintendent prepares the next generation of school administrators

Vincent Matthews is a quote collector. Talk to the three-time San Francisco State University alumnus for any length of time about his nearly 40-year career in education, and he’s bound to share an inspirational quote about teaching, young people or remaining optimistic in the face of challenges. But Matthews doesn’t just hang these sayings on a wall or dispense them to people having a bad day. He lives by them.

Take his first teaching job as an example. The San Francisco native taught at Washington Carver Elementary School, an all-Black school in the Hunters Point neighborhood. He worked under Louise C. Jones, a mentor. She instilled in him three truths: “All kids can learn; all kids want to learn; and the adults in the system have the responsibility for making that happen.” He built his entire career around those words, first as a teacher, then as a principal and later as a superintendent for school districts across the state. And now as a professor training future school leaders, those words still undergird his teaching.

Matthews joined San Francisco State’s Graduate College of Education lecturer faculty several years ago while he was still superintendent of San Francisco Unified School District, a role he retired from in 2022 after five years. He’s now an assistant professor in the Equity, Leadership Studies, and Instructional Technologies Department preparing current educators for roles in school administration. He teaches a yearlong degree program tailored to experienced teachers and other school professionals where they’ll earn their master’s degree in administration and an administrative credential.

“I feel like I was blessed because I fell into a career that was just a match. It was my passion. In that same way, I want to continue to give back to people who want to do the same thing,” he said. “So, these are [education professionals] who are very comfortable in the classroom, but they’re saying, ‘I want to do more.’”

Having held numerous roles in public education, Matthews is an ideal instructor. He understands the role of a principal. They are the instructional leaders and architects of a school’s culture — which must include a culture of achievement and a recognition of all cultures, he adds.

Matthews has inside knowledge about one of the largest school districts in the Bay Area, San Francisco, but was also superintendent for San Jose and Oakland school districts. He knows the students those districts serve. That kind of knowledge is invaluable to future school and district leaders, says Professor of Educational Administration and Leadership and coordinator of the program Irina Okhremtchouk, who recruited Matthews to teach at San Francisco State.

“Whenever [Matthews] presented an anecdote, whenever he shared advice about a challenge or a bright spot, [students] were able to take that advice and implement it immediately to see results. That’s huge,” she said. “For somebody who directs the program, like myself, I want to hear that professors, who are charged with instructing the students, actually make a difference in the way that not only resonates with students, but that students find useful and applicable to their practice.”

With such a distinguished career, Matthews could have taught at any number of universities — including ones closer to his Hercules home. But that was out of the question for Matthews. He owes his entire teaching career to SF State, the place where he earned his bachelor’s, master’s, teaching credential and doctorate degree. It’s the place that rebuilt him, he says.

After high school Matthews attended the University of California, Davis, but that was not a good fit. He was kicked out and returned home to San Francisco feeling like a broken person, he says. At the urging of his mother, he picked himself up off the couch and started taking classes at City College of San Francisco before transferring to SF State.

“It’s just the place that really made me,” said Matthews, a 2023 SF State Alumni Hall of Fame inductee. “There are banners all around SF State saying, ‘It’s the place where passion meets purpose,’ and that’s exactly what happened. … San Francisco State gave me my pride, my purpose, basically believed in me and said, ‘Vince, you can do it.’”

Coming back to teach at SF State is Matthews’ way of give back to both the institution and the profession that gave him everything. “I saw this quote in a classroom and it said, ‘The whole world is changed by changing your corner of the world,’” he said. “What I’m trying to do every day is focus on these 45 students, making sure they’re right to change this corner of the world.”

Learn more about SF State’s Graduate College of Education.

‘Larry the Musical’ runs March 16 through April 14 at San Francisco’s Brava theater

“Larry the Musical,” a play created by San Francisco State University alumni, tells the story of a little- known Filipino American activist. Premiering Saturday, March 16, in San Francisco, the production is based on the book “Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong” by the late San Francisco State historian Dawn Mabalon and alumna Gayle Romasanta (’99). The book and musical chronicle the life of Itliong, an organizer who led protests alongside Cesar Chavez for West Coast cannery and farm workers demanding fair pay and improved working conditions.

Romasanta, a writer who has dedicated her career to telling stories about the Filipino American experience, connected with Itliong’s story because it speaks to her own immigrant experience. (She was born in Manila and immigrated to Stockton with her family in the 1970s.) Despite the struggles Itliong faced as an immigrant, he fought for the rights of Filipino Americans and other workers. Romasanta wanted more people to know Itliong’s story, so she approached her friend Bryan Pangilinan (M.Mus., ’15), a composer, about bringing it to a wider audience. He agreed, and together they collaborated with fellow alumni Sean Kana (B.A., ’04), Kevin Camia (B.A., ’95) and Asian American Studies Professor Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales to create the musical production. 

Pangilinan also credits his talent in music to SF State, where he earned his master’s degree in music. SF State Professor David Xiques and former SF State School of Music faculty member Alissa Deeter helped him hone his talent. “They created a safe and supportive environment where I could grow my musical skills, techniques and expertise,” he said.

Itliong’s story is important for everyone to know, but it’s especially personal for Romasanta. “I have deep roots with the Manong generation, the generation of immigrant farm workers,” she said. “I was raised by that generation, those Filipino American men and families.”

“Larry the Musical” opens Saturday, March 16, at 8 p.m. at the Brava in San Francisco. It runs through April 14.

For a limited time, a 30% discount on regular-priced tickets is available to students, seniors, community members, and persons with disabilities. This discount is valid for shows running from Wednesday, March 27, through Sunday, April 14. Just use the discount code LARRY30 when purchasing tickets online. Offer ends March 22. 

Soul of SF State celebrates Black History Month with inaugural art exhibition

San Francisco State University is celebrating the contributions of Black alumni, faculty, staff and students with a new Black Wall of Fame on view through Thursday, Feb. 29, at the Art Gallery on the terrace level of the Cesar Chavez Student Center. The Black Wall of Fame was created by Soul of SF State, a group that plans events and initiatives meant to uplift the University’s Black community. Soul of SF State co-founder Shanice Robinson-Blacknell (B.A., ’15; M.A., ’18; M.Ed., ’19, Ed.D, 23), a lecturer in the Equity, Leadership Studies, and Instructional Technologies and Africana Studies departments and a recent doctoral graduate in the Graduate College of Education, spoke with SF State News about how she hopes to make the Black Wall of Fame a Black History Month tradition.

Where did the idea for the Black Wall of Fame come from?

There are so many phenomenal people that have been on this campus for 20, 30 years, some even almost 40 years who have never been recognized. It was very important for me to make sure we kick off Black History Month not just with events, but with something that can be

an event that happens each year.

Sometimes our heads get wrapped around the 1968 student strike, but there are phenomenal things that have happened after the strike. I just wanted to highlight that. We have so many phenomenal Black leaders on campus.

What’s the criteria for being included in the Black Wall of Fame?

Alie Ward was unhappy with her career until her love for the sometimes grubby natural world opened new doors

Science communicator Alie Ward (B.A., ’99) has unique advice for anyone starting a new career: “Get in like a cockroach.”

“Don’t wait to be invited in like a vampire,” said Ward, the host of “Ologies,” an award-winning popular science podcast, and a Daytime Emmy Award-winning science correspondent for CBS’s “The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation with Mo Rocca.” “Get under cracks and doors.”

Ward says that can include repeatedly sending cold emails, volunteering, asking questions, being authentic and weird, and generally being persistent.

While emulating roaches might not be common career advice, it’s paid off for Ward, who followed a winding road in her journey to science podcasting. (She also points out that despite their bad rep, cockroaches are fastidious, resourceful and humble.)

“It took me until my late thirties to really find science communication as a goal. I didn’t even know that you could do it,” she explained. Instead, she spent many of her early years debating whether she should follow her passion for science or her love of arts and entertainment.

Initially, she leaned into science by becoming a Biology student at the University of California, Santa Barbara. After a year, she transferred to a community college, largely due to affordability, and then transferred to San Francisco State University to finish her undergraduate career as a Cinema major.

“I loved science, but I was also really missing the arts aspect. I thought maybe I would go into science illustration, but I was missing performance and writing and humor,” Ward said. She hoped she’d eventually find a way to combine science with film. “I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to pan out but I did it anyway.”

After participating in dozens of student films and building an entertainment-focused network, Ward got an agent, relocated to Los Angeles and moved further away from science. After acting for a few years, she worked as an illustrator for LA Weekly, a writer/editor for The Los Angeles Times and even a culinary TV personality with the Cooking Channel. She’d sprinkle in science when she could, but she no longer felt authentic, and she became increasingly dissatisfied with her career path.

Yet through all of this, one thing remained consistent: Ward’s lifelong fascination with bugs. She began posting about them on social media simply for the joy of it and caught the eye of Lila Higgins, an entomologist at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Higgins invited Ward to the museum for a behind-the-scenes tour and encouraged Ward to volunteer. Ward listened. Volunteering — something she did purely for fun — helped Ward feel like herself and led to her becoming a science correspondent for CBS.

“I love science. Yes, I also love TV and film. Yes, I also love being on [‘The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation with Mo Rocca’]. You know what’d be a little bit better? If they had to do less with tech and more with biology,” Ward said. “You just start to whittle down what’s really at the root of what you love and who you are.”

In 2017, nearly 20 years after she pursued science at school, she launched her podcast “Ologies.” It now ranks consistently among the top science podcasts on Apple Podcasts. Each week, Ward chats with an expert about their field and their passions, unafraid to ask seemingly silly questions she knows she and her listeners have.

The conversations are led by her guest’s passion and Ward’s curiosity. She didn’t want expert sound bites that lacked any personal depth. She adds “asides” in her voice to provide necessary explanations or context. She realized she could also provide little “brain breaks” in the form of tangents, like one about wicker furniture in the middle of a conversation about molecular biology.

She also keeps in the occasional expletive — though she agonized over whether she wanted her podcast marked by a little “E” for explicit. None of the other top science podcasts had an “E.” But eventually she decided to opt for personal authenticity over phony decorum.

“If everyone’s shaving off parts of themselves to make this smooth surface, then the smooth surfaces look identical to each other. Then where’s your impact? Where’s your voice?” she asked. “Being gravely weird can sometimes be the most comforting thing. I would rather have a hundred people like my authentic self than a thousand people like a façade.”

Learn more about SF State’s School of Cinema.

He created Vaja in Letterform Archive’s Type West certificate program, but he has been playing around with the concept since graduate school. His thesis project was a typographic design that could help Thai speakers pronounce English words.

“A lot of Thai people have difficulty with [English] pronunciation because it’s a different language, and we have to memorize how we stress here and there. Like the word ‘colonel’ — I don’t know why the ‘l’ is in the middle like that, that’s something you must memorize.” To help, he created small details, or cues, on the letterforms that would tell a Thai person how to pronounce English words.

Language and culture have been through lines in Jittagasem’s work, says SF State Design Professor Hsiao-Yun Chu, who worked closely with him in graduate school. “We take the Roman alphabet somewhat for granted; and yet, for people trying to assimilate and learn a language, it can be very daunting,” she said. “His graduate project created a new typeface that would help English language learners from Thailand to improve their pronunciation, making the process more inclusive. This is a highly creative and humanistic way to look at the power of typography.”

Vaja expanded his thesis to include all English learners, not just Thai people. The typeface comes in bold, italic and thin, and each style represents different sounds and where to put the stress. For example, the bold style indicates where to put the stress on a word and the italics are soft sounds.

The typeface isn’t ready to be downloaded just yet, but when it is Jittagasem hopes it will be used in dictionaries, English pronunciation flashcards, academic writing and even newspapers. In the meantime, he plans to apply to Ph.D. programs in design and visual communications to take his vision even further.

Learn more about SF State’s School of Design.

Patrick Makuakāne is the first native Hawaiian to receive the prestigious “genius grant”

Most cultural preservationists look to traditions, artifacts, history and language to keep a culture alive and intact. But that’s where alumnus Patrick Makuakāne (B.S., ’89), a kumu hula (master hula teacher) bucks tradition. His unique interpretation of the art form, which he calls hula mua (Hawaiian for “forward”), combines sacred elements like chanting, singing and traditional choreography with modern touches like techno music and themes drawn from contemporary culture. (His show “Mahu,” performed at several Bay Area venues this year, celebrated transgender artists.)

“In Hawaiian there’s a word called kuleana, which means your responsibility, what you bring to the table — something that’s unique and special that you do that uplifts your world,” he told the MacArthur Foundation. “Our ancestors were highly innovative people. What I’m doing with innovating in hula is keeping that innovative spirit of our ancestors and my kuleana.”

His groundbreaking work in hula at the San Francisco dance school he founded in 1985 earned him a 2023 MacArthur Fellowship in cultural preservation, a recognition that comes with a generous stipend of $800,000. He’s the first native Hawaiian to receive the honor, and he was among 19 other fellows from more traditional disciplines such as science, poetry, art, law, music and math.

The 62-year-old has made it his mission to challenge what’s considered traditional. “When people think of tradition, they view it as fixed or immobile,” he said. “You can still preserve culture and innovate at the same time. They’re not mutually exclusive pursuits. In fact, if your culture does not innovate or evolve then it becomes immobile and a dead culture.”

A raconteur, Makuakāne tells both old and new stories through hula. Traditional hula dances focus on the land and the Hawaiian people, but his choreography touches on edgier topics like imperialism and occupation. His 1996 production “The Natives Are Restless” explored the tragic history of Hawaii’s transformation from a sovereign monarchy to being annexed by the United States, which had overthrown the island nation’s first and only queen.

“I did this piece called ‘Salva Mea,’ which was about the missionaries. I dressed as a priest with techno music in the background and I was running around the stage with an 8-foot cross baptizing people,” he said. “It was like an incoherent, messy and incautious mix of tradition and experimentation that really worked. … People were blown away.”

That production set him on a path of experimentation ever since.

Hula often shies away from tough topics, he says, but hula is the right art form to tell these stories so that history doesn’t repeat itself. He credits San Francisco with being the perfect place for his art, a city known as a playground for experimentation, subversion and boundary pushing. Makuakāne arrived in the city around the time of Act Up, a grassroots political group working to end the AIDS epidemic. The group was known for its theatrical acts of civil disobedience, actions he calls influential.

He began studying hula at 13 years old. At 23, he moved to San Francisco for love — he followed a boyfriend who was a waiter at an exclusive French restaurant. After arriving in the city, Makuakāne taught hula to earn money. It was also his tie to Hawaii. He quickly attracted students and founded his award-winning hula school Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu (which means “many-feathered wreaths at the summit”). Over the past four decades, he estimated he’s taught thousands of students.

While he was building up his dance company, he studied Kinesiology at San Francisco State University. After graduating he continued teaching hula and working as a physical trainer. As his school grew, he devoted himself full-time to hula, a decision that’s paid off.

He was at Burning Man when he got the call from the MacArthur Foundation. He had no cell phone service and wasn’t sure why they called him. When he finally connected with the organization five days later, he was shocked. As the surprise wore off, guilt surfaced. So much of his work is entrenched in community and rests on the shoulders of his ancestors. “There are many people in my position who are deserving of an award such as this,” he said. “So, you do feel a bit guilty. Why me? Why not somebody else? How did I get noticed, you know?”

But then again, he has been at this for more than three decades and he’s one of only few taking hula in new directions. And he’s grateful to be in the perfect place to do it.

“[A friend once said,] “‘It must be nice being in San Francisco without someone looking over your shoulder, critiquing your every move.’ I was like, ‘Yeah it is,’” he said. “So that sense of liberation in your arts, feeling unshackled and doing whatever you want was a part of my process. I feel like I’m at a place really where I can do anything.”