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Hula Dance Research

Decent Essays

On November 23, 2016 Disney’s newest princess, Moana, made it to theaters. Moana is a tale of a young Polynesian girl that is fascinated by the ocean and adventure. As the only daughter of a family of navigators she was destined for greatness. After watching the tale of Moana, I gained interest in the Polynesian culture, specially the dance of the Hula. Yes, we have all heard of the Hula and have seen the ladies in the grass skirts that move gracefully, slowly moving their hips and arms from side to side. I was attracted to the beauty and tradition that is attached to the dance. Hula dancing has a long history, the dance was performed “ritual dance performed for the Volcano goddess, Pele” (Hula Dance HQ). When Hula is performed the men chant while the women dance. The Polynesian’s sing songs and chants that focus on nature, for example trees blowing in the wind or fish jumping from the ocean. One story that I have become familiar with is the one of the white …show more content…

The Polynesian people were very in tuned with nature and I truly felt that it was important to respect nature at all times. The Hula dance is comprised of six simply moves that are arranged differently to create different dances. Laka the Hawaiian goddess of dance, created two Hula groups “Olapa” which is comprised of your younger ladies that move with much excitement and high energy, and the “Ho’o-paa which consist of your older women who move slower and very gracefully. I have watched several videos online about the Hula and as I watch the ladies dance you can feel the power of the unspoken words. They seem to take lots of pride as they perform and very happy and energetic. The scenery is very pretty and the rhythm of the drums is almost hypnotic. The dance of the

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