How Hula Dancers Connect Hawaii’s Past and Present | If Cities Could Dance

Honolulu is home to tourism hotspot Waikiki, and many of the city’s beachfront hotels host lavish luaus showcasing styles of hula influenced by Western music and instrumentation. But for Native Hawaiians, the origins of hula are deeply spiritual and rooted in Hawaii’s creation stories and the history and culture of their kūpuna or ancestors. Driven by the mele (poetry), hula marries movement with spoken word to express stories about specific deities, people, places and events.

Many sacred dances have been passed down through centuries of kumu hula, or hula instructors, like Honolulu’s Snowbird Puananiopaokalani Bento, who train decades to master the language, choreography and protocols. Bento grew up singing with her grandparents and parents in church and at home, with autoharp and ukulele constantly in her ear as they sang together after dinner on Sundays. Rhythms, beats and vocals came naturally to her, and she began formally practicing hula at 9-years-old with her first kumu hula, Leimomi Ho.

She also grew up during what is called the “Hawaiian Renaissance,” when many Native Hawaiian activists and leaders fought for the reinstitution of Hawaiian cultural values and practices. The movement countered a long history of Christian missionary influence and the United States’ forced takeover of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893, which led to Hawaii’s annexation as a territory and its eventual statehood. Starting in the 1960s, their efforts led to the revival of hula and the 1971 establishment of the Merrie Monarch Festival as a hula competition; the end of U.S. military test bombing on the island of Kaho‘olawe after protests in 1973; and the reinstitution of Hawaiian as an official language in 1978. While attending Kamehameha Schools in this changed cultural landscape, Bento perfected her ‘ōlelo Hawaii (Hawaiian language), and through diligent study became a rising hula star under Kumu Hula Holoua Stender. In 2001, Stender selected her to compete as Miss Aloha Hula at the Merrie Monarch Festival, the most renowned hula event in the world.

Today, Bento is teaching the next generation of dancers through her hālau hula (hula school) Ka Pā Hula O Ka Lei Lehua. Watch them dance at Honolulu’s Pu‘u ‘Ualaka‘a State Park, SALT at Our Kaka‘ako, and the historic Iolani Palace, the home of Hawaii's last reigning monarchs.

📌 Editor’s note: This episode was filmed under strict guidelines due to the coronavirus pandemic. Safety parameters were followed to protect the health of the dancers and video production team.

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📖​ Chapters:
00:00 Meet Snowbird Puananiopaokalani Bento
00:16 What is Hula?
00:51 Tourist Hula vs. Traditional Hula
01:07
01:23 The Oral Tradition of Hula
01:50 The Purpose of Hula
02:19 What is a Kuma Hula?
03:03 Pilialoha Kamakea-Young, an 'Ōlapa in Training
03:11 Why Hula Was Pushed Underground in Hawaii
04:31 The 'Ūniki Training Process
04:42 Kilinoe Kimura, an 'Ōlapa in Training

Our history. Our culture. Our moves.
KQED Arts’ award-winning video series #IfCitiesCouldDance​ is back for a fourth season! In each episode, meet dancers from across the country representing their city’s signature moves. Watch a new episode from season four of the video series every other week.


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🦶🏽Featured dancers:
Snowbird Puananiopaokalani Bento
Diane Leinani Paloma
Pilialoha Kamakea-Young
Kilinoe Kimura
La‘akapu Lenchanko
Mike Kalanikini Nāho‘opi‘i

🎨 Featured Murals:
Jurne, Kahiau Beamer

#hawaii #hula #ifcitiescoulddance