Let's Dance the Hawaiian Hula

Hula is the traditional Hawaiian art of storytelling through dance, chant, and song. As a musical genre, it encompasses both ancient ceremonial chant-and-drum forms (hula kahiko) and later song-based, Western-influenced forms (hula ʻauana). In hula kahiko, vocal chant (oli) is supported by indigenous percussion such as the ipu heke (double gourd drum) and pahu (sharkskin drum). The texts (mele) carry kaona—layered poetic meanings that honor genealogy, deities, places, and historical events. In hula ʻauana (which crystallized in the 19th–20th centuries), the music adopts diatonic melodies, Western harmony, and instruments like ʻukulele, slack-key and steel guitar, and bass, while retaining Hawaiian poetic practices and dance vocabulary. Across both strands, music and movement are inseparable: tempo, phrasing, and dynamics follow the dancer’s narrative gesture, creating a tightly integrated performance tradition.