Learn and discover what hula is and what it can teach about resilience, authenticity and respect
Hula is an art and a way of the Hawaiians to tell the stories of their past, said Melanie Kauvaka, the career placement and planning advisor at Career Services and one of the instructors for the Seasiders Sports & Activities 183 hula class. She said, “Hula is a sacred practice in our culture.” Furthermore, “Prior to the 1820s, there was no written language in Hawaii, so hula was one way for residents to pass knowledge from generation to generation,” says National Geographic.
Kauvaka said when leaders of Hawaii accepted the ways of Christianity in 1830, the people were banned from practicing hula. “Some of the missionaries viewed hula as immoral,” says an article from the Lyman Museum’s website. However, despite the ban, the Hawaiians continued to practice and teach hula in private, says the article.
According to Kelli Nakamura, an associate professor of history at Kapi’olani Community College, it was during the reign of King David Kalākaua, when hula "made a brief resurgence.” It was when the Hawaiian Renaissance began reviving traditions and culture of Hawaiians, added Kauvaka.
It was not led by a single person, but a collective of cultural practitioners, musicians, navigators and activists who worked to revive Hawaiian language, music, hula and identity.
King Kalākaua hosted his coronation at the ‘Iolani Palace in 1883 where he featured hula, writes Nakamura. “Known as the Merrie Monarch for his patronage of traditional culture, King Kalākaua filled the two-week celebration with once-forbidden Hawaiian traditions—hula performances, music and a lūʻau,” says National Geographic.
After King Kalākaua passed away in 1891 and the Hawaiian Kingdom was overthrown in 1893, “hula did not have widespread support,” writes Nakamura. However, hula continued to be practiced despite the challenges Hawaiians faced, she continues. Hula was then “seen as a form of resistance against the cultural and political dominance of Western powers,” she writes.
Today, hula survives as art and a cultural practice, preserving its authentic traditional elements and “incorporating new instruments and themes, leading to the emergence of Hula ʻAuana,” Nakamura writes.
Types of hula
Kauvaka said there are two types of hulas: kahiko and ‘auana. “Hula kahiko is the ancient hula practiced before the Western contact and hula ‘auana is the modern hula,” she said. Kahiko is accompanied by chants and traditional instruments, while ‘auana is accompanied by ‘ukuleles and guitars, she explained.
Kahiko is sacred where dancers wear a traditional attire to represent the ancient period, said McIntyre Horito, a senior from Utah and Hau’ula majoring in Hawaiian studies and a student in one of the hālau in Oahu. “[For kahiko,] the clothing can be more revealing. ... With auana, it’s more appropriate to dance in a button-up shirt, pants or shorts,” he continued.
Media and authenticity
In Hollywood, hula dancers are portrayed wearing grass skirts and coconut bras, Kauvaka said. Horito also said the proper representation of hula is a challenge because it is at the center of tourism. “There are a lot of clichés and stereotypes,” he continued.
Horito said when he came to BYU–Hawaii, men in hula are not strongly represented. He said, “People are always surprised when I tell them I’m a hula dancer because it's not common for men.” He said people do not know that training for hula is physically demanding and hard. “There’s a whole other side of hula with men and that’s the side I want to be a part of and that's what a lot of people at school know me here for,” he added.
The way to know if you are learning from a credible hula dancer is to learn their hula genealogy, Kauvaka said. “For me, my hula genealogy goes from my Kumu Hula [who] is my mom, and my mom was taught by Kumu John Lake. ... and it goes back all the way to Kumu Rose Joshua,” she explained.
I would suggest for anyone trying to learn hula to make sure they are learning hula from someone who has been trained by a Kumu Hula.
What to look for
There is a certification to become a Kumu Hula, said Kauvaka. One must go through training, she said. The training is called ‘uniki which is “the formal graduation or initiation ceremony in hula marking the transition of a student from training to a recognized independent hula practitioner or teacher,” she explained.
Kauvaka said, once certified to teach, the Kumu Hula will choose a few dancers in her hālau who she or he mentors to take his or her place. She said students must master hula techniques, chants, protocols, spiritual responsibility, genealogy, Hawaiian language and culture before they are granted to perform in public.
Kauvaka said as a student of a Kumu Hula, she is not allowed to teach the dances to anyone outside their hālau. “Unless I get permission from Kumu Claire Manutai if I could teach my students, most of the time, she'll either say ‘no,’ or she'll say ‘yes, but let me teach it.’ So, then I would bring her and she would teach,” she said.
Moreover, Kauvaka said she can do a performance taught by her Kumu Hula with proper credit. She said, “I would introduce myself, then my Kumu who choreographed this hula to give proper credit, then I would perform the dance.”
Dancing hula
It grounds me and my identity. It gives me pride and it makes me healthy as well.
Horito said dancing hula makes him a better person. Anyone who is committed to joining is welcome, he added. “If you take it seriously, we’ll take you seriously,” he continued.
Kauvaka said when dancing hula one must embrace it. “Don't try to take what you've learned and then try to make profit out of it, because like I said, it's sacred,” she continued. She said if someone doesn’t know anything about hula, they should take a hula class to get properly taught and educated. “It is not really good to look on YouTube for a choreography,” she added.