Hula Workshop
of Southern New England

Traditional and new hula instruction and performances. Hawaiian language and culture. Luau and party consultation and entertainment. Offering beginner through advanced hula classes and private hula lessons.
 
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No dance experience?
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Did you know?
Dramatic acting, public speaking, and ballet are each excellent backgrounds for learning hula.

































Ka Leo o Ke Kai - Voice of the Sea

Time

I have a hula room in my house. It's where I taught until I got too many students to fit in it. The room is still decorated with photos of dancers and performances, a Herb Kane print of a heiau, a crisply printed Fijian tapa, and my original, weighty hau bark Tahitian `ote`a skirt.


Some of that stuff goes back a long way. Just like the hula knowledge I gained from my kumu, it's heirloom material, culture crystallized in time. 

The one thing that stays up to date is the clock, set always to Hawai`i Standard Time. In the morning, when I take my tea into the hula room, I see that it's still aumoe, the middle of the night back there. At any time of day I can glance at that clock and meditate on what must be happening in Hawai`i Ala--to the people there, Hawai`i Nei.

There are other ways of keeping up. This link from Honolulu City and County will show you live pictures of Waikiki Beach. I pull it up every so often when I'd like to be somewhere else.

Manawa is one of the Hawaiian words for time. There's an NFL player named Ho`omanawanui. Mainland sports announcers have a hard time with it because they just see a bunch of letters, not the words embedded in the name. Ho`omanawanui means 'patient.' Depending on how it's used grammatically it can also mean to try someone's patience. Michael Ho`omanawanui is a tight end, so I guess his name could have either meaning, depending on what team you're on.

I keia manawa, right now, builders are finishing up an addition on my house which will include a new hula room. Spacious, built over living rock (more on that in another post), with a cozy gas fireplace and wide French doors to a dance-able deck, the room will let us dance more freely and in tune with nature. 

At the start of the New Year, contemplating all this, I wonder: How can there be anything, if everything is always changing? The clock ticks, the heart beats, humans draw the lines. 

Hau`oli Makahiki Hou!

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