Excitement stirs the air as we prepare for our Spring Concert on Sunday, May 8th. Halau students diligently practice their hulas. Musicians strum their instruments - ukulele, mandolin, or guitar. Singers lovingly voice the Hawaiian meles (songs). And then at the concert - we come together sharing our gifts in a unified concert of song, chant and dance.
Hula is storytelling using the whole body. It's a moving meditation that involves awareness and harmony of mind and body. The body has great wisdom and with adequate repetition, it learns the movements. Then the mind can relax its focus on technique and switch to the pure presence of each moment.
I remember my very first performance at a Holoku Ball presented by my Kumu's (Hula Master) Halau Hula Ka No'eau (hula school) at Waimea's Kahilu Town Hall in 1988. A holoku is a Hawaiian dress marked by a long train - there were many beautiful ones at the ball. I wore my mother's navy blue dotted swiss mu'u (no train) with white yoke, bottom ruffles and short puff sleeves.
My beginners class with Kumu Michael Pili Pang had just started in August of that year, and the ball was in November. We danced what all beginning students in the Maiki Aiu Lake lineage first learn - the Basic Hula - to the Hawaiian mele Kalena Kai. I remember being very focused on technique - careful about the hand and feet motions to the music - and not on much else.
During my training I remember many times being very surprised at how my mind thought that I was doing a particular motion but my body was actually doing a different motion. Hula can be very specific and technical. The awareness that my mind and body were not always working together was new to me, and this awareness continued to grow. My Kumu always called me on this and it helped my mind be sharper and more in sync with my body.
I closely watched my Kumu and worked hard to mimic and embody how he did the motions. I learned that it was important to be faithful, to carry on the way a dance was taught to me instead of making up my own movements to it. There is a genealogy, a lineage in hula that I honor and am a part of. If we know the past, we can go confidently into the future.
Hula is endless in terms of opportunities to grow and learn. Under the direction of my Kumu - I noticed how important it was, not only to know your dance well, but what it means to dance with and be part of a group. As you dance together a lot, you grow ma'a to one another. Ma'a means "used to, knowing thoroughly."
You become aware not only of yourself, but of your hula sisters and brothers. When that happens, you are able to "feel" each other when dancing together. You know where they are, even though you may not be able to see them. I distinctly remember when I first noticed how my hula sisters and I moved together in unison to the chanting of my Kumu. E pupukahi - united in motion and thought - harmony in action.
Hula also gives you the opportunity to practice many Hawaiian values such as ha'a ha'a or humility, kokua or generosity in helping one another and ho'omanawanui or patience in all that you do. And of course with this discipline comes le'a l'ea - joy.
So here I am in Chicago. There is a hula mound that was built with love in our back yard and makes me feel at home here. It has been lovingly maintained by many hands and blessed with many dancing feet. On Sunday, we will recreate for you Aloha of the Islands with beautiful Hawaiian mele by the talented Jason Poole, sacred joyous hula by the dancers of Halau i Ka Pono and much more.
E komo mai - please join us!
June Kaililani Tanoue
Kumu Hula
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