Hula: A Moving Story

Amid the craggy cliffs of Kaua‘i’s North Shore is a destination that some people believe is the birthplace of hula. Legends about Kë‘ë Beach at Hä‘ena State Park abound, and it is believed that it was once a site where ancient Hawaiians learned to dance hula. Today, you can still find the remains of two ancient heiau (temples) that are dedicated to hula at this site, one of which was built to honor the goddess of hula, Laka. While it cannot be confirmed that this is indeed the birthplace of hula, it is still an important pilgrimage site for many students and aficionados of the dance.

WORDS EKUA IMPRAIM

Natural settings such as this can be the perfect place to ponder the movements and significance of traditional hula in Hawaiÿi. The fluid yet powerful motions of hula can be mesmerizing, but it is more than just a dance for the sake of entertainment. Every movement of hula has meaning. Various hula moves can convey human emotions or represent elements of nature such as the sun, the sea, or the wind. Combined, these gestures tell a story and encapsulate the history, landscapes, and spirit of Hawaiÿi. When you connect what your senses experience in the natural settings of Hawaiÿi to the movements of hula dancers, the dancing comes alive with meaning—it tells a story.

In pre-Western contact Hawai‘i, hula was performed for a variety of purposes—to honor gods or chiefs, to welcome visitors, for celebrations, and to honor the natural beauty of their surroundings, among other reasons. While many outside of the 50 th state associate hula with women in grass skirts and coconut bras, this is an inaccurate depiction of the dance due to commercialized representations of Hawaiian culture, and hula is performed by both men and women.

Traditional hula, or, hula kahiko, was initially performed in wrapped skirts called pä‘ü for the women and loincloths called malo for the men. These outfits were made from kapa, a type of cloth made with the bark of trees that has been softened and pounded and then decorated using natural dyes and paints. The plants and flowers that hula dancers adorn themselves with may have meaning and can be selected to pay tribute to a specific island or a deity of Hawaiian mythology.

The musical accompaniment to hula kahiko is also vastly different from the gentle ‘ukulele-backed melodies that often accompany modern hula performances. Traditional hula is performed to the sounds of oli (chanting) and percussion instruments made from natural materials including püÿili, rattles made of bamboo sticks, gourd drums called ipu, and the pahu, a drum made out of the trunk of a coconut tree and covered with shark skin. In ‘ölelo Hawai‘i (Hawaiian language), words or phrases can have multiple meanings, which is known as kaona. This means that lyrics may have hidden meanings and the songs and accompanying dances of hula may not be what they appear to be about on the surface.

The mele (songs) of traditional hula are performed with passion by kumu hula (hula teachers), and in today’s revival of hula, many of the ancient traditions live on. In the sparse and raw sounds of mele hula, you can hear the guttural chanting and rhythmic percussion conveying the essence of Hawai‘i’s mana (power) and summoning the spirit of Hawai‘i’s ancestors.

Hula ‘auana is the modern style of hula developed in the 19th and 20th centuries. Both the music and dance movements of this style of hula are softer than those of traditional hula and may be more familiar to visitors than hula kahiko. In general, hula ‘auana is accompanied by melodic singing backed by the sounds of the ÿukulele, slackkey guitar, and other modern instruments. While visitors and locals alike enjoy this style of hula, it is often the main style of hula that visitors will encounter at tourist-oriented performances. It is also important to note that many companies that offer lüÿau often incorporate dance styles from other parts of Polynesia such as the spinning fire knife dance from Samoa called siva afi or the fast hip shaking ÿöteÿa dance from Tahiti.

Beyond what is performed in tourist venues, today, hula is a thriving part of Hawaiÿi’s culture with dancers ranging from small keiki (children) to küpuna (elders) taking part in hälau hula (hula schools) that practice both traditional and modern hula. While hula is currently a source of cultural pride for Hawai‘i, there was a time where it wasn’t possible to practice or perform the dance openly. During the period after Western contact, missionaries brought Christianity to Hawai‘i, and some of them felt that hula was a lascivious style of dance. These ideas convinced the converted Hawaiian monarch Queen Kaÿahumanu to place a ban on performing hula in public in 1830. Despite the ban, hula did not completely go away, it was forced underground. It reemerged in the public eye in the late 1800s with the rise of King Kaläkaua who was an avid supporter of hula and other aspects of Hawaiian culture. The dance’s popularity once again diminished after the fall of the Hawaiian monarchy.

But despite attempts to relegate hula to the shadows of Hawaiian society, it survived. A Hawaiian renaissance that grew in the 1960s and 1970s brought a resurgence of interest in and passion for Hawaiian culture. People who identified as Native Hawaiian sought to reclaim their roots, and hula was a major part of this cultural revival. Since this time, the popularity of hula has spread around the islands and beyond, with Hawaiians taking the dance form with them elsewhere and establishing hälau hula around the United States as well as abroad.

Modern Hawai‘i is vastly different from the ancient Hawai‘i of hula’s origins. Around the islands, much of what were once taro fields, heiau, and fishponds has given way to development. But despite the changes to Hawai‘i’s landscape, everyday life, and culture, hula’s roots in the ‘äina (land) run deep. It remains a strong cultural practice and celebration of what Hawai‘i once was, and it provides an outlet for Hawaiians to redefine what Hawai‘i currently is and can be.