[gentle music]
(Describer) KQED.
Aloha, I'm Snowbird
Puananiopaokalani Bento
here in Honolulu,
Hawaii, land of the hula.
This is "If Cities Could Dance."
[ho'opa'a chanting in Hawaiian]
(Snowbird)
Hula is the way
that [speaks Hawaiian]
of Hawaii
or native peoples of
Hawaii tell our stories.
(Pilialoha)
And it's a spiritual endeavor
as much as it is a physical.
(Kilinoe)
And a hula dancer,
we are recorders
of time and events that
will eventually be retold
in the future.
(Diane)
How are we gonna
make sure that the messages
of these dances are
gonna carry on forever?
[upbeat music]
(Describer) If Cities Could Dance: Our history, our culture, our moves. During the pandemic. Honolulu Hula.
♪ Come on, yeah ♪
[gentle music)
(Diane)
In Honolulu, you
have the tourism industry
offering a very entertainment-
focused style of hula.
And then you have hula
for cultural perpetuation,
for ceremony, dancing
hula to really internalize
the messages of our [speaks
Hawaiian], our ancestors.
(Describer) Diane Leinani Paloma. She moves her arms gently. Snowbird Puananiopaokalani Bento dances in a park.
[Snowbird sings in Hawaiian]
[Snowbird chants in Hawaiian]
(Snowbird)
Hula needs the words
because that's
where the story is.
We come from an oral tradition.
We pass on our
[speaks Hawaiian], our history.
Our [speaks Hawaiian],
they could hold
hundreds of years'
worth of generations
of [speaks Hawaiian]
just through remembering
the words of a chant.
[Snowbird chants in Hawaiian]
(Describer) Translated: Hold fast oh child to your heritage.
The word au'a
is to stand apart.
This comes from the prophecy
that the big fishes will come
and swallow up
the little fishes
and that we are to hold
fast to the culture.
Hula is the way that we ensure
that we are not erased from our
own history in our own land.
[Snowbird chants in Hawaiian]
[sings in Hawaiian]
(Snowbird)
I am a kumu hula,
and one of the definitions
of kumu means to be the
source of knowledge.
I started formally dancing
hula when I was nine years old,
but I knew from a young age
that I loved this so much
because it was so much
a part of this land
that I belong to, that my
[speaks Hawaiian] come from.
We're a generation
where our parents fought
so that we could
speak Hawaiian.
As a kumu hula today,
the ability for me
to speak my language and to
have my cultural practice
as intact as it still
is mind-blowing.
[Snowbird chants in Hawaiian]
(Describer) Pilialoha Kamakea-Young.
(Pilialoha)
With the suppression of
hula in the 1800s,
it's amazing that we still have
hula available for us today.
In the early 1800s,
after the arrival
of Calvinist missionaries
from New England
and as Hawaii
started to convert
to become a Christian nation,
the art of hula was seen as
lascivious
and almost heretical.
And so hula got pushed
into underground scenes
that were maintained
in secrecy.
And it wasn't until
Kalakaua became king
in the 1870s in which
hula was revived
to its former glory,
and Kalakaua included hula
as a major part of his two-week
coronation celebrations.
And so hula was seen
publicly for the first time
after decades of being
pushed underground
on the grounds
of Iolani Palace.
Iolani Palace is significant
to the revival of hula
that we see today and that
we're able to enjoy today.
[drums beating)
(Describer) They dance in front of the palace near a large statue of the king.
[Snowbird chants in Hawaiian]
(Snowbird)
Hula was passed down
through a very small
group of people
who then taught it to another
finite group of people.
So to be part of this
continuum as a kumu hula,
that's pre-destined, I believe.
[Snowbird chants in Hawaiian]
(Describer) Views around the island show the tall buildings and clear water.
One of the ways that we
keep hula alive today is
through the uniki process.
(Pilialoha)
First tier of uniki is
to become an olapa,
which is the dancer.
(Kilinoe)
You have to work hard
to be a hula dancer.
It definitely takes tears,
blood, and plenty of sweat.
(Pilialoha)
The second tier
would be ho'opa'a,
the vocal and
musical accompaniment
to the dancers in which
you memorize and chant
the songs and lyrics
that inspire the dancer.
And then finally, the
third and final step
in the uniki process is
to become a kumu hula.
And now you're
entrusted to be the one
to maintain the teachings
beyond just yourself.
(Snowbird)
Then your kumu will decide
if you're ready to become a
source of knowledge and hula.
[gentle music)
(Describer) Clouds stream over the volcano’s crater. Waves crash over rocks.
[gentle music continues)
(Diane)
Even though I've been dancing
for 30-something years,
I still feel
the more you know,
the more you realize
how much you don't know.
(Kilinoe)
The hula helps me vision
what Honolulu used to be and
could potentially be again.
(Pilialoha)
To be a dancer today
is a true gift.
Knowing that there
was generations
of fearless, strong
[speaks Hawaiian] who fought
for the tradition to
stay alive past them.
(Snowbird)
Hula is the way that
we express our feelings
about our people,
our land, our history.
It is embedded in our
identity as [speaks Hawaiian],
and it is embedded in who
we are as a part of this world.
Mahalo for watching.
We would like to know
where you would like
"If Cities Could Dance"
to go next.
Drop a comment below
and mahalo again. Aloha.
[gentle music)
(Describer) Accessibiliy provided by the US Department of Education.
Accessibility provided by the
U.S. Department of Education.
