Feedback from Fun Facts – The Hula

Hula is the soul of Hawaii expressed in motion. It began as a means of worship during religious ceremonies by highly-trained men and gradually evolved into a form of entertainment and story telling. The hula dramatizes the story of a chant or song and often used as a method of passing these stories down through the generations. Often the song has a double meaning. For example, the words may be about the soft rain in a beautiful place, but the hidden meaning is about the beauty and love of a person.

There are two styles of hula. The original traditional style of hula, as performed before Western encounters with Hawaii, is called kahiko. It is accompanied by chant and traditional instruments and uses more dramatic and emphasized movements. Hula, as commonly seen today, is an evolution of kahiko hula, is called auana and is much more graceful in its movements and dance and is accompanied by song and Western musical instruments such as the guitar, the ukulele, and the double bass.

Various forms of dance are found throughout Polynesia, and the immigrants to Hawaii brought the dances of their homelands with them. While in Hawaii, you will see many forms of Polynesian dance. Two of the most popular are the fire knife dancing of Samoa and Tahitian dance, which is characterized by heavy drumming and rapid hip movements. Hula is somewhat more sedate, where the emphasis is on the hands which tell the story of the dance.