The History of Hula Dancing
from WorldWeb.com Travel Guide

Hawaiian Palm Trees

The hula dance has often been associated with luaus and Hawaii but many people are unaware of its origin. There is no evidence or information as to who performed the first hula dance or why. It is widely believed its performance was used for religious rituals and ceremonies and was performed by a god or goddess. Hawaiian legend tells the myth of Laka, a hula goddess. It is believed that Laka gave birth to the dance on the island of Molokai at a sacred place in Kaana. Another legend claims that Hiiaka danced the hula to appease her fiery sister, the volcano goddess Pele. This would place the origins of hula on Kauai. Regardless of its exact origins, this dance soon became a sacred aspect of Hawaiian culture. Over time however, the original meaning and reason for performing the hula changed. It was no longer performed as part of a cultural ritual but for entertainment purposes.

HULA DANCING AFTER 1778

The Hawaiian people had been dancing the hula for centuries by the time that Captain Cook arrived in Hawaii in 1779. Men and women both danced the hula but during this time men danced it more so than women. In 1820, the American Protestant missionaries arrived in Hawaii and the hula dance was put in jeopardy. However, contrary to popular belief, the missionaries did not ban the traditional dance. Although they were shocked by the Hawaiians open dancing and believed it to be a devilish and idle pastime, they did not have the authority to enact laws. Nervertheless, the missionaries did influence Queen Kaahumanu, who was a convert to Christianity, to issue a law that banned any public performances of the hula. Hawaiians however, did not honor this law and it went widely ignored, especially after 1832 when Kaahumanu died. The hula dance continued to be used as tool to pass on history before the Hawaiian language was developed into a written text. The Hawaiians practiced hula in secret locations called Heiaus which means temple. Many Heiaus were destroyed by the missionaries but a number of ruins can still be found all over the Hawaiian Islands such as Maui.

Hula continued to flourish, especially in rural areas and with the rise of King David Kalakaua in 1874, hula became acceptable to perform in public once again. Both the 1883 coronation of King Kalakaua and the 1886 jubilee celebrations included ancient and newly created hula performances. In 1891, two years after King Kalakaua's death, his successor and sister Liliuokalani was forced from the throne by Honolulu businessmen who were conspiring to overthrow the Hawaiian monarchy with the United States minister to Hawaii. This signaled the end of the Hawaiian monarchy and the end of hula dancing as part of official government protocol for almost a century.

HULA DANCING AFTER 1893

When Hollywood filmmakers discovered Hawaii in the early Twentieth century, they adapted some of the Hawaiian culture to suit their own fantasies and purposes. Dance performances and songs were written about Hawaii such as “My Little Grass Shack” and “Blue Hawaii."

During the early 1960s, a group of Hilo bussiness people decided they needed to liven up Hawaii's slow tourist season which occurred from March to April. They came up with the idea to organize a local festival that included a hula dancing competition. Today this festival continues to be celebrated in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii and is known as the Merrie Monarch Festival. It honors King David Kalakaua and also celebrates Hawaiian culture with exhibitions and fairs. The Ka Hula Piko is another festival held on the island of Molokai and is a one-day event that commemorates hula dancing.

TYPES OF HULA DANCING

There are two main types of hula practiced today, hula auana and hula kahiko. The old traditional style is the hula kahiko and is the more ritualistic of the two. It includes chanting which is used to tell the story more than the moves. Hula auana is the more entertaining dance and it includes music, guitars, and ukuleles. This type of dance uses body and hand movements to tell the story. Every movement of the body represents something. The person dancing the hula may be imitating a palm tree, an animal or war. During this process, the person dancing is transforming themselves mentally into the object they are portraying.

Known as the “beautiful dance,” hula has many similarities with Far Eastern dances such as the Indian dance of Kathakali. Visual emotion and expression is favored in both of these dances compared to the set moves and rhythms of Western dances. The focus in hula dancing is the eyes and face while the swaying hips, arms, fingers and movement of the feet are secondary.

COSTUMES

In 1779, when Captain Cook arrived in Hawaii, the men and women dancing the hula did not wear grass skirts. Women wore wrapped skirts made of Kapa cloth and the men wore a loincloth known as malo. Today, dancers may still use these types of skirts or may use grass skirts. Dancers back then and now still wear necklaces, bracelets, anklets and leis. Dancers gathered materials for the lei worn in hula performances from the forest after having offered prayers to Laka and other forest gods. The lei in traditional authentic hula dancing were considered sacred and were not to be worn after a performance. Usually, the lei were left as an offering on an altar dedicated to Laka.