Hula Hula in the Pacific

A woman, a dance and a landscape can characterize in a few seconds, an entire region. An odalisque in the Arabian Desert, a geisha from cloth of colors in a room in Kyoto, a Mahari running in honor of Krishna Odissi in Orissa. And in Polynesia ... a young girl with long hair, wreath on his head, a vegetable fiber skirt, swaying their hips to the rhythm of the palms and the sea.

They are stereotypes, but contain some truth. In Hawaii and Tahiti, this cliché of women sweet and undulating harmonic refers to the linkage of these societies with nature. And this is expressed through the dance.

The dance-like part of the culture-experienced tensions between tradition and modernity. The dance never congeals into a time past. It is impossible to freeze an ephemeral art and, often, not even audio-visual records. How was dancing in Hawaii and Tahiti five or ten centuries ago? You cannot know. So there are many versions of the real or true Hawaiian dance.

The traditional Hawaiian dance is based on the arms and hands: they are the transmitters legends, stories and thoughts very codified. Depending on how they move and the shapes of the hands and arms covered the sea, moon, rain, trees, and mountains. The dance is a symbolic narrative art and whose main theme is nature, praised through songs, gestures and postures. It is believed that the purpose of this ancestral ritual choreography was politico-religious, as was devoted to gods or kings. Previously, the music was made with voices and instruments constructed with natural objects like stones, seeds, animal skins and coconuts. Western influence added other instruments like the ukulele, string sound which is essential for many in the folk music of Hawaii (and Tahiti), and yet it is an import late (nineteenth century).

In Tahiti these features repeats Hawaiian dances, but also more frequently seen with the use of drums that lead to dancing frenzy. In several cases, are linked to dance warlike activities. Centuries ago it was only allowed to be executed by men, the women joined later.

Today, men and women play different roles in different dances. But for both, the center of the movement is in the hips, which are shaken vigorously, and feet, which follow the sound of percussion.

In the last decade, these dances have flourished, especially in Latin America, the dance classes in recognized Hawaiian and Tahitian dance studios, and in neighborhood clubs, also. What has been authentic in these proposals is up to the consumer. Meanwhile, a little trip to Honolulu could clear the doubt.

Article Source: http://www.travelarticlelibrary.com

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