Hula
Hula (IPA: /ˈhuːlə/) is a dance form accompanied by chant or song. It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians who originally settled there. The chant or song is called a mele. The hula dramatizes or comments on the mele.
There are many styles of hula. They are commonly divided into two broad categories: Ancient hula, as performed before Western encounters with Hawaiʻi, is called kahiko. It is accompanied by chant and traditional instruments. 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 ʻukulele, and the double bass.
Terminology for two main additional categories is beginning to enter the hula lexicon: "Monarchy" includes many hula which were composed and choreographed during the 19th century. During that time the influx of Western culture created significant changes in the formal Hawaiian arts, including hula. "Ai Kahiko", meaning "in the ancient style" are those hula written in the 20th and 21st centuries that follow the stylistic protocols of the ancient hula kahiko.
Hula is taught in schools called hālau. The teacher of hula is the kumu hula, where kumu means source of knowledge. Hula dancing is a complex art form, and there are many hand motions used to signify aspects of nature, such as the basic Hula and Coconut Tree motions, or the basic leg steps, such as the Kaholo, Ka'o, and Ami.
There are other dances that come from other Polynesian islands such as Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga and Aotearoa (New Zealand); however, the hula is unique to the Hawaiian Islands.
Hula kahiko (Hula ʻOlapa)
Hula kahiko encompassed 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. Many hula kahiko are characterized by traditional costuming, by an austere look, and a reverence for their spiritual roots.
Chants
Hawaiian history was oral history. It was codified in genealogies and chants, which were memorized strictly as passed down. In the absence of a written language, this was the only available method of ensuring accuracy. Chants told the stories of creation, mythology, royalty, and other significant events and people.
Instruments and implements
- Ipu—single gourd drum
- Ipu heke—double gourd drum
- Pahu—sharkskin covered drum; considered sacred
- Pūniu—small knee drum made of a coconut shell with fish skin (kala) cover
- ʻIliʻili—water-worn lava stone used as castanets
- ʻUlīʻulī—feathered gourd rattles
- Pūʻili—split bamboo sticks
- Kālaʻau—rhythm sticks
The dog's-tooth anklets sometimes worn by male dancers could also be considered instruments, as they underlined the sounds of stamping feet.
Costumes
Traditional female dancers wore the everyday pāʻū, or wrapped skirt, but were topless. Today this form of dress has been altered. As a sign of lavish display, the pāʻū might be much longer than the usual length of kapa, or barkcloth, which was just long enough to go around the waist. Visitors report seeing dancers swathed in many yards of tapa, enough to increase their circumference substantially. Dancers might also wear decorations such as necklaces, bracelets, and anklets, as well as many lei (in the form of headpieces, necklaces, bracelets, and anklets).
Traditional male dancers wore the everyday malo, or loincloth. Again, they might wear bulky malo made of many yards of tapa. They also wore necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and lei.
The materials for the lei worn in performance were gathered in the forest, after prayers to Laka and the forest gods had been chanted.
The lei and tapa worn for sacred hula were considered imbued with the sacredness of the dance, and were not to be worn after the performance. Lei were typically left on the small altar to Laka found in every hālau, as offerings.
Performances
Hula performed for spontaneous daily amusement or family feasts were attended with no particular ceremony. However, hula performed as entertainment for chiefs were anxious affairs. High chiefs typically traveled from one place to another within their domains. Each locality had to house, feed, and amuse the chief and his or her entourage. Hula performances were a form of fealty, and often of flattery to the chief. There were hula celebrating his lineage, his name, and even his genitals (hula maʻi). Sacred hula, celebrating Hawaiian gods, were also danced. All these performances must be completed without error (which would be both unlucky and disrespectful).
Visiting chiefs from other domains would also be honored with hula performances. This courtesy was often extended to important Western visitors. They left many written records of 18th and 19th century hula performances.
Hula ʻauana
Modern hula arose from adaptation of traditional hula ideas (dance and mele) to Western influences. The primary influences were Christian morality and melodic harmony. Hula ʻauana still tells or comments on a story, but the stories may include events since the 1800s. The costumes of the women dancers are less revealing and the music is heavily Western-influenced.
Songs
The mele of hula ʻauana are generally sung as if they were popular music. A lead voice sings in a major scale, with occasional harmony parts.
The subject of the songs is as broad as the range of human experience. People write mele hula ʻauana to comment on significant people, places or events or simply to express an emotion or idea. The hula then interprets the mele.
Instruments
The musicians performing hula ʻauana will typically use portable acoustic stringed instruments.
- ʻUkulele—four-, six- or eight-stringed, used to maintain the rhythm if there are no other instruments
- Guitar—used as part of the rhythm section, or as a lead instrument
- Steel guitar—accents the vocalist
- Bass—maintains the rhythm
Occasional hula ʻauana call for the dancers to use implements, in which case they will use the same instruments as for hula kahiko.
Costumes
Costumes play a role in illustrating the hula instructor's interpretation of the mele. While there is some freedom of choice, most hālau follow the accepted costuming traditions. Women generally wear skirts or dresses of some sort. Men may wear long or short pants, skirts, or a malo (a cloth wrapped under and around the crotch). For slow, graceful dances, the dancers will wear formal clothing such as a muʻumuʻu for women and a sash for men. A fast, lively, "rascal" song will be performed by dancers in more revealing or festive attire. The Hula is most always performed in bare feet.
Performances
Hula is performed at luau (Hawaiian parties) and celebrations. Hula lessons are common for girls from ages 6–12 and, just like another kind of dance they have recitals and perform at luau.
History of hula
Legendary origins
There are various legends surrounding the origins of hula.
According to one Hawaiian legend Laka, goddess of the hula, gave birth to the dance on the island of Molokaʻi, at a sacred place in Kaʻana. After Laka died, her remains were hidden beneath the hill Puʻu Nana.
Another story tells of Hiʻiaka, who danced to appease her fiery sister, the volcano goddess Pele. This story locates the source of the hula on Kauaʻi, in the north shore valley of Hāʻena.
Another story is when Pele, the goddess of fire was trying to find a home for herself running away from her sister Namakaokaha'i (the goddess of the oceans) when she finally found an island where she couldn't be touched by the waves. There at chain of craters on the island of Hawai'i she danced the first dance of hula signifying that she finally won.
During the 19th century
American Protestant missionaries, who arrived in 1820, denounced the hula as a heathen dance. The newly Christianized aliʻi (royalty and nobility) were urged to ban the hula—which they did. However, many of them continued to privately patronize the hula.
The Hawaiian performing arts had a resurgence during the reign of King David Kalākaua (1874–1891), who encouraged the traditional arts. Hula practitioners merged Hawaiian poetry, chanted vocal performance, dance movements and costumes to create the new form, the hula kuʻi (kuʻi means "to combine old and new"). The pahu appears not to have been used in hula kuʻi, evidently because its sacredness was respected by practitioners; the ipu gourd (Lagenaria sicenaria) was the indigenous instrument most closely associated with hula kuʻi.
Ritual and prayer surrounded all aspects of hula training and practice, even as late as the early 20th century. Teachers and students were dedicated to the goddess of the hula, Laka.
20th century hula
Hula changed drastically in the early 20th century as it was featured in tourist spectacles, such as the Kodak hula show, and in Hollywood films. However, a more traditional hula was maintained in small circles by older practitioners. There has been a renewed interest in hula, both traditional and modern, since the 1970s and the Hawaiian Renaissance.
Contemporary hula
Contemporary hula festivals
- Ka Hula Piko, held every May on Molokaʻi.
- Merrie Monarch Festival is a week-long cultural festival and hula competition in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.
- Hula Workshop, Hoʻike and Hawaiian Festival, held every July in Vancouver, WA.
- E Hula Mau, held every Labor Day Weekend (September) in Long Beach, CA.
- World Invitational Hula Festival, a 3 day art and culture contest held every November on Oahu, Hawaii in the Waikiki Shell.
- "Share da Aloha", held in February at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA. http://www.ohanapraise.com/
- The Iā 'Oe E Ka Lā Hula Competition and Festival is held annually at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, California. Friday thru Sunday, traditionally the first weekend in November. http://www.kumuhulaassociation.com
- The May Day Festival is held annually at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, California. Traditionally the second Saturday in May, as of 2006 held both Saturday and Sunday remaining the second weekend in May. http://www.kumuhulaassociation.com
Films
- Kumu Hula: Keepers of a Culture (1989). Directed by Robert Mugge.
- Holo Mai Pele - Hālau ō Kekuhi (2000) Directed by Catherine Tatge
- American Aloha : Hula Beyond Hawaiʻi (2003) By Lisette Marie Flannery & Evann Siebens
- Hula Girls (2006)
Books
- Nathaniel Emerson, 'The Myth of Pele and Hi'iaka'. This book includes the original Hawaiian of the Pele and Hi'iaka myth and as such provides an invaluable resource for language students and others.
- Nathaniel Emerson, 'The Unwritten Literature of Hawaii'. Many of the original Hawaiian hula chants, together with Mr. Emerson's descriptions of how they were danced in the nineteenth century.
External links
- Hawaiian Music and Hula Archives
- Hula Preservation Society
- European Hula Festival
- Ka`ahele Hawai`i
- Hula dress
- "Where Tradition Holds Sway" Article about "Ka Hula Piko" on Molokai, by Jill Engledow. Maui No Ka 'Oi Magazine Vol. 11 No.2 (March 2007).
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