Hula

With no written language, the ancient Hawaiians recorded their histories,

genealogies, legends, and the development of their gods through the creation and
memorization of chants, know as oli, and dances called hula. Women in the traditional
dress performed hula. The hula has been part of Hawaiian culture since ancient times,
perhaps even from before there were people living in the islands. Among them the islands
of Hawaii, Molokai, Oahu, and Kauai claim to be hulas birthplace and link its beginnings
to a number of gods and humans. Some claim that Hiiakas friend Hopoe was the first
dancer. Others call Kapoulakinau the first divine patron of hula, or cite the long and
beautiful story of Keaomelemele as the foundation myth of dance. Still others connect its
origins with various forms of the Polynesian culture, Laka (Laa).
Many Christian Hawaiians considered hula immoral, and attempted to eliminate it.
Hula was practiced openly again after Kaahumanus death in 1832, although missionary
influences continued to push for hula regulations. A series of letters from the Hawaiian
journal Nupepa Kokoa in 1864 complains about hula schools operating in Maui, Oahu,
and Kauai. These letters are interesting because they show that hula continued to flourish,
especially in rural areas. Indeed, the power and influence of the national dance was never
threateded...hula reamained the favorite entertainment of Hawaiians of all classes.
With the accession of King David Kalkaua in 1874, hula once again went officailly
public, both his 1883 coronation and his 1886 jubilee celebrations included performances of
ancient and newly created dances. Two years after Kalkauas death in 1891, his sister
Liliuokalani was forced from the throne by a conspiracy of Honolulu businessmen
conspiring with the United States. With the end of the Hawaiian monarchy came the end of
hula as part of official government protocol for almost a century.
After 1893, hula had evolved and the style was called hula kui (joined hula),
blending native and foreign elements. In the early 1800s, for example, Kalkaua began
traveling around the world, which introduced many different types of musicians, instruments
and melodies to hula. Hawaiian music and dance also adopted and adapted many of these
new elements like jawaiian and other modern musical inventions. In the early twentieth
century, Hollywood filmmakers discovered Hawaii, adapting hula to their own purpose and
fantasies. Many of the hapa-haole tunes came from that era.
In the early 1960s, a group of Hilo businesspeople, wanting to attract tourists during
the normally slow season of March-April, decided to organize a festival of local culture. On

the advice of cultuaral practitioners concerned about the increasingly haole character of
Hawaiian culture in general and the hula in particular, they instituted a hula competition. To
distinguish their event from ordinary tourists shows, and to encourage performance of more
authentic hula, they created categories of hula kahiko and hula auana. Despite King
Kalkauas efforts to revive Hawaiian traditions, restrictions on c0mmercial hula remained
in place in 1896 when the laws were finally repealed. The government of the newly formed
Republic of Hawaii desired increased tourism and saw commercial hula as a means
toward that end. Today this festival, name Merrie Monarch in honor of King Kalkaua, is a
major event. It has also significantly influenced hula teaching and performance.
The two general classes of chants, mele oli and mele hula, serve different purposes.
Oli is a chant used for specific occasions and when addressing formal subjects. Mele hula
is a more rhythmic chant with a broader tonal range. Mele oli may use just two or three
notes. Mele hula is accompanied by hula, and possibly musical instruments as well.
Chants are typically metaphorical than literal. For example, the word lehua may refer
to ones lover, or may refer to the lehua flower blossom, or to Peles younger sister, the
goddess Hiiaka. In ancient times, the meanings of certain words in chants were known
only by the haku mele, and a chant might be telling two or more stories at the same time.
The style used for a particular mele depends on the chants purpose, which consists in the
meaning of its words. Some types of mele include mele ipo (love chant), mele inoa (name
chant) and mele kahi (place chant).
Now, hula and Hawaiian culture continue to evolve and spread. Some of this has
resulted from the Hawaiians that began working on foreign ships and has grown with the
growth of modern transportation and communication. Hawaiian has moved all around the
world and proudly practice and display their culture as a way of asserting their connection to
their ancestral homeland. Thanks to them, people in Europe, Japan, Mexico, Canada and
the Mainland USA now study and dance hula.
Such popularity brings its own array of challenges, can hula retain its integrity as a
distinctly Hawaiian practice while each new land and student contributes to its growth?( Is it
danger becoming assimilated) with or absorbed into other cultures dance form? Nana i ke
kumu advises a famous Hawaiian proverb, pay attention to the source In hula this means
the obvious watch what your Kumu teaches and does it also refers to the source or root of
hula which is the protocols of Hawaii and Polynesia. If it loses this connection, hula can
indeed become just one more style of dancing. As an olapa (hula person), lets continue to
dance with love and respet as our ancestors did.