We're going to do what??!!!

This was my response when I was told that all of us Whitworth teachers were going to be learning and performing a traditional hula dance for the entire school next week. We've had a few practices already and I think we are getting pretty good. For all you MIT's out there you'll have to help me convince Kim Thomas and Nichole Lindbloom to perform it with me. I've got the music downloaded onto my iTunes so I can bring it to class and we can show you all how to tell the story of wind, water, and the moon with your hands and arms.



This is Zac and Aaron practicing the "wind" portion of our dance:



Here they are praising the moon:
The Hula is really a beautiful dance form and is usually accompanied by chant or song. I learned that the chant or song is called a mele and that the hula dramatizes or comments on the mele. Further, there are actually two styles of hula. Ancient hula, as performed before Western encounters with Hawaii, is called kahiko. It is accompanied by chant and traditional instruments such as drums and flutes made from natural resources on the islands. There is a huge festival every year called the Merrie Monarch in which the top Hula dancers in the world come and compete in the traditional format.

Hula as it evolved under Western influence, in the 19th and 20th centuries, is called ʻauana. It is accompanied by song and Western-influenced musical instruments such as the guitar, the ukulele, and the double bass. This is the kind of hula we will be performing, being as none of us know how to chant.

Hula kahiko (traditional/ancient hula) encompasses an enormous variety of styles and moods, from the solemn and sacred to the frivolous. Many hula were created to praise the chiefs and performed in their honor, or for their entertainment.

Serious hula was considered a religious performance. As was true of ceremonies at the heiau the platform temple, even a minor error was considered to invalidate the performance. It might even be a presage of bad luck or have dire consequences. Dancers who were learning to do such hula necessarily made many mistakes. Hence they were ritually secluded and put under the protection of the goddess Laka during the learning period. Ceremonies marked the successful learning of the hula and the emergence from seclusion.

Hula kahiko is performed today by dancing to the historical chants. Hula kahiko is characterized by traditional costuming, by an austere look, and by a belief that the meaning of the words is to be taken seriously.