See How Hawaii's Native Dance, Hula, Has Become a Source of Identity and Pride

Home , Hula, Kapa, Merrie Monarch Festival

R E S O U R C E L I B R A R Y V I D E O Hula

See how Hawaii's native dance, hula, has become a source of identity and pride.

G R A D E S K, 1 - 12+

S U B J E C T S Arts and Music, Social Studies, U.S. History

For the complete videos with media resources, visit: http://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/hula/ Hula is a native Hawaiian dance. In this video from the National Geographic Channel, dancers and historians explain the origins and development of hula.

Outline Birth of the Hula (start-045) Hula is Banned (046-110) Rebirth of Hula (111-145) Making Hula Relevant to a Modern Audience (146-208)

Merrie Monarch Festival (209-250)

Hula? Halau? Haumana? Huh? Use our “Vocabulary” tab to help sort out your mele from your macadamia nuts!

Teaching Strategies

The following tabs offer suggestions for using this video as a learning tool.

Use “Fast Facts” to understand the history of hula.

Use “Questions” to help students develop a greater appreciation of this important part of Hawaiian culture.

Use “Vocabulary” to identify language associated with hula. Questions

Hawaii’s earliest hula dancers were inspired by waves on the beach, according to hula instructor Emily Kau’i Zuttermeister (030). What are some ways students think hula dancers imitate waves and other movements of the ocean?

Answers will vary!

Hula dancers move their arms, legs, and torsos in regularly swaying rhythms, like waves on the ocean. Many hulas require dancers to take only tiny steps, keeping them in the same general area and not allowing them to move across the stage. These dancers are like “standing waves” in the ocean, whose movement is steady and predictable. Even these standing waves can change with the slightest alterations in wind, temperature, or pressure. Hula dancers may express these variations with subtle movements of their wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, hips, knees, or ankles.

The ocean is a wildly varied environment, and hula is a wildly complex dance style! Hula dancers many interpret the placid ocean with gentle movements and slight changes in posture. More dramatic movements of the dancer’s arms and legs, or choreographed turns and spins, may be used to interpret the unpredictable, stormy aspects of the ocean.

When they landed on Hawaiian shores in 1820, European explorers were “shocked” by hula dancing (045). Can students name some differences between hula and the formal dancing popular in Europe at the time, called regency dancing?

Watch this video to familiarize yourself with regency dancing.

Think about how the dancers move, the music, and the costuming.

Answers will vary!

Dancing Hula dancers perform as groups of men and women. In regency dance, the dancers are integrated and usually paired off as couples. Hula dancers rarely touch each other, while regency dance often requires interaction such as hand-holding. The faces of hula dancers are usually much more expressive than the faces of regency dancers. Hula often involves much larger movements, such as deep knee bends or arm reaches. Regency dance usually involves smaller movements. Hula dancers move around the stage or dance floor much less frequently than regency dancers.

Music

Hula is often accompanied by chanting, while regency dance rarely includes vocal music. Music that accompanies hula is based in drums and other percussion (such as the shells wrapped around dancers’ ankles). Regency dancers dance to European classical music played on strings, harpsichords or pianos, and wind instruments.

Costume

Hula is usually performed barefoot, while regency dancers wear shoes and stockings. Hula costumes (especially those worn by men) are less confining than regency dress—the video calls hula dancers “scantily clad”! Regency dance usually requires multiple layers of clothes. Hula accessories include large flower and shell ornaments, while regency dancers wear much more subdued necklaces and earrings. Hula costumes are more uniform, while regency costumes have more stylistic variation.

Despite many differences, hula and regency dance share many characteristics. Can students name some similarities shared by hula and regency dance?

Answers will vary!

Dance

Both dances involve groups of dancers, as opposed to individual soloists. Dancers perform in a line or series of lines. (Regency dance can also feature circles.) Dancers perform uniform, matched movements. Neither dance style involves extensive jumps or leaps. Music

Musicians perform off-stage and do not directly participate in either hula or regency dance.

Costume

Female dancers wear loose-fitting skirts or dresses, allowing for ease of motion. Hula and regency dance do not require specialized clothes or equipment, such as toe shoes or clogs. Fast Facts

Hula master Kumano Palani Kuala encourages his students to make a connection between hula and indigenous spirituality. (148) Ancient Hawaiians also held hula sacred. The traditional goddess of the hula is Laka, and many ancient hulas were performed in her honor.

The video spotlights the Merrie Monarch Festival, which honors a legendary king who returned hula to “its rightful place at the center of Hawaiian culture.” (220) This was King David Kalakaua, who encouraged a revival of many Hawaiian cultural traditions, including surfing and the martial art of lua, during his reign from 1874-1891. King David Kalakaua’s nickname was “the merry (or merrie) monarch.”

Hula instructor Emily Kau’i Zuttermeister tells a story about the birth of hula. (030) The woman Zuttermeister mentions, who went down to the beach and imitated the motion of the waves, was Hi’iaka. Hi’iaka was no ordinary woman—she was the sister of Hawaii’s legendary fire goddess, Pele. Hi’iaka is the goddess of the stormy clouds produced by her sister’s volcanoes. Vocabulary

Part of Term Definition Speech adjective, modern style of hula, which developed with the influence of European ‘auana noun culture in Hawaii during the 19th and 20th centuries. halau noun hula school, or a long house traditionally used for hula instruction. haumana noun hula student. Part of Term Definition Speech adjective, hula native Hawaiian dance, often accompanied by drumming or chanting. noun smooth stones that are clicked together in traditional Hawaiian 'ili 'ili plural noun dancing. ipu noun hollowed-out gourd used for traditional Hawaiian dancing. two hollowed-out gourds, one secured on top of the other, used for ipu heke noun traditional Hawaiian chanting. adjective, ancient style of hula, which developed in the Hawaiian Islands before kahiko noun European contact in the 19th century. kala'au plural noun wooden sticks used for traditional Hawaiian dancing. adjective, cloth made by pounding the bark of a paper mulberry or similar tree kapa noun until it is flat and flexible. kumu noun hula teacher. lei noun native Hawaiian necklace of flowers, shells, feathers, or leaves. lu'au noun Hawaiian feast. macadamia edible, round, hard-shelled seed of the tropical macadamia tree, noun nut native to Australia. traditional loincloth, or fabric draped around the hips, worn by malo noun Hawaiian men. mele noun traditional Hawaiian song. 'olapa plural noun expert hula dancers. oli noun traditional Hawaiian chant. pau noun traditional Hawaiian wrapped skirt. island group in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand, Hawaii, and Polynesia noun Easter Island. bamboo sticks used in hula and traditional Hawaiian chant pu'ili plural noun performances. adjective, gourds filled with seeds and topped with feathers. Used for traditional 'uli 'uli plural noun Hawaiian dances.