Maʻiki Aiu Lake

In 1972, Ma’iki advertised for a public Kumu Hula class. This was the first time that a class like that had been offered publicly. Many people were critical of Lake’s decision at first until it became noticeable that a substantial number of students interested were extremely skilled and devoted to hula. Some of the students who graduated from Ma’iki Aiu Lake’s Hālau ended up becoming some of the most well-known hula teachers/performers. Some of her students included Mapuana De Silva, Leina'ala Kalama Heine, and Robert Cazimero (one of the first men who participated in the reintroduction of male hula dancers in the Merrie Monarch Festival in the 1970s) of The Brothers Cazimero.

Margaret Ma’iki Souza Aiu started to learn the hula dance between the ages of 14-15. Though her great aunt Helen was her original mentor in hula, Ma’iki would later go on to professionally study under Lōkālia Montgomery and officially graduate as an ʻōlapa (dancer) in 1964 at the age of 18. Lōkālia Montgomery was known as a “master of ancient hula.” Lōkālia had a very traditional way of teaching hula. Her teaching style was described as stern yet breathtaking.

Though Lake was studying to become a nurse through heavy influence from friends and family she was convinced to pursue her dream to become a Kumu Hula (dance master). She first started her career as a hula teacher by teaching to the Hawaiian Society at Blessed Sacrament Church where they occasionally put on performances. Teaching at the church did not satisfy Ma’iki so she opened a dance studio of her own called Margaret Aiu’s Hula Studio. After gaining approval from her teachers, in 1952 she changed the name of the studio to Hālau Hula O Ma’iki. Lake’s school was the first of the 20th century to be able to be claimed as a hālau. On the islands, there is a very big distinction between a normal hula studio that can be found on any part of the mainland and a Hālau Hula. Normal hula studios teach the traditional Polynesian dance forms like hula, Tahitian, Maori, or Samoan dance. Students at a hula studio are taught by staff members, not the actual Kumu Hula (master). Sometimes if there are advanced enough students, they can be taught by the Kumu Hula in a separate class. In a Hālau Hula though, it is organized so information from the Kumu Hula is directly given to the students. Students of the Hālau Hula are expected to pass down this information that they are given from a specific lineage of Kumu Hula to the next generation.

Ma’iki was married to Honolulu Fire Chief Boniface K. Aiu on February 21, 1947. The couple raised seven children together, with the two eldest from her previous marriage. Ma’iki divorced and remarried to her final husband, a Hawaiian performer named Haywood Kahauanu Lake. He was a singer and songwriter who Ma’iki and her many students of Halau Hula 'O Ma'iki often performed with before her passing. Two of her known daughters, Karen Ka'ohulani Aiu, a Kumu Hula of her mother's first graduating class in Hula Kahiko (ancient hula) - 'Uniki Papa Lehua, and Coline Kaualoku Aiu, a former Miss Hawai'i, are also extremely skilled at the "Art of Hawaiian Dance". Coline teaches in Honolulu as Kumu Hula for Halau Hula 'O Ma'iki and Karen, Kumu Hula of Halau Hawai'i, continues Ma'iki's legacy by teaching and performing her hula troupe in Waikiki, as well as in several cities in Japan.

Margaret Maiki Souza Aiu Lake (28 May 1925 – 19 June 1984) was a hula dancer, kumu hula, hula teacher, and influential figure in the second Hawaiian Renaissance because of her revolutionary teaching techniques. Because of her work she was recognized as the "Mother of Hawaiian Renaissance." Many of her students became teachers themselves making her the "most important hula teacher of the 20th century."

Margaret Ma’iki Souza was born in Honolulu, Hawai'i on May 28, 1925. Though her parents were Peter Charles Souza and Cecilia Pai’ohe Gilman Souza, she was first adopted and living with her great aunt, Cecilia Rose Mahoe, and husband John William Kealoha in the Palolo Valley. As hānai, (Hawaiian term for informal adoption) Ma’iki considered them to be her grandparents. After the passing of her adoptive family, she briefly returned to live with her biological mother, Cecilia Pai’ohe (who she is now buried with). Shortly after, she went to go live with her other great aunt, Helen Pamaieulu Ha’o Correa who sparked her inspiration in hula.