About Hula
| July 11, 2009
Napua talks about hula:
The origins of hula are cloaked in legend. One story describes Hi'iaka, the adventurous sister of the volcano goddess Pele.
Hi'iaka was said to have danced hula to appease her fiery sister, Pele. She delighted in the forests of ancient Hawai'i and loved to watch the swaying of the trees, their leaves trembling in the breezes. The deep rumble of rocks in the river drummed out a quick rhythm of the foliage. This was the heartbeat of the Earth. Hi'iaka found she could stamp the forest floor in the rhythm of the Earth and move her body in time to the swaying of the trees. Her hands could imitate the language of the leaves. At last, Hi'iaka was one with the forest she loved, able to speak with it and tell stories of its ancient wisdom to others who had the heart to study and learn.
This dance began in the Hawaiian Islands by the original Polynesian settlers who migrated there from the Marquesas around the 5th century. Before the Europeans arrived, the hula was closely related to religious practices. Dances were accompanied by the pahu, a sharkskin-covered log drum used in temple ceremonies. The dances were sacred and dedicated to the gods. At that time, hula was danced only by men, and they told their stories through their hula about their wars, skills, trips out to sea on their outrigger canoes, and other adventures in their lives.
When the missionaries arrived in 1820 and introduced Christianity, they denounced and banned hula as heathen. After that, dancing hula in the open was forbidden, so the Hawaiians either had to abandon a very important element of their culture, or dance in secret. This is what many chose to do. Although the practice of hula came close to dying out, the reign of King David Kalakaua (1874-1891) brought back a resurgence of many of the "old Hawaiian ways," including hula.
During King Kalakaua's reign, hula merged Hawaiian elements of poetry, chants, dance movements, and costumes to create a new form, the hula ku'i, meaning "to combine the old and the new." King Kalakaua said, "Hula is the language of the heart, and therefore, the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people."
The term "hula" refers to movement and gestures. Hula, however, cannot be performed without mele (poetry). Mele are records of cultural information from sacred mele pule (prayers), mele inoa (name chants), to mele ho'oipoipo (love songs), and mele aina (songs of the land). The type of the mele is one way to classify the dance.
Hula dancers often begin their training around age three. They are trained by a kumu hula, a Grand Master, who has gone through rigorous training for years to teach hula. The hula itself has gone through many changes throughout the centuries, from the ancient, kahiko, involving only chanting, drums, & hula in natural costumes, along with the modern, auana, with ukelele music, singing & beautiful colorful costumes.
Today, hula thrives all over the world. There are yearly hula competitions held in Hilo, Hawai'i, to celebrate and perpetuate this ancient tradition.
Come give it a try!