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. She was said to have danced hula to appease her fiery sister, Pele. She delighted in the forests of ancient Hawai'i. She loved to watch the swaying of the trees with 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. She found she could stamp the forest floor in the rhythm of the Earth, & 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 & tell stories of its ancient wisdom to others who had the heart to study & learn.
This dance began in the Hawaiian Islands by the original Polynesian settlers who migrated there from the Marquesas around the fifth century. Before the Europeans arrived, the hula was closely related to religious practices. The dances were accompanied by the pahu, a sharkskin-covered log drum used in temple ceremonies. The dances were sacred & dedicated to the gods. At that time, hula was danced only by men & they told their stories through their hula about their wars, skills, trips out to sea on their outrigger canoes, & other adventures in their lives.
When the missionaries arrived in 1820, & introduced Christianity, they denounced & banned hula as heathen. That meant 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. That's what many of them 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 & costumes to create a new form, the hula ku'i, meaning to combine the old & the new. King Kalakaua said, "Hula is the language of the heart & therefore, the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people". The term hula refers to movement & 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) & 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 & perpetuate this ancient tradition.
Thursday:
*Intermediate Hula-Adults 6pm-8pm
*Tahitian Dance and Drumming 8pm-9pm
Saturday:
*Hula Keiki (Kids) 10am-11am
Sunday:
*Beginning and Intermediate Hula 3-6 PM
For information Call Seattle: (206)478-0772 Kalama: (360)673-3230