As a former dancer of Hālau Hula ʻO Kawailiʻulā under the auspices of Chinky Mahoe (12 yrs), Rich has won many awards at the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival and traveled worldwide with some of Hawaii's finest entertainers. The training and discipline required in the art of hula influenced and inspired Rich to carry on the ancient and modern styles of dancing in his own halau.

Currently studying under Master Kumu Hula George Holokai, Rich continually enriches his knowledge of the dance by learning the skills of simplicity in the Kahiko style of old Hawaiʻi. He had recently received uniki from the Master Kumu Hula and Entertainer, Kimo Alama-Keaulana.

Rich has the ability to train, guide and inspire an individual who has virtually no hula experience, to the level of an accomplished and professional dancer. Rich believes that anyone can be taught the Hula as long as he/she has the desire to learn. Rich will allow dancers to perform when they reach this level of accomplishment in a comparetively short time.

His style of teaching is to train the basic movements systematically until it gradually becomes a natural movement of the body. When the dancer has accomplished this, executing the various motions to multiple songs and chants become simplified. The discipline of each dancer having to execute exact movement in unison is then fine tuned to give the audience a breathtaking experience. The energy exhibited by all dancers is transferred to the audience as an enjoyable and fun experience leaving viewers asking for more.

Pictured with Kumu Rich are his 3 spiritual guides (from left to right): Rose Uʻilani Fontes (hula sister), Sarah Kealapo Naeole Pedrina (grandmother), and Mark Maka Jacques (hula brother).