Board of directors
SERINA KOESTER / Interim President
Serina Koester is a multi-disciplinary artist and mover spanning various genres including Samba, Capoeira Angola, Afro-Brazilian, Hip Hop, and Filipino Folkloric dance, and is currently an active member of Ka Pā Hula o La’akea Halau Hula.
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Serina has fronted musical groups as a vocalist and percussionist across various collaborative projects. She is the Co-Founder of a non-profit experimental art and music organization, Dissonant Works, which not only fosters creative exploration and collaboration, but also provides a venue where ideas can be exchanged and ultimately preserved in her hometown of St. Louis.
As a painter and graphic designer, Serina’s work has appeared in gallery shows across the United States, in the Oakland-based magazine, Kitchen Sink, and in the muralist collection Painting the Streets: Oakland Uprising in the Time of Rebellion.
Serina now serves as the interim Board President for Dancers Unlimited where she melds over twenty years of professional experience in Marketing, Design, and Creative Operations with her own artistry towards her lifetime commitment to supporting the visual and performing arts.
TAMMY BITANGA / Interim Treasurer
Tammy Bitanga is part of Hoʻōla Nā Pua’s Team as Director of Community Engagement. Tammy offers insight and expertise that can only come from being a survivor of childhood sexual exploitation. She infuses her boundless energy into organizing community awareness events and lends her experience from her own healing journey to the role of advocate to other victims and survivors. Tammy’s previous role as Volunteer Coordinator at Pearl Haven, Specialize Residential Treatment Campus, helped join the community to the volunteer opportunities.
Tammy’s life’s story is about rising out of the circumstances of early childhood abuse that led to being in “the system,” becoming a chronic runaway, victimization, and utter despair. Her testimony highlights the need for advocacy and mentoring for trafficking victims who desperately need safe adults in their life to guide them to healing and hope for a bright future.
In addition to community outreach to ensure victims|survivor’s needs are met, she works alongside local law enforcement to encourage the victim centered approach and aid in supporting survivors. This helps to serve as a bridge between both entities.
Whether on stage as a powerful speaker, behind the scenes as an event organizer, or working with survivors, her leadership is evident and inspiring.
STACEY YOUNG / Interim Secretary
Stacey "`Onipa`a" Young is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area with roots in Hilo, Hawai`i. She has danced for Kumu Hula Vicky Holt-Takamine, the late Kumu Hula Tatiana Kaneholani, and The Spirit of Polynesia's James Kimo Barid. Stacey is proud to represent a family legacy of public service, business administration, and operational leadership.
Professionally, Stacey is a Product Leader in the AdTech industry, where she has worked to set industry guidelines and standards, and holds technology patents in the US and EU. She has been a New York resident since 2014 and is proud to be a part of DU's board since 2024. Expanding our community's reach and providing a place of healing and joy Dancer's Unlimited mission and purpose aligns with Stacey's other non-profit work platforming and providing a space for Pacific Islanders in NYC.
CHRIS WON / Interim Secretary
Chris Won (원용하) is an educator, advocate, and designer with over fifteen years of experience in community development, creative learning, andorganizational management. Chris has led heritage programming and branding at the Columbia University School of Social Work and Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition.
He has presented on inclusive leadership and teaching with the Sealaska Heritage Institute and Clark University and presented keynotes for the New Jersey Career Center Consortium and the Alaska Association of School Boards. Chris also administered grants and service assessments with the Center for Black WellBEing LLC., EngageNJ, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and most recently with the U.S. Department of Education AANAPISI (Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Serving Institutes) grant at CUNY Brooklyn College. Currently, Chris is an Advisory Council Member of Asian American Dream 501(c)(3) and serves as Secretary on the Board of Directors for Dancers Unlimited Hawai’i-NYC 501(c)(3).
Born in Seoul and raised in Boston, Chris is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and has his master’s from the University of Alaska Southeast. In his personal life, Chris loves to eat, road trip, play volleyball, and hang out with his dog, Tofu.
LINDA KUO / Board Emeritus
Linda Kuo is the Director and Choreographer of Dancers Unlimited, a bi-coastal company in NYC and Hawai’i. Born in Taiwan and raised in Oahu, Linda’s artistry is shaped by cultural diversity and the vibrant arts scene in Hawai’i. She believes dance is weaved into cultural identity and resilience, and her choreography addresses social and cultural issues by blending different dance styles. Her choreographic credits include: Shanghai World Expo, Honolulu Art Museum, NYC 10 / NYC Dance Week, New York City Center, Triskelion Arts SummerFest, Oahu Fringe Festival, Honolulu Biennial 2019, International Human Rights Festival, and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
She trained with BOLD (Builders, Organizers and Leaders through Dance) by Urban Bush Women and studied at its Summer Leadership Institute at New York University. Linda is also an alumnus of 92nd Y’s Dance Education Laboratory and has been an artist in residence and grantee at at The Waiwai Collective (Hawai’i), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Downtown Brooklyn Rehearsal Residency.
Linda holds a MFA in Dance from Bennington College, B.A in Communications and Economics from Boston College, and a certificate in Nonprofit Arts Management from New York University.
ʻAULI’I AWEAU-TEVES / Board Emeritus
ʻAuliʻi Aweau-Teves was born and raised in Kailua on the Island of Oʻahu in Hawai’i. As a young child, she danced for Kumu Hula Myrtle Beamer for 5 years and would return to hula in her mid 20’s as a way of personal healing and transformation for her and her four children. She has deep gratitude for the 10 years she spent training with Kumu Hula Noelani Tachera and the many years they spent participating in the Molokaʻi Ka Hula Piko ceremonies.
`Auliʻi entered the addiction field as a counselor in the late 90ʻs and was given the blessing to start teaching hula as a therapeutic activity in 2002 while working at the Ke Alaula program located in the Womenʻs Community Correctional Center. It was there, that her passion grew to help others heal through hula. That same year, ‘Auli’i would begin her formal training in the indigenous healing arts with her Spiritual Advisor, Ceighbree Watson. During this time, `Auli`i would become a 3rd Degree Reiki Master, 4th Degree Dar`Shem Master, Ordained Minister, Certified Substance Abuse Counselor and obtain her psychology degree from Chaminade University of Honolulu.
In 2007, ‘Auliʻi would take a leap of faith and open up her private practice; La`akea Healing LLC. Laʻakea Healing is a grass roots organization that educates and heals individual, families and communities via cultural traditions and therapeutic practices. In 2013, as an offshoot of La’akea Healing, `Auli`i established Nā Wahine O La`akea, a culturally based women and childrenʻs support group that promotes social justice issues, while healing through hula.
In 2013, ʻAuliʻi continued her hula training with Kumu Hula Kahikina de Silva and began her formal ʻūniki training with Kumu Hula Māpuana de Silva. In 2018, with Kumu Māpuanaʻs encouragement and support, ʻAuliʻi was granted permission by Kumu Hula Kalani Akana of Ka Pā Hula O Kāheakūlani to enter his `ūniki program. With his blessing, `Auli`i would have the privilege to join Hālau Ōhiʻa under the direction of Kekuhi Kealiʻikanakaʻole for a few years to study land stewardship and Hawai`i lifeways. It was with Kumu Kalani, that `Auliʻi would complete her rites of passage and formally graduate as an ʻŌlapa (dancer), Hoʻopaʻa (chanter) and finally as a Kumu Hula (hula teacher) `Ūniki `Ailolo in 2023.
ʻAuliʻi is passionate about the healing process and lifelong learning. She continues to weave cultural traditions of the past, in the present, to strengthen future generations. She has expanded her healing practice globally and continues to preserve and perpetuate the traditions of her teachers as the Kumu Hula of Ka Pā Hula O Laʻakea. She is excited to share her love of hope, healing and hula with the world!