KC3 Essay (draft)

KC3 Draft
We have all heard of the word hula. Many of us have heard of it from family, friends, school, or the media. If you live in Hawaii then you guarantee have heard of hula, it’s part of the culture. Hula has changed over the years from ancient Hawaii to today. Hula is not only taught or danced in Hawaii, many other countries dance hula also but its origin comes right back to Hawaii where hula was born. In ancient Hawaii hula was an act of worship and a part of their culture. Today, hula’s main reason is for entertainment.
Hula has different meanings to people and different effects on others. Some people feel hula is about feeling the spirit of Hawaii deep within the soul and upholding the culture and traditions. Others feel it’s about respect and love for the heritage, the kupuna, the aina, and for one another. Before the westerners/missionaries came to Hawaii, hula was said to serve mainly for religious and ceremonial purposes. Hawaiians would dance hula to worship their gods. Ancient Hawaiians would also dance hula as a way of telling a story through their motions.
When the westerners arrived in Hawaii, everything changed. The westerners introduced new ways of living while the traditional system of rules was thrown aside. The new ways of the westerners were useless to the Hawaiians and it only helped the Hawaiian culture fade away. The passion and art of hula was drifting away year after year. When the westerners came, they believed that the hula was an inappropriate dance and they decided to abolish it. The kumu hula (hula masters) would only share their knowledge of hula to the trusted people who could pass it on secretly. The traditions of hula were only kept alive in the rural areas. The hula finally started coming back in the early sixties when the first hula competition was invented in honor of King Kalakaua. From there it grew and grew, and today many countries are being taught and dancing to the hula.
There are two types of hula, the traditional and the modern. The modern hula, hula’auana, involves more melodic music using modern instruments. Hula’auana also involves more sensual moves than the ancient style, hula kahiko. Instead of dancing hula as an act of worship, they dance to entertain others. These days they have many hula competitions to see which halau can dance the best and which halau has the passion of dancing hula. In some halaus, they dance traditionally and try to keep the hula as pure as possible. Most of the halaus that enter the competitions choreograph their own dances.
Hula in the Hawaiian culture has had its ups and downs but it’s still very important the Hawaiian culture. When you watch a hula dancer, you can tell if they are passionate about hula by the way dance, their motions should be clear in telling the story. The traditional hula has survived even though it went through a lot over the years, people are still able to teach it to others and keep it alive. The modern hula has developed with trends and tendencies of ethnic uprising internationally and hopefully more people will be able to experience the wonderful dance, hula.