Lecturer
Affiliate Graduate Faculty
māhū
sama@hawaii.edu
Courses:
DNCE 255 Global Perspectives on Dance (WI)
DNCE/WGSS 357 Queer Dance Exploratory
(Fulfills Queer Studies Certificate Course)
DNCE 362 Visual Media for Dance (O)
(Fulfills Computational Media Certificate Course)
DNCE 450 Indigenous Dance Studies
DNCE 452 Dance Histories I: Performing in the Pacific
DNCE 470 Dance Performance
DNCE/THEA 459 Special Topics
DNCE 672 Dance Performance
Sami L.A. Akuna is an instructor and affiliate graduate faculty at The University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Department of Theatre and Dance. For over 30 years, Sami has performed, choreographed, directed, and presented dance, theater, films, and performance art installations in Hawai’i, Asia, Europe, North America, and across the Pacific. Sami is on the board of the Hawaii LGBTQ+ Legacy Foundation where they have been a Director since 2022 and have served in many capacities as the Arts Education and Cultural Programmer for the Māhūi & Kūpuna Projects, Programmer for Kapaemahu, Nā Pohaku Ola, and Director of Entertainment for Honolulu Pride. Sami performs and creates work through movement, identity, and sense of place and through the lens of being a kānaka artist and māhū. Sami explores movement arts with various dance collectives and companies around the world and here in Hawai’i. Sami holds a BFA in Dance, BA in Theatre, and MFA in Theatre from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
As a UHM lecturer, Sami has been teaching courses in Queer Dance Exploratory, Performing in the Pacific, Global Perspectives on Dance, Visual Media for Dance, Indigenous Dance Studies, and Dance Performance, where they designed the curriculum for two courses, developed online content components for three courses, and recently directed MFA/BFA Dance Concerts as well as choreographed for numerous Kennedy Theatre productions. Sami created and currently teaches the very first movement based Queer Dance university course in the nation at UHM, since 2021. The course is cross listed with the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and is part of the Queer Studies Certificate. The class explores the communal embodiment of gay nightclubbing during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s to Disco, the Hawaii Drag Scene and Vogue and Ballroom Culture. The course continually advocates for community engagement for the students with a focus on serving the MVPFAFF+ populations.
Cocoa Chandelier, Sami’s alter ego, travels continuously as an advocate and spokesperson for HIV/AIDS, and is a long standing member with the United Territories of Pacific Islanders in Alliance that serves the Native Pacific Island and MVPFAFF + community across the Hawaiian islands and the Pacific.
They are the recipients of the National Endowment for the Arts Award and MAP Fund Award.