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Hula: Hawaii’s Art
 In the common imagination, Hawaii has no more potent symbol than the hula dancer, usually a youthful beauty with a dreamy smile undulating to the rhythmic strums of a ukulele.
The hula in Hawaii - in all of its sacred and ceremonial forms - was an integrated system of poetry, movement and rhythm. The essence of ancient hula was in the words, the chant, without which, to the Hawaiian mind, there would be no dance. Gourds, drums, split bamboo sticks, and other instruments only supported the rhythm. Hula could be performed without instruments, but never without chanting. The chants themselves were complex, poetic and rich with multi-levels of meaning.
The origins of the hula are shrouded in mist, though its antecedents can be traced through Polynesia to India itself. While the acknowledged patron of the hula is the goddess Laka, a wealth of legends tell of the fiery goddess Pele, who searched for a home on each of the Hawaiian islands before settling into a volcanic cauldron on the Big Island of Hawaii. Today, more than 300 sacred
songs and chants recount the saga of Pele, her love for the chanter Lohi'au, and her sister Hi'iaka's heroic journey to bring Lohi'au from his home on Kaua'i to Pele at the other end of the archipelago. Several versions of the Pele legend credit hula's beginnings to Hi'iaka herself and to her mortal friend Hopoe, whom
 Pele destroyed in an impatient rage waiting for her sister to return with Lohi'au. Another account, part of a 928-line genealogy chant, tells of La'ila'i, who came to Hawaii from the Marquesas. This legend locates the birthplace of Hawaiian hula on Moloka'i.
Many of the Christian missionaries who arrived in Hawaii in 1820 were appalled by the "noisy" and "heathenish" hula, and they made great efforts to abolish the dance, eventually convincing Christianized royalty to declare it illegal. But hula survived, beleaguered, perhaps, but zealously guarded and cherished by Hawaiians in locations remote from the many mission stations sprinkled through the islands.
King David Kalakaua, who came to the throne in 1874, is credited with returning the ancient hula to public enjoyment. David Kalakaua did more for the hula, far more, than reviving an ancient dance. During Kalakaua's reign the hula again became a "living tradition," one that grew and evolved. Under Kalakaua's patronage the Western forms of rhythm and melody, as expressed by hymn singing and band music, were amalgamated with the traditional hula forms. The ukulele, borrowed from Portuguese immigrants, was introduced, with its companion the steel guitar. And the
ti- leaf skirt was seen for the first time as a dance costume.
In 1893, two years into the reign of Queen Lili'uokalani, Kalakaua's successor, the monarchy was overthrown by supporters of annexation to the United States. Hawaiian cultural expressions such as hula were swamped by the political turmoil and American hegemony that followed.
Though ignored, hula survived, both the ancient, rigid, semi-sacred forms whose carefully preserved movements could not be changed or amended, and the hula ku'i (stitched or joined together) of Kalakaua's era.
Still, many of the old chants and dances survived, handed down reverently from teacher to student in sanctuaries on each of the islands. In the 1970s, the dance emerged as part of a Hawaiian "renaissance" that continues today. The Merrie Monarch Festival, fittingly named for Kalakaua, who had revived the hula a century before, began in 1971 as a showcase of both ancient and modern hula. Scores of other hula pageants, competitions and foundations dedicated to preserving and perpetuating indigenous art forms are bringing the dances and chants of the Hawaiian people to the public eye. Today, the Hawaiian language is enjoying revived interest, bringing new appreciation for the poetry of the ancient texts, with all of the complexities of thought and meanings-within-meanings that this subtle language offers.
Currently a creative debate on ancient hula in full swing;
whether it stand as a pure legacy and unadulterated or may it experience exciting and innovative interpretations? Modern hula, meanwhile, is pulsing with stimulating and experimental dances. The combination is a testament to the Hawaiian culture itself, both perpetuated and changed over the years, but steadfastly retaining its unique heritage and identity, which it continues graciously, with aloha, to share with all the world.
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