After spending part of the day at Hamoa Beach, my dad, Angela, and myself headed out to Malanai-Hale Manu, one of the beautiful cottages belonging to The Guest Houses at Malanai, owned and operated by my dad’s good friends Chris & Leokāne.
Before I go any further explaining the purpose of the visit, I have to do a bit of an infomercial for this fabulous place to stay. The #1 cottages to stay at in Hana are The Guest Houses at Malanai. The hales (houses) are Manu and Ulu Lulu. You don’t have to believe me, just check out the rave reviews:
The purpose for our visit was a dinner party put on by friends of Leokāne. It happens that Leokāne is an incredibly talented musician of the traditional sort. His ukelele playing, soaring angelic voice and expressive hula dancing is a treat for anyone who has a chance to experience his gifts. The moment that completely changed his life direction, ultimately bringing him back to Hawaii, the land of his youth and family, and bringing his music to us, was because of a party, a woman named Pilialoha Christiansen and her hula group (or hālau) Ka Hale Hula O Pilialohaokalani ‘O Hilo. The hālau was visiting Hana as part of an inter-island trip that included attending the Merrie Monarch Festival, an annual festival celebrating the art of the hula (if you think the hula is some chick in a grass skirt and a coconut bra, you are sorely mistaken and missing out). Also visiting was Leokāne’s nephew and bride (Joey & Sallie) celebrating their honeymoon.
The night consisted of an introduction to a dozen hula dancers from Grass Valley, CA. I’m fairly certain they were all over 30, most over 40. A varied group of ladies with great smiles, contagious laughter and kindness exuding from their every pore: This welcome attitude and gentle generosity is known as the Aloha Spirit. They busied themselves around the kitchen, their every movement of this communal cooking appearing like a choreographed dance. The rest of us were kept out of the kitchen (too many cooks spoil the pot?), drinking wine on the lanai (porch or deck) and eating delicious Pupus (appetizers). Dinner was laid out buffet style, but the food was anything but! Huge coconut shrimp, pork tenderloin, fresh salad with fruit, prawns…delicious! After dishing ourselves a plate, we all gathered in the living room in front of the TV to watch the best of the Merrie Monarch Festival 2009.
Watching the varied types of hula, the myriad dancers alike, I was in awe! The hula is divided into the two recognized styles: the ‘Auana and the Kahiko. The ‘auana is the more modern hula which can be accompanied by a full group of musicians and string instruments are allowed. The kahiko is the more traditional form and can only be chanted with a percussive instrument accompaniment. Each hālau performs both an ‘auana and kahiko. The categories are divided even further by gender – wahine (women) and kane (men) plus the category of best overall. Additionally, there is a competition for solo wahines for the title of Miss Aloha Hula in which each dancer must perform both an ‘auana and kahiko. Still with me?
The best thing is probably to watch some of the best videos. KITV airs the Merrie Monarch Festival footage each year and indexes the videos on their website. Each video is accompanied by commentary that can be very illuminating and educational. It’s recommended that you watch the videos of the winners in each category, but if you have time it’s enlightening to watch the lower ranked groups as well. You don’t need to know hula to see who are the most talented and skilled dancers. Even as I watched the Miss Hula Aloha contestants, once the girl who eventually won stepped out, it was painfully obvious how much she was elevated above all the others in her gift.
If you want an abbreviated version of who to watch, these are my suggestions:
- Kane group winner
The men’s groups are quite powerful to watch. The group that won performed what is essentially a procreation dance. Not that I need to even tell you that because it comes across pretty clear in the dance. You have to see it. The living room at the dinner party sounded like a bachelorette party when these guys came on and I was happy to be a part of it.
- Wahine group winner
This dance was, culturally, an answer to the above men’s group. The refrain they chant while dancing is essentially a sound that means “out of breath”. You can figure out the rest.
- This was my favorite wahine group, even though they didn’t win
It was a lovely evening and I’m lucky to have been able to be a part of it. The ladies were wonderful and Chris & Leokāne are now two of my favorite people.
Posted by Maryke on May 10, 2009 at 11:26 am
I like the fact that it sleeps two. Sans little ones.
Posted by Maryke on May 10, 2009 at 11:32 am
I like the fact that it only sleeps two. Sans child(ren) is always a good idea once in a Hula while.