Learn to Hula Dance

Well, it's a Dance Party Friday, everybody. And today, we are going to learn how to hula. Now, I'm not sure if you know this, but hula is actually a sacred art to the people of Hawaii. Here to give us the inside scoop of how hula originated and to show us some moves is Tiare Kahana. Tiare, welcome to the show. Aloha. Oh, my gosh. Let me greet you properly with a lei. We have an open garland lei of maile leaf and a beautiful pekake and rose lei here. In the ancient days, the leis were open so that once we present it and we tie it, that seals our bond. Wow. I feel like I'm in Hawaii. And it is pronounced Hawaii. Correct. Okay. Now, welcome to the show. Glad to have you here. Will you just tell us about your team quickly, their names? Yes, I have my beautiful dancers with me. I have Maile and I have my ho'opaa. I have Mark and Maile. Wonderful. Great to have all of you here. What's interesting about hula is, you know, a lot of us think, oh, it's just a lot of the dancing and it's very pretty and elegant. But there really is a deep history behind the dance. It's very spiritual. Absolutely. Tell us about it. It originated as a form of worship. There is not a written language originally in Hawaii. And all of our history, genealogy, our legends of Hawaii have been passed down from generation to generation through hula. Wow. And if hula did not exist, we would know nothing of Hawaii's past. Wow. So it's very sacred. It's an expression. It's communication. So it's not about the body. It's about the story. So hula is actually done to the beat of a drum? The ancient hulas were done to a beat of a drum or a gourd, which is an ipu or a double ipu is an ipuheke. Oh, wow. Okay. And a hula's body or a hula's dancer's body is actually telling a story, the different parts of her body? The hands tell the story. The hips are keeping rhythm to the music. But it's mainly the hands that tell the story. And for people who want to learn how to hula, they can get in touch with you. What is your website? My website is dancethehula.com. And how long have you been dancing hula? Oh, many, many years since I was about 8 years old. Spoken like a true hula. Yeah, in case someone can do the math, I won't say. I say the same thing all the time. Well, I'm going to step out of here because you're going to show us some moves in just a little bit, but I want you to take it away. Thank you, Desiree. Thank you. Mahalo. Ai, ea no ka wika, ka heke a ona pua. Ka paa ke a he makua ea. Haina, haina ia mai ka puana ea. Ka lani ka wika he inoa ea. Ea la, ea la, ea aia. Wow. Great job. Oh, my goodness. Wonderful. Mahalo. That was wonderful. I want to quickly put your full screen up. Tell us about this event, this benefit you have. Yes. Saturday, June 19th, Portland High School. We will be performing for a benefit luau for the family of Michael Flood. Sadly, Michael Flood lost his life and his home, and so this luau is to benefit his wife and family. Wonderful. So, please come and support, and at the same time, we can enjoy some aloha spirit. Colleen, hit that music, will you, my DJ? Colleen, you're going to show me a couple moves in about a minute or less. Yes, yes, of course. I'm so sorry. Okay, so where should we begin? You're going to bend your knees. Okay. Now, because we're busy telling the story with our hands, we don't move our shoulders. Okay. Okay, so start with your hips first. Bend your knees. Oh. Sway the hips side to side, so keep your shoulders still. There you go. Oh. And now, place your arms to the left side, and we're going to take two steps to the right. It's step, together, step, go the other way. Step, together. Oh my gosh, I love it. Step, tap, and the motions are very small and gentle, mainly in the hands, not the whole arm. And really quickly, before we go to break, I'm wearing my flower on the left because I'm a married woman. You're taken, that's right. Single on the right. All right, everybody, we've got much more Connecticut style coming up right after this. We are going to keep dancing our way out of here. Oh.