Word: hula
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...ready for the show to start. Conversation quieted as MIT sophomore Rosie Alegado came to the stage to perform a traditional opening chant called Oli Aloha. Her rich, deep voice gave shape to the complex and poetic chant, capturing everyone's attention and setting the tone for the hula dances to follow. It was clear, that this would not be one of those oft encountered theme party caricatures of Hawaiian culture where ti leaf skirts are traded for cellophane ones, where canned pineapple wedges thrown on pizza qualify as a tropical Hawaiian feast. This was pretty close to the real...
...popular imagination, Hawaii has no more potent a symbol than the hula dancer, usually a youthful beauty with a dreamy smile undulating to the rhythmic strums of a ukulele. Far different from the showbiz representations however, is the hula in Hawaii. In all of its sacred and ceremonial forms, the hula is an integrated system of poetry, movement and rhythm. The MIT performances displaced any Hollywoodish notions that the audience might have had, impressing upon them the beauty, power, and aloha imbued in the hula. When asked about his impressions after his first encounter with Hawaiian culture, MIT sophomore Mike...
...have said it better myself. ("choke beautiful" meaning "totally beautiful.") During the dance, I glanced around the packed room and there was literally a glow on the faces of the audience as they watched the slow ballad. The audience was mesmerized by the graceful, lyrical movements of the hula dancers hands, the rhythmic sways, their radiant smiles, set to the beautiful and haunting lyrics of Keali'i Reichel and a sole acoustic guitar. Later, the tempo picked up with the resounding beat of Tahitian music and frenetically wonderful hip movements of inspired dancers...
...hula, O'opu Nui Tewetewe, is a song and dance layered with sexual meaning. While anyone from Hawaii would know this, the emcees committed themselves to a full explanation of the lyrics for the benefit of haole mainlanders. On the surface, they tell us, it is the story of a fisherman's struggle with a large, slippery fish The fisherman extends the net, enticing the fish to enter. The emcees further explains, to the audiences amusement, that in most interpretations, the women are the fishermen, and the men are the slippery fish--not so subtle imagery. At one point...
...asked questions such as the name of the state fish (humuhumunukunukuapu'a'a), how many islands there are in Hawaii (eight), and why "Hawaii Five-O" was given its name (Hawaii is the 50th state). Reluctant mainlanders were also occasionally asked to come to the stage to do impromptu hula for the audience, all in the name of winning prizes and good old humiliation. Another side-show which was particularly entertaining was a pidgin demonstration...