Hula

What is hula?hula

1. nvt. The hula, a hula dancer; to dance the hula. For types of hula see below and ʻai

haʻa, ʻālaʻapapa, ʻami, hapa haole, hue, kiʻelei, kōlani, kuhi, kuʻi, muʻumuʻu, ʻōhelo,

ʻōlapa, ʻōniu, pahua, paʻi umauma, ʻūlili, UL 275–6. For hulas named for instruments

see ʻiliʻili, kāʻekeʻeke, kā lāʻau, pahu, pā ipu, papa hehi, pūʻili, ʻulīʻulī. For hulas named

for creatures see below or honu, ʻīlio, kōlea, manō, peʻepeʻemakawalu, puaʻa. He hula

(For. 5:479), a huladancer. Kumu hula, hula master or teacher. Hula mai ʻoe (song),

come to me dancing the hula. Haihai askula nā wāhine apau mamuli ona, me nā mea

kuolokani, a me ka hula (Puk. 15.20), all the women followed after her with timbrels

and dancing. hoʻo.hula To cause someone to dance; to pretend to hula. (PCP (f,s)ula.)

2. nvt. Song or chant used for the hula; to sing or chant for a hula.

What is hula?"Hula is a reflection of life. Hula is a way

of telling history."

"The dance steps that you see are

traditional dance steps, they've always

been done, and they represent different

movements in nature, whether it has to do

with the wind in a circular movement, or

the currents in a circular movement."

--Pualani Kanakaole Kanahele

What is hula?"The hula was a religious service, in which poetry,

music, pantomime, and the dance lent themselves,

under the forms of dramatic art, to the refreshment of

men's minds. Its view of life was idyllic, and it gave

itself to the celebration of those mythical times when

gods and goddesses moved on the earth..."

--Nathaniel B. Emerson (1909)

Where does hula come from?● Pele and Hiiaka

○ Emerson (1993): Pele sees Hopoe dancing down at Haena, and she is

entertained. She asks her sisters to offer a hula in response. All of the

Hiiakas shy away, saying they don't know hula. Finally, Hiiakaikapoliopele

gets up and dances for Pele.

● Kapoulakinau

○ Kapo and her ohana travel from Kahiki to Hawaii and arrive at Niihau.

There, Kapo instructs her younger sister, Kawela, to get up and dance.

Brief history of hula● 1778: first recorded observation of hula, from Captain Cook ma

● 1820: Calvinist missionaries arrive in Hawaii, and soon thereafter label hula as

"heathen" and "lascivious"

● 1830: Queen Kaahumanu (who had been accepted into the church in 1825), issues

an edict forbidding public performances of hula

● 1851: Public hula performances require a license and heavy fee

● 1860s: Alii revert to old custom of having poe hula available to provide

entertainment

● 1883: Kalakaua's coronation includes a great number of hula

● 1952: Maiki Aiu Lake opens Halau Hula o Maiki, the "first modern hula school"

● 1964: Merrie Monarch Hula Festival begins

● 1970s: "Hawaiian renaissance" includes kumu hula reviving hula

Important aspects● Hula is a practice, and that practice has a genealogy

● There are numerous types of hula, each type named for specific instruments,

animals, functions, etc.

○ Noa vs. kapu (what is free vs. what is privileged)

○ Kahiko vs. auana (classifications based on time period and musical

accompaniment)

● Aohe pau ka ike i ka halau hookahi: not all knowledge is found in one school