My hula halau puts on a “ho’ike” or performance every year in the spring. Tonight was the second time we have attended and watched the beautiful singing and dancing. I still can’t believe that I have been apart of this wonderful group of dancers and women for almost two years now. I started back in May 2010 and within days, these women took me in as one of their hula sisters. In October of that same year, Lucas and I found out that we were expecting and a couple months after that, I had to stop dancing due to my pregnancy. Even after knowing me only a couple months, all of my hula sisters continued to make me feel welcome at events and performances and even threw me a surprise baby shower. If that isn’t sisterhood, I don’t know what is.
Back to the ho’ike; it was beautiful. The dances and songs were amazing! I know that I’m biased, but the halau dances were stunning and really showed how elegant, poised and beautiful all my hula sisters are. What I really liked about some of the halau dances this year is that they really showcased my two favorite hula implements, the pu’ili and the ‘uli’uli. The pu’ili are the split bamboo sticks and the ‘uli’uli are the vibrant colored feather gourds. Another highlight this year was all the solo performances by my hula sisters. Tracy, Nani and Honey. All were extremely beautiful and were really able to captivate the audience with their dancing. I was so proud to call them my hula sisters because I thought their dances were nothing short of superb.
Near the end, there was a power outage and shortly after there was a fire alarm, but never the less, they continued to sing and dance through it all. Some people might think that it ruined the ending of the ho’ike, but to be honest I thought it showed how the dancers and performers were resilient and could sing and dance under any circumstance. There would have been so many dancers, singers and groups that would have been thrown off by all the commotion, but not our halau. They finished the last three dances and songs like nothing was happening and I truly believe that that showed something more to the audience that any dance or song could. It was a great performance and showcased all my hula sisters perfectly!
