Luau Dancers
A live hula performance is a "must have" part of luau entertainment. You can have a wonderful luau without luau dancers, but it is just such a traditional mainstay of luau and adds so much to the occasion, whether a wedding luau or child's birthday, that if the budget allows, do try to arrange for this.
The most fun performances engage the audience as well, teaching a few hula movements, while bringing a guest of honor and a few others up on stage as part of the hula lesson fun. If the luau is for a child's birthday, arrange to have a hula lesson given to all the children.
With today's interest in authentic Hawaiian culture, it's always nice to have a hula troupe that can perform ancient as well as modern hula.
Often a hula halau (hula school) or hula troupe as they are more often called on the mainland, will include a few Polynesian dances outside of Hawaii, such as the Tahitian fast hip movement dances (picture below) set to exciting drum beats and the Tahitian style of traditional Polynesian music.
The grand finale of many of the large, hotel style luau on the Islands, is the Samoan Fire Dance, and while the fire dancer isn't likely to be part of the hula troupe; depending on your event's location, you may be able to offer your luau guests this exciting performance as well.
Like with Hawaiian music, there are many types of hula. The two most general categories are: Hula Kahiko (ancient hula)
and Hula Auana (modern).
Hula Kahiko (Ancient)
This is the hula that was danced to the ancient chants in pre-Western contact Hawaii. You can learn more about these chants in our article, Luau Music. This ancient hula was performed for many varying occasions and reasons, including praising the chiefs, paying respects to the Hawaiian gods and goddesses, passing on the oral history to a younger generation, entertainment, telling stories and more. The ancient hula could be very expressive of emotion, extremely serious or even frivolous and fun. A variety of instruments were used, including:
Ili `ili - smooth lava stone castanets
Ipu and Ipu heke - single and double gourd drum
Kala` au - rhythm sticks
Pahu - sharkskin covered drum
Pu`ili - split bamboo sticks
Uli` uli - feathered gourd rattles
Women in old Hawaii dancing the hula often wore the pa`u, a wrapped tapa skirt or a ti leaf skirt and were topless. Men hula dancers wore the malo, a loin cloth. Both wore bracelets, anklets and lei made from plants and other natural objects. After the missionaries came, the dancers were wore more Western style clothing and eventually they banned the hula all together.
Image courtesy of Polynesian Cultural Center.
hula had always portrayed the chants, but the more hulas' movements were often slower and more graceful as they followed the melodic, Westernized Hawaiian music.
This type of hula includes "Monarchy hula" as described above. The costumes for this hula are quite beautiful and reflected the Victorian era when David Kalakaua and his successor Queen Liliuokalani reined.
Another form of modern hula is the hapa hula. As with hapa-haole music, hapa hula was mainly created for the entertainment of tourists in Hawaii at the hotels, shopping malls and other venues. It was also popularized on television shows such as Don Ho and Hawaii Calls.
And as with Hawaiian music, hula has since the 1970's Hawaiian Renaissance evolved to a more authentically Hawaiian art form that includes older traditions and is performed to more traditional Hawaiian songs, as described in the Luau Music article.
Modern hula is danced to music created by Hawaiian instruments such as the ukulele, steel guitar and slack key guitar. Ancient hula instruments are sometimes used as well as the piano.
As always in Hawaii, the hula is also danced informally at backyard luau where Uncle might start playing his guitar, and one of the Auntie's or Tutu (grandmother) will dance.
Today at Hawaii hotel type luau, the Polynesian Cultural Center, and other venues; the Hawaiian luau entertainment often includes both ancient and modern hula.
And in Hilo on the Big Island, every year around Easter, hula halau from around the world, and especially of course from Hawaii, where the hula originated, compete at the Merrie Monarch Festival in ancient and modern hula competitions.
By adding luau dancers to your event, you can make one of Hawaii's most celebrated and enjoyable art forms part of your luau entertainment!
.Hula Auana (Modern)
The hula was reintroduced during the first Hawaiian Renaissance when King David Kalakaua (for whom the world's largest hula competition, the Merrie Monarch Festival held annually Hilo, Hawaii, was named) and other members of the royal family revived the Hawaiian culture and arts, including the hula.
Performers during this era monarchy era modernized the hula by blending Hawaiian poetry, ancient chants, melodic mele (songs) and dance movements that told the stories that were sung. The movements of
