What is the Hula Dance?

The hula is a Hawaiian dance. It tells a story with motions. The hula today is just thought of as an entertaining dance by many tourists, however it has a very long and interesting history.

The hula is not just a woman dancing with a grass skirt on and moving her hips in a provocative way. Hula means "dance" in Hawaiian language. The hula in fact began as a worship dance and evolved into a story telling dance that was accompanied with mele or chants. The hula was a way for the ancient Hawaiian people to tell their stories and have those stories passed down from generation to generation without writing them down. Hula is a form of expression, the telling of a story through hand gestures. It involves your entire body from your eyes to your feet. Every movement your hands make is the meaning of a word or phrase.

Hula dancers not only have to carry out the movements but most importantly they also have to pass the stories to audiences. :) That is the beauty of Hula. And Hula is the beauty of Hawaiian culture.