[4][5][6] His patrons included King Kalākaua and Princess Keʻelikōlani while "prominent people that wanted to entertain, besides court circles, would feel that things were amiss without the dandy and his jew’s-harp".

[3][7] Public performance of hula had been banned and heavily disparaged as heathen and lewd since the regency of Queen Kaʻahumanu due to the disapproval of the American Protestant missionaries.

[8][9] During the coronation celebration of King Kalākaua in February 1883, ʻIoane and his troupe conducted public hula performances each night on the grounds of ʻIolani Palace.

The Pacific Commercial Advertiser, which gave a positive coverage the event of the luau, noted: "Dandy Ioane ... marshalled the performing girls in their short skirts and hula buskins, and accompanied their gyrations with his tremulous-toned instrument [a jew's-harp].

[15][16] Lacking the financial means to purchase his fashionable wardrobe, he personally designed his own clothing, which his wife helped make, from donations made to him by his patrons and admirers.

[3][17] Anthropologist Jane Desmond noted that ʻIoane's appearance and manner of dress in photographs "unusual, when compared with tourist representations, as an image of an obviously successful Native Hawaiian male.