How to dance like a hawaiian
Learn How to Hula Dance! | How to Hula Dance for Kids
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Famous for its sandy beaches and warm weather, Hawaii is a tropical paradise. Part of what makes Hawaii so special is its rich island culture. Hawaiians have their own traditions, language, and even their own dance form called Hula. Hula is a graceful art form that is danced to the words of a song (mele) or chant (oli). Ancient Hawaiians danced Hula to tell stories about their history and to celebrate the beauty of nature. But you don’t need palm trees to enjoy Hawaiian culture. Get ready to move your feet, swing your hips, and learn to dance the Hula with Little Passports! With a these easy-to-learn dance moves, you and your little ones can bring the beauty of the islands right to your doorstep.
Step-by-Step Hula
Move your feet!
Stand facing forward with your feet hip-width apart and bend your knees. Step 8 inches to the right. Bring your left foot to meet your right foot, keeping your left foot slightly off the floor, and tap the ground once with the ball of your left foot to complete the move. Repeat, taking another step the right, bringing your feet together, and tapping the ground with the ball of your left foot. Now go back the way you came! Step to the left, bring your right foot to meet your left and tap the ground with the ball of your right foot. Repeat this move to the left again. That’s it! Continue to practice stepping two times to the right and then two times to the left until you feel comfortable with the footwork.
Did you know? Hula is almost always danced barefoot.
Did you know? Traditional Hawaiian instruments that accompanied Hula dances were made of shells, rocks, and even teeth!
Now add your hips!
Keeping the same pattern–two steps right and two steps left–try adding some hip movements.
During the Hula, your hips should keep a gentle rocking or swaying motion–similar to the ocean waves! When you step to the right, lower your right foot toe-to-heel and lift your left hip up. As you bring your feet together, switch so that your right hip is up. Before your next step, sway your hips side-to-side. Repeat the same motion as you take your second step to the right. Remember to sway your hips side to side before each step. Now try this motion to the left: left foot toe-heel, right hip up, feet together, left hip up, rock hips side to side. Repeat. Make sure to keep your knees bent and hips loose as you continue to step and sway!
Complete the move with arm motions!
Extend your arms out to the side at shoulder level. Bend your left arm so your hand is in front of the left side of your chest and your palm is facing down. Your right arm should stay extended, with your elbow slightly bent and fingers together. As you take your steps to the right, move your arms in a gentle, wave-like motion.
Before your first step to the left, switch your arms so that the left arm is extended and the right arm is bent in front of the right side of your chest. As you take your steps to the left, continue to move your arms in a wave-like motion. As you move, keep your body relaxed and your shoulders still. Remember to switch arms every time you switch directions.
Did you know?
Hand and arm motions can be used to represent emotions or aspects of nature.
Add your own flair!
Once you’ve mastered this basic Hula dance, feel free to add some more moves from the list below to spice it up! Remember to use your face and eyes to tell the story of the song you are dancing to.
Ami: With hands on your hips, rotate your hips in a circular motion.
Ka`apuni: Keeping your hips moving in a circular motion like the Ami, pivot around the left foot and step slowly with the right foot around the left foot to complete a full turn.
Rising Sun Hand Movement: Start with your hands together at knee level.
In a sweeping motion, move the arms outward and upward until they are above your head and fingertips nearly touch. Form the shape of sun with your arms extended over your head with your palms turned upward and your fingertips touching.
Uwehe: Standing with feet hip-width apart, step in place with your right foot. Keeping knees bent, lift both heels up off the ground in a popping motion, and then place them back down. Now step in place with your left foot. Do the popping motion again.
Hela: Starting with your feet together, point your right foot forward. Return feet together. Point the left foot forward. Bring your feet back together.
Love Hand Movement: With your palms facing your body, cross your hands in a X-shape on your chest to show embracing love.
Don’t forget to smile and have fun!
Learn How to Hula Dance! from Little Passports on Vimeo.
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Hula dancing is a beautiful and graceful form of dance.
Hula combines foot movement along with meaningful hand movements that tell a story. Hula dancing is easy to learn, is good exercise, and is a fun activity for a Luau or Hawaiian theme wedding. There are many hula dances that have very simple steps which can be easily learned and have people dancing hula in one lesson. A popular easy to learn hula dance will be shared in below on this page that can have you hula dancing by the end of today!
There are several different styles of hula danced by Polynesian cultures like Hawaiian, Tahitian, Fijian, and Maori. In the Hawaiian hula dance style there are two types, hula kahiko and hula 'auana.
Hula Kahiko
In ancient Hawaiian times there were no written books of daily life and special events however, the Hawaiians have created hula dances and chants as ways to document events going as far back as to their first inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands 0-500ad. Hula kahiko is the traditional ancient Hawaiian style of hula which also includes chanting and percussion instruments like uli uli, puili, drums and ipu gourd drums.
The kahiko style of hula focuses on the hula practiced by ancient Hawaiians which was how they communicated with and honored the Hawaiian Gods by sharing stories about Hawaiian life, history and culture. Students are taught how to make their own instruments and their own outfits for performances. Some hula schools require their students to learn and speak Hawaiian.
Hawaiian Hula Performers in 1890
When Western missionaries arrived in the Hawaiian Islands hula was seen as indecent and immoral. In 1830 missionaries convinced Queen Ka'ahumanu to outlaw hula for the good of the Hawaiian people. Hula along with the speaking of the Hawaiian language were banned in the Hawaiian Islands. Many of the chiefs and people of Hawaii did not agree with the ban and hula and the Hawaiian language was practiced in secret.
Hula dancers at King Kalakaua's 49th Birthday Celebration at Iolani Palace
November 16, 1886
In 1851 public hula performances became regulated and a heavy fee was paid to obtain a license for each performance.
Throughout the 1860s secret hula schools continued to teach and the number of students grew. The Hawaiian King David Kalakaua openly supported hula dancing before he became King in 1836. He is credited for preserving hula kahiko and bringing back native Hawaiian dance during his reign as King having spectacular performances of hula at his coronation in 1883 and at his 49th birthday celebration in 1886.
Hula 'Auana
Hula 'auana is the modern style of Hawaiian hula dance which emerged after Western contact and is often associated with slack key guitar, ukulele, and upbeat Hawaiian music. The 'auana style incorporates the traditional hand signals, steps, and percussion instruments with a more show business flare to the presentation than the kahiko style and costumes can be much more flashy. The focus with hula 'auana is more on entertainment through hula story telling rather than communicating and honoring the Hawaiian Gods.
Both styles of native Hawaiian hula dance are excellent forms of exercise.
Hula dancing is also a fun activity when having a Luau or Hawaiian themed celebration and below are three tips on how to add hula dancing to your festivities:1) Learn an easy hula dance and dance it at your celebration to entertain your guests!
2) Learn an easy hula dance and teach your guests how to hula dance!
3) Hire an experienced hula dancer to perform and/or teach a hula lesson at your celebration.
It is fun to learn to dance the hula at a Luau!
Hula dancing is popular all over the world, some people refer to this style of dancing as Hawaiian hula hula. No matter what you call it or where you are in the World, you can usually find organized groups of hula dancers, known as Hula Halau, that can be hired for hula dance lessons or to perform at a celebration. To find one, google "hula halau" + your location in the world, such as "hula halau san diego". Then contact them to find out information on how you can take lessons, join the group to perform, find out where they will be performing live, or hire them as performers or to teach hula dancing at your Hawaii theme celebration!
The hula dancers are wearing skirts made from fresh ti leaves
Now it is time to learn how to hula dance!
Hula dancing is a fun Luau activity for kids and adults.
Below are easy Hawaiian hula dance steps:
'Ami Right - rotate hips counterclockwise, one rotation for each count.
'Ami Left - rotate hips clockwise. Bent knees make the 'ami easier.
Hela: Point right foot forward, bring back, then point left foot forward, then bring back. For video instruction of Helai click here!
Huli: Rotate around while swaying the hips.
Kaholo: A kaholo is more of a sliding step, rather than lifting the foot as you move. It is used to step side to side, front to back, and diagonally.
For video instruction of Kaholo click here!
Ka'o: Sway hips by shifting weight to the right side and lift left heel. Then shift weight to the left side and lift right heel. For video instruction of Ka'o click here!
Lele: Step right, then left, either forward or back.
The hula dancers are doing the hela hula dance move
Below are easy Hawaiian hula hand movements:
Love Hand Movement: Hands cross at chest to show embracing love.
Ocean Hand Movement: hands gently beat up and down showing the rhythm of the waves.
Rainbow Hand Movement: palms of the hands meet at the left... right hand lifts and shapes an arching rainbow.
Rising Sun Hand Movement: start at the knees, both hands part and rise above the head to shape the sun.
Singing or Story Telling Hand Movement: hand gracefully gesturing at mouth for song.
Swaying Palms Hand Movement: left arm becomes the land, right arm and fingers sway showing a waving palm.
Swirling Winds Hand Movement: left hand forward while right hand circles twice over head.
Tide roll Hand Movement: hands continually roll over each other to show the rolling sea.
These boy and girl hula dancers are wearing pa'u skirts and lava lava
LEARN THE
TINY BUBBLES HULA DANCE
This instructional video teaches an easy hula dance routine to the song Tiny Bubbles by Don Ho.
You can learn this hula dance in one session!
There is a great resource of hula instructional videos on YouTube.
Below are a few links to continue your hula training:
What to Wear While Hula Dancing
Skirts allow for freedom of movement while dancing the hula and are worn by women, men, girls, and boys. For tops men and boys typically wear a tshirt when practicing and go topless when performing. Women typically wear a sports bra, spaghetti strap top, tshirt or tank top when practicing and for performing may wear a coconut bra, bikini top, sequined bra, or tube top. Fresh lei or silk lei accessories be worn on the head, neck, ankles and wrists.
Hula dancers dance barefoot. Types of skirts worn by hula dancers include:
Pareu, Lava Lava or Sarong- a long piece of cloth wrapped around the body and tucked into the waist
Grass Skirt- made from natural or synthetic raffia. Natural is tan in color and can be dyed green or a rainbow of colors.
Ti Leaf Skirt- fresh or synthetic ti leaves are fashioned into a skirt along the stem end of the leaf.
Pa'u Skirt- a modern hula dance skirt made with colorful Hawaiian printed fabric and an elastic waist. They are worn short like a mini skirt or long which covers the dancers legs to mid shin.
The hula girls are wearing ti leaf hula skirts and have a set of uli uli hula implements
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Hot Hula Fitness is a new modern form of hula which incorporates traditional hula movements and performs them to upbeat Polynesian and contemporary music providing a vigorous fun low impact aerobic workout! The Hot Hula fitness style of hula isolates the larger muscle groups, increasing strength and definition to the core with specific emphasis on the abs, glutes, quads and arms.
If you are having a Hawaiian themed celebration, include hula dancing! Teach your guests a few moves or hire a hula expert to come and teach you and your guests a hula lesson. Your guests will have a fun memorable experience and learn something that is very sacred in the Hawaiian culture for a true authentic Luau experience!
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who and why dances Hawaiian dances in Moscow - Moscow 24, 20.
08.2014 Hawaiian hula dances are taught in Moscow
What kinds of dances are not taught in the capital: Spanish, Latin American, Irish, Indian ... And it is not easy to find teachers of Hawaiian hula dances - this type of dance art is almost not known in Moscow. The M24.ru correspondent found a Moscow school of Hawaiian dances and found out how easy it is to learn hula.
Moscow Hawaii
The road "to Hawaii" lies past Lavrushinsky Lane filled with tourists and the Tretyakov Gallery. I turn into Maly Tolmachevsky Lane, then into a quiet courtyard - and finally into the entrance of a two-story building with a sign "Spartak House of Sports and Tourism". The corridor with dim lamps and photographs of football teams does not portend any exotic. On the second floor, the right door is distinguished from a number of dull neighbors only by a sticker - a palm tree and a dancer figurine. Yes, and two pairs of women's sandals are neatly attached next to the door.
I open the door - and behind it there really seems to be another dimension.
Rather, it looks like a mixture of a dance class and a greenhouse: a full-wall mirror, as it should be in a dance school, but there are potted plants in the corners, a wicker table and chairs, garlands of artificial flowers. And a barefoot woman in a bright skirt puts on makeup in front of a mirror. Anastasia, teacher of the Hawaiian hula dance school.
- It's like Hawaii here, - Nastya gestures around the room. - If it doesn't bother you, it's better to take off your shoes. Sit where you like best, I'll paint my eyes now ...
Photo: m24.ru/Alexander Avilov
Having finished with makeup, Anastasia sits on the floor, straightening her skirt, and begins to talk about how she took up an unusual task for a Muscovite - teaching Hawaiian dances. True, it is felt that it is much easier for her to dance a story than to tell. Still, the picture of events is gradually being restored.
Nastya learned from her own experience that no special training is required for hula.
In the past, she was engaged in things far from art: she was an entrepreneur, co-owner of a large company and earned money with passion. Money appeared, but something was still missing.
"I started looking for practices that would fill me with joyful energy, add fluidity, femininity," she explains. "I learned about Hawaiian dances at one of the trainings, then went to Hawaii with a group for a dance seminar" into a new culture. She talks about the islands with tenderness: the natives live in a completely different world, have kept in touch with nature, it’s even difficult for them to understand how poorly we understand our body. It is easier for Hawaiians to express emotions in dance, because they begin to learn dancing from the age of three. And this applies to all the inhabitants of the islands. Hawaii is a dancing culture.
Photo: m24.ru/Alexander Avilov
"At that moment I realized: my level is enough to start teaching and somehow develop this direction in Moscow.
A group of students gathered, we were able to invite teachers from the Hawaiian Islands here."
Anastasia herself cannot explain why people suddenly come up with the idea to engage in blasphemy, because this direction is not developed in Russia. Unless he specifies that many were inspired by the Disney cartoon "Lilo and Stitch": a story about a Hawaiian girl who manages to make friends with an alien.
But it turns out that the first students are still studying. Some even became instructors and also teach classes. One of these "old-timers", Sasha, is just pulling a Hawaiian skirt over a denim sundress. Sasha tells briefly about how she got into the group:
- A friend invited her to a dance festival, and there we saw blasphemy. Then she offered to go to work out - I went and stayed ... A friend, however, too.
Sasha is an ordinary office worker, and she clearly lacked creativity. But now dancing has become a part of life, it remains only to save money and go to Hawaii.
Of course, the master classes of Hawaiian teachers in Moscow are always an important event, but it’s more interesting to see everything on the spot!
Where do teachers come from
THERE ARE MANY DANCE SCHOOLS IN HAWAII AND EACH HAS THEIR OWN CHOREOGRAPHY CREATED BY THE TEACHER, KUMU. ANASTASIA'S OBJECTIVE IS TO TRANSMIT TO THE STUDENTS AS FULLY EXACTLY WHAT SHE LEARNS FROM THE TEACHER. WHEN A FAMOUS SONG IS SOUND AT HULA CONFERENCES, REPRESENTATIVES OF DIFFERENT SCHOOLS DANCE DIFFERENTLY, ALTHOUGH THE MOVEMENTS ARE SIMILAR
Anastasia found her hula teacher during her third trip to Hawaii. "I came for a month and a half, went to different seminars. I chose a school, went to classes every day, and in the evenings the teachers drove me home by car: it was late and they were worried about me. Once, returning to the hotel, I realized what exactly these people are close to me. And now they consider me a Russian daughter. After all, Hawaiians have a school like a family.
In Hawaii, there is such a thing as "Ohana" - a family that includes not only blood relatives, but also friends, work colleagues."
There are several steps leading to the "title" of a teacher, and Nastya is now at the first. In Hawaii it is called "Haumana" - "Student". Next will be "Olapa" - "Dancer". Then "Ho" opa "- the one who not only dances, but also sings and plays the instrument. Then either the teacher, "Kumu", or the teacher's assistant, "Alakai".
Photo: m24.ru/Alexander Avilov According to Nastya, hula has several levels: physical, emotional, energetic, spiritual... Beginners are not immediately told about all the secrets of the dance: teachers are waiting for the student to be ready: "A few years ago, when I asked Hawaiian teachers about something difficult like how the energy circulates during the dance, they pretended not to understand the question. And only then, gradually, they began to explain to me. "
When the student is ready to move on to the next level, he goes to the ceremony at the sacred place "Uniki", which is located in the center of Oahu.
The name of this place is translated as "Sound from within", because in ancient times leaders were born there and the sound of drums, carried around the island, informed all the inhabitants about this.
Nastya had to participate in such a ceremony once, when she became "Hauman". And she had enough impressions: “Each participant of Unika had four assistants: two men and two women,” she recalls. “We had to bring living plants as a gift to the island, we bought them in advance in a supermarket. .First we received blessings from the male elders, then from Kumu and the female elders."
After this ceremony, Nastya received a Hawaiian name. However, she believes that she also received some kind of energy that helped her feel in a new way.
"My Hawaiian name is Kapuakeaokalani, it was given to me by my teacher Hokulani De Rego. And the name of our school is translated as "White Delicate Flower". , there are women of Balzac's years.The only thing they have in common is bright skirts with flowers.
0004
"We sew special Hawaiian pau skirts for gym classes," says Nastya. , making them wider and smoother. I bring the fabric from the Hawaiian Islands."
Photo: m24.ru/Alexander Avilov
For performances, girls also make grass skirts - raffia, to look more colorful. Grass is bought in florist shops. You can also use leis for decoration - flower garlands, the main symbol of the Hawaiian Islands. Lei made of artificial flowers are brought from Hawaii, but here you can also buy them or make them yourself.
The girls are just sorting out leis and flower hairpins. "Do you think a red flower will go with this skirt?" - heard from the corner.
"This is Stitch!" says one of the youngest students, taking a soft toy of a cartoon character from the shelf. "You watched the cartoon, didn't you?" Now I know exactly who was brought to class by the love of Disney cartoon products.
Flower garlands, skirts, hairpins, cosmetics, stuffed animals - the school seems to be 100% a realm for women.
"It's better for women to be taught by a woman, and men by a man," says Nastya. But he admits that he still plans to take several representatives of the stronger sex to school: he wants to put on a pair dance. When men perform the traditional hula to the drums, it is a special spectacle, unlike the flowing female dances. But modern dances with the participation of men are rather funny, comic.
TWO STYLES OF HULA
KAHIKO IS AN ANCIENT, TRADITIONAL STYLE OF HAWAIIAN DANCES, IT EXISTED BEFORE THE APPEARANCE OF EUROPEANS ON THE ISLANDS. DANCES ARE PERFORMED TO LIVE MUSIC OF TRADITIONAL INSTRUMENTS AND TO CHANTS. THE SONGS ARE DEDICATED TO EITHER AN APPEAL TO THE HIGHEST FORCES OR STORIES ABOUT RULERS.
THE MODERN STYLE IS CALLED AUANA, IT APPEARED NOT SO LONG LONG. BECAUSE IN THE 19TH CENTURY HULA WAS PROHIBITED, LIKE ALL TRADITIONAL CULTURE: NATIVES WERE FORBIDDEN TO SPEAK HAWAIIAN, WERE GIVEN AMERICAN NAMES… THE PROTESTANT MISSIONERS CONSIDERED THAT HULA IS Pagan and obscene dancing.
AND ONLY WITH THE COMING TO POWER OF KING KALAKAUA AT THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY, EVERYTHING WAS REVIVED: HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE, SURFING, MARTIAL ARTS AND DANCES… THEY STARTED TO LOOK FOR THOSE WHO PRESERVED ANCIENT KNOWLEDGE, AND ON THE BASIS OF TRADITIONAL STYLE MIXED WITH MODERN CULTURE MODERN INSTRUMENTS, HAWAIIAN AND REGULAR GUITAR.
When Nastya starts talking about dances, you understand that men are really an extra element here: "In principle, choreographic preparation is not needed in hula, here 5 percent are movements and 95 percent are emotions. We dance a story. In most Hawaiian songs sung about the beauty of the island, about love, and we must convey these stories with the body."
Of course, there is a set of basic movements and steps. We can say that hula is a dance of the hips, which move naturally and smoothly, due to the transfer of body weight from one leg to another. And the hands at this time tell the story ..
Different hand movements - different images.
There is a sign language: "flower", "mountains", "rain", "waves". But learning gestures is half the battle, you also need to learn how to make them smoothly, fill them with your attention. Long, wide, smooth movements change the stereotype of perception. At some point, there is a feeling of unity with Nature and the images that the dance is dedicated to, you begin to feel like a part of something bigger.
What are you dancing about?
Photo: m24.ru/Alexander Avilov
Finally, all the students have sorted out their accessories and are ready to dance something.
- Now we will show you a song about King David Kalakaua, - explains Nastya. - Well, the one who returned everything to the Hawaiians ... The song is called Kawika, everyone in Hawaii knows it.
A song is playing and the girls begin to sway gently, drawing something in the air with their hands. Since I don't know sign language, Nastya manages to "translate":
"This is David, the greatest of all flowers
He is that sun, that Light that rises in the east and illuminates all of Hawaii.
.."
And so on. However, there are few words in the Hawaiian song - probably because each word has some hidden meaning.
LANGUAGE AND MEANING
DUE TO THE LONG BAN ON EVERYTHING TRADITIONAL, FEW HAWAIIANS KNOW THEIR LANGUAGE WELL. MOST OFTEN THEY SPEAK ENGLISH BUT INCLUDE A LOT OF LOCAL WORDS IN THEIR SPEECH. FOR EXAMPLE, THEY WILL NEVER SAY "FLOWER", THE FLOWER FOR THEM IS "PUA".
THE HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE IS ONLY 12 LETTERS, 5 VOWS AND 7 CONSONANTS. WORDS NEVER END IN A CONSENT, SO THE LANGUAGE IS VERY MELODIOUS. EVERY WORD HAS SEVERAL LEVELS OF MEANING. THEREFORE LITERAL TRANSLATION OF THE SONGS DOES NOT REFLECT THEIR ESSENCE, AND THE LIVING TRADITION OF KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER FROM TEACHER TO STUDENT IS VERY IMPORTANT. "THAT THE SONG SEEMS ABOUT FLOWERS, - Nastya explains. - BUT FLOWERS SYMBOLIZE PEOPLE. IF THE SONG IS ABOUT LEI, THEN LEIA IS A FAVORITE PERSON. EVERYONE'S".
To demonstrate the layering of Hawaiian words, the girls perform a few more songs, but not related to the royal dynasty.
One is about a wonderful evening, and it is sung about the fact that the wind knows no boundaries, but it knows where the beloved is. Another song "My beautiful lei" - at first glance it is about garlands, but in fact it is also about a loved one. In general, no matter how you dance, everything comes out about love.
How and where in Moscow they teach Hawaiian dances
Then Nastya offers to show a traditional song to be performed to live music. After all, the girls have already begun to master ipu - drums that are made from pumpkins. Ipu lie in the corner of the room, attracting the eye with their unusual shape.
- Shall we arrange an orphan's choir? Sasha asks skeptically. But all the same, he takes a piece of paper with the text of the chant and begins to repeat the Hawaiian words.
- Just need to check if the ill-wishers of our work have left the first floor, - recalls Nastya. The space under the dance class is rented by an office, and its employees are very nervous if someone starts beating drums from above.
It turns out that the office workers in the field and categorically object to the performance of the traditional hula with drum sound accompaniment.
- All right, but we learned the words, - the girls react with pure Hawaiian serenity. And as a consolation, they show me a song about surfing from their favorite "Lilo and Stitch".
"There is nothing like sliding on the ocean on my board…"
- What is the hidden meaning of this song? - already taught by experience, I'm interested.
- Nothing! Nastya laughs. – Everything is simple here: surfing is surfing. But this is a corporate hit! If we are invited to perform at some party, and we see that the audience is drinking, we always show a dance about surfing. Guaranteed success!
HULA AND PSYCHOLOGY
IN THE FIRST LESSONS YOU HAVE TO TEACH GIRLS TO RELAX THE HIPS AND COORDINATE THE MOVEMENTS OF THE HANDS AND LEGS IN THE FIRST LESSONS. “In teaching, I was helped by the fact that I received a diploma of the dance-motor therapist,” Nastya believes.
“In my thesis, I considered blasphemy as a resource-oriented method of dance therapy. And we tried to explore various aspects of femininity through the dance: we put dancing dancing ABOUT THE GODDESS OF FIRE AND WAKE UP THIS FIRE, THEN CHOOSE A SOFTER, FEMININE DANCE. HULA HELPS TO GET INTO CONTACT WITH YOURSELF"
Finally, I ask Nastya, did any of her students manage to get rid of any psychological problems with the help of hula? After all, she, as a dance therapist, certainly put her knowledge into practice!
- Of course, the classes help to loosen up, relax, become happier, - Nastya, thoughtfully, fiddling with her flower necklace. – But it seems to me that a very anxious or squeezed person simply will not get to us. Those who focus on negative emotions are not ready to look for something new...
Indeed, in order to change something in your life, you must first stock up on a good mood and believe in the best. And then you can go even to a dance class, even to Hawaii!
Anna Makarova
tourism read dance schools Hawaiian hula dances
Hawaiian hula dances: Studio "Aloha" - training, performances in St.
Petersburg. Hawaii. The Land Where They Know How to Love: The History of the Hula Dance. Part 2 History of the Hula Dance. Part 2 - Prohibition and Revival of Hawaiian Dances
Hula was more than just a ritual dance.
This was the Hawaiian way of keeping a "record" of its history, culture and unique philosophy of "aloha", the philosophy of love - after all, writing on the islands appeared only in 1820!
And not just to keep it - but also to support it in Hawaii, to pass it on to your people in every dance. And so to preserve culture and traditions, to preserve the Spirit of Aloha...
centuries) and convert "misguided pagans" to their faith, and the more their influence grew on the islands, the more openly and furiously they began to fight against the "pagan hotbeds".
How hula and "everything Hawaiian" was banned
Of course, without the support of some influential Hawaiians, they would hardly have succeeded in this, and the "victory" that one leader's wife won over the goddess Pele herself was especially helpful.
The fact that the god Jehovah turned out to be stronger than the goddess Pele literally untied the hands of militant Christians.
And with the culture of the Hawaiians, natural and natural, not knowing European morality, the same thing happened as with many ancient cultures - it was simply completely banned: they destroyed the heiau sanctuaries, cut down the carved wooden statues of the gods, and instead of an innocent and pure perception of the world, they planted a vault Christian taboos.
And, of course, there were violent attacks on the hula dance as completely immoral and sexual, and demands to wear European clothes in general (rather than go topless and in tapa miniskirts).
Actually, if you look at the dance in the ancient style of kahiko, there is nothing particularly "sexy" about it. Compared to Tahitian or Arabic, for sure - there the hips move exactly what is sexy, this is their "trick".
But the Hawaiian movement of the hips was devoid of any such goals, it only calms and creates vibrations of quiet light goodness in the viewer.
But at that time the missionaries, especially the American ones, were Puritans (remember the "Wild West" andth century). And among the Puritans, any swaying of the hips was already the height of indecency.
However, even without this movement, blasphemy was sinful. Firstly, because it was sometimes performed with minimal body cover, and even topless. And secondly, in a number of dances they really used sexual gestures - for example, calling for reproduction in order to repel the attacks of the invaders, to preserve the Hawaiian people and their independence (such, for example, the Kana'i Aupuni dance - "Dance of 5 leaders") .
Alas! Since the Hawaiians did not have a written language, but only an oral tradition, besides, hula was taught as a spiritual practice, to which the dancer devoted his whole life, studying in special closed schools halau for many years, with the ban on the dance itself and its teaching, teachers (kumu hula) literally "went underground", and their art was extinguished.
| Monument to Kamehameha I |
under the first Hawaiian king of the Kamehameh I , however, foreigners with all their desires, religious and commercial, more and more far -fetched, more and more success he actively guarded the cultural identity, interests and independence of his country. And even for all important posts in the leadership of the country, he tried to take exclusively shamans (kahun).
(Let me remind the reader that since the 1200s, with the arrival of the priest Paao in Hawaii and his religious and political reforms, shamans were literally “squeezed out” from the life of society, and for the most part 5 centuries they took refuge in the forests of the island of Kauai, the last to join the kingdom Hawaii - so the first king of the islands returned to them the freedom to practice their knowledge and open life).
But in 1820 his son Liolio ascended the throne, both of whose wives were Christians, and he himself was very attracted to everything European .
.. Hawaiian culture, next to the sparkling outfits, weapons and money of Europeans, seemed to him infinitely archaic .. .
That's when the shamans left all their posts, returning again to their forests, and the crushing of all "remnants of the old" began.
And vulgar, disgusting and sinful blasphemy was totally forbidden.
True, King Kamehameaha III was already again pushing for religious freedom, and restored the right to hula in the 1830s, albeit almost nominally. It was impossible to suppress the Hawaiian love for hula completely, even the missionaries saw it - but they insisted that the dancers dance in their puritan dresses - capless from the neck to the floor and with long sleeves:
| Women dancers before Europeans and after the arrival of missionaries |
It turned out that it was possible to dance hula, sometimes it was difficult, under active disapproval and in impossible outfits for islanders accustomed to freedom.
The Jolly Monarch and the Hawaiian Renaissance0195, whose reign lasted from 1874 to 1891, was able to turn the tide and start the revival of Hawaiian culture and, above all, the hula dance.
Over the objections of converted Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians, renowned experts were brought together in court and inspired to practice the traditional arts.
How is this possible after so many years of oblivion and kings completely under the influence of foreigners?
History does not give us direct answers, but we will try to find them ourselves.
Firstly, I believe, the change of dynasties played a role - David Kalakaua was no longer the direct heir of Kamehameha I. He was not brought up as an heir, and did not accept reverence for foreigners "with mother's milk".
And secondly, therefore or not, but he really passionately loved the Hawaiian national types of entertainment, and first of all - their songs and dances.
They say that during his lifetime he became known as the Jolly Monarch - because.He loved to travel among people and visit various festivals and holidays. The hula, once again becoming a part of them, was often danced in his honor.
That's why the world-famous hula festival , which annually gathers hula fans all over the earth, is called "Merry Monarh" . that is, a cheerful monarch, - in his honor.
As a result, during his reign, the hula was not only "allowed" - it entered the era of its revival.
Hula practitioners combined Hawaiian elements of poetry, singsong vocals, performances, dance moves and costumes, to create a new form, hula ku'i (ku'i means "to connect the old and the new")
True, even in the early 20th century, prayers, rituals and teaching style still formed the basis of the Hula dance - but interest in the older song accompaniment was already fading away. moment, songs began to appear about love for nature, surfing, men and women, etc.
