Hula via the internet?

Aloha! E hulakukakuka!  Let's talk Hula!
I got asked recently if I taught hula via the internet because people live across the Pacific and can't get over to Hawai'i to learn good hula.  PA'I Arts & Culture may be connecting to a distance learning program in a future experiment so stay tuned...but not right now... www.paifoundation.org

And after our last email, because I posted a video of one of my students, Char, dancing Honolulu at our monthly Kanikapila, which is tonight, if it was ok if they learned the motions from the video.....uh....no!

Choreography is intellectual property rights.  Its not cool to take someone else's choreography and use it if you never learned it from them directly.  I know its happening but thought maybe we should start putting it out there that's not the way to learn mele hula.  I have students in New York City and I am travelling back and forth from Hawai'i to teach them.   They practice on their own, email questions and sometimes send me video of their practices... the Video is a refresher tool and one that can be used to fine tune level, hand positions, body positions etc...its not perfect, you don't get to see everything on a flat screen, and its hard to teach about the emotional passion that comes from dancing if its not in person.

Halau is different somewhat from most dance schools.  In halau you make a commitment to the kumu hula, the master teacher that's very difficult to break.  You become a family and have kuleana, responsibilities and priveleges that come with being in the family.  You are connected to a genealogy of teachers that you are responsible to that have come before you and will come after you and a family of kumu hula, brother and sister halau that will hold you responsible for your choices and actions.

It is this relationship, that can not be connected via the internet or video.  We will in the future, experiment with teaching hula through distance learning.  This however, is not halau.

Christian Hula

I thought I'd respond to a hula teacher who teaches hula on the mainlaind on Hulakukakuka...I've had several chats related to this issue and I know its a controversy for some....Here's her question.

On Wed, Jun 8, 2011 at 8:02 AM, 

"Aloha,

Mahalo for your newsletter!  I have a small hula studio in California and have a question about students dancing kahiko chants.  It concerns students that are Jehovah Witness and their reluctance to dance to songs about Pele.  How do you handle students with those concerns?  I want them to learn the dances but not to go against their beliefs.  I’d appreciate whatever light you can shed as to this troubling situation."

Aloha,

Its a great question and for some hula teachers a problem...

Its not a question or problem for me...Its a problem for the student.  

I have had students who refuse to dance Pele dances.  They are no longer part of our halau.  

If a student comes to me with that dilemma, I show them the door. and if they continue to come to class, every mele will be about Pele.

I refuse to not teach the dances of our ancestors and push our students to find a way to accept that part of our cultural heritage.  I find it strange and disrespectful to our Hawaiian culture that some churches have included "christian hula" in their worship services.  Hula was the first thing that the churches banned when they came to Hawai'i in 1820, then they went about banning our Hawaiian language in the schools.  and now, its ok for them to take that part of our cultural heritage and appropriate it for the promotion of their own agenda.

You don't get to appropriate parts of our cultural practices and adapt and change it to serve your own needs...

I have also been confronted by some people about this.  I was Hawaiian when I was conceived, before I became an American when I was born, and before I was baptized at the age of 8 and became Christian.  I don't have a problem and if god wanted everyone to worship and speak and be raised the same way then you would all be Hawaiians...

So let's embrace our cultural diversity, and religious choices, because it is a choice and create a better world for our future generations who are kind to each other, malama one another, the earth and the natural and cultural resources that we all need to survive as a people.

 

How to choose the right mele for hula.

The idea that the Star Spangled Banner, music from Pocahontas, America the Beautiful and songs by the Goo Goo Dolls, I Left My Heart in San Francisco, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face etc. etc etc. can be used for hula brings us to the subject of what songs are appropriate for hula.  I sat in on a lecture several years ago by Ka'upena Wong, master chanter, who shared his expertise on mele.  He painted a very clear and concise definition of mele, oli and mele hula that I've expanded on but would like to share with everyone as a foundation for selecting appropriate mele for hula.

Mele is the general term used to refer to poetry, chant and song.
We can divide this category into two major divisions, oli and hula.

Oli is Hawaiian chant, never danced to and is always chanted in the Hawaiian language.  There are many functions of oli that cannot be discussed in its entirety in this setting, but in general oli are used for pule (prayers), aloha (greetings), mo'oku'auhau (genealogies) and there are chant styles and vocal techniques that are associated with these categories.

Hula is the general term used to describe dance.  Hula can divided into two major categories.  Hula Kahiko, ancient style Hawaiian dance, is always chanted in the Hawaiian language and accompanied by traditional Hawaiian percussion instruments.  Hula 'Auana, modern style Hawaiian dance, can be divided up into two major categories:  Hawaiian, songs in the Hawaiian language and Hapa Haole, songs about Hawai'i, its land, people and culture in the English language.

Hula songs should be performed to mele (chants/songs) that fit into these major categories.  Not all songs about Hawai'i, its people and culture are appropriate for hula.  Hula rhythm is 2/4 tempo.  Waltz tunes are not appropriate for hula, its a waltz tempo in 3/4 and hula steps are in 2/4......

Not all songs about Hawai'i are composed with hula in mind so be selective about what songs you choose for your hula.  If it doesn't feel right or flow naturally it might not be the right song....

Attached find a clip from Dancing Greener, our University of Hawai'i dance concert happening this weekend..Feb 11-13 at Kennedy Theatre on the Mānoa campus.  Choreography by Vicky Holt Takamine.  The opening song, Singing Bamboo composed by Maddy K. Lam is sung by my brother Albert Holt.  It's a perfect example of a Hapa Haole song & hula.  The second is a hula 'pū'ili, A Kona Hema, sung by Kapaliula deSilva and is a good example of a hula 'auana in the Hawaiian language.

E hula kākou!

What is a Kumu Hula?

There are a lot of people who are using the title "kumu hula".  What is a Kumu Hula and how do you become one?

I never assumed the title of kumu hula.  My kumu, Maiki Aiu Lake, gave me the title and through that gesture of love for all of her students, she assumes all kuleana, the responsibilities, for the work that I do. I like to think that I earned the title of kumu hula, through years of study and dedication to the practice of my art.  I still consider myself a student of the art and know that I will never know everything that hula has to teach and offer us.  I strive to be responsible for what I teach and perform, constantly guided by the fact that my teachings must be pleasing to the teachers that have gone before me, my kupuna and those that are yet to come.

I can only speak on behalf of my training and hula practice as handed down from my kumu hula Maiki Aiu Lake.  Aunty Maiki 'uniki (graduated through the rituals of hula) from Lokalia Montgomery.  In the early 1970's Maiki, after decades of teaching hula, selected some of her students to begin a new level of training in the art of hula with the intention of graduating master teachers of Hawaiian dance.  In addition to long time hula students, she invited a handful of other very talented and gifted individuals to 'uniki.  Papa Lehua 'ūniki in 1972.  Among these graduates are Robert Uluwehi Cazimero, Leina'ala Kalama Heine, John Kaha'i Topolinksi, Kalena Silva and her own two daughters Karen Aiu and Coline Aiu.  Many of the kumu have started their own hālau and continue to practice the traditions handed down to them by Maiki.  Others have continued to study other fields of Hawaiian culture and have become experts in those fields.

In 1972, Maiki began a second class.  My sister Charlene and I had been students of Aunty Maiki since we were 10 and 12 years old.  We both 'uniki with the Papa 'Ilima class in 1975 as kumu hula along with Mapuana deSilva, Kepa Maly, Wayne Chang and others.

From Aunty Maiki we learned to make all of our own instruments, printed our own kihei and pā'ū, learned drumming patterns and which ones belong to the hula pahu and which drum beats belong to the ipu,  the correct way to place your ipu and sit while drumming, what chant styles were appropriate for hula and oli etc.  We 'uniki with 'ailolo, the formal eating of the pua'a hiwa, a pure black pig roasted to perfection and partook of all the parts of the pua'a symbolically infusing those qualities into our whole being.  We were expected to be experts in our field of dance and chant and we worked hard to ensure that our kumu was pleased with our work.

I like to think that I earned the title of kumu hula from Aunty Maiki.  But the truth is, I am still earning it..the learning is never complete.
 a'ole pau....ua 'ike a......

Pro Bowl "Hula" 2011

So it takes something like the Pro Bowl to motivate me to start a blog!  Leave it to the event coordinators at e2k.com to come up with the idea that dancing the hula to the Star Spangled Banner and the Goo Goo Dolls is the way to showcase hula.  Erin Olmstead responds by saying: "As far as the hula performance, we were consulted by a well respected woman in the industry, named Olana Ai, who has done nothing but great things for the community.  She founded the Halau Hula Olana, the School of Living Hula, in 1975 and it has grown to become one of the largest hula schools in the islands. Repeatedly, the halau has been recognized for its excellence...."  Yes, they have been recognized for its excellence of traditional hula.  But they have never performed the Star Spangled Banner, danced to the Goo Goo Dolls or Pocahontas at any of these competitions because she knows that the judges would never approve of it. 


I should know, I've judged those competitions for more than ten years.