Kumu honua…Creation

Abstract

This project's focus is to bring to the forefront a dance piece that challenges the conventional perception of hula and fuses a vocabulary of hula movements with western choreographic structure. Hula is an interpretive dance form that tells the story of myths, legends, feelings and human emotions. Generated by a text, the movements within hula are created as gestures of poetic expressions. The presentation of hula is generally frontal; the performer faces the audience most of the time, and the dancers all move simultaneously. Quality of movement, style and execution add to the artistic expression and as in all dance forms cultural expressions are inherent. My style of dance is rooted in the styling of Hula Master Maiki Aiu Lake. Often credited as the mother of the Hawaiian Renaissance (1970's), Mrs. Lake focused her movements to reflect the dances of the Monarchy period in Hawai'i, (middle 1800- 1900). Her choreography reflects the gentle mannerisms and upright movement of court dances and was labeled hula ku'i by her Hawaiian elders because it reminded them of that particular era and genre of hula. The hula ku'i of the middle to late 1800's evolved from a fusion of hula movements with social dances, European court dances and along with secular as well as non-secular music to the Hawaiian Islands. The styling consisted of gentle mannerisms and movements that were based on the shoulder held high, arms fully extended and the upper and lower torso often rotating on a perpendicular axis with sequential movements accentuated through the body. It is this ku'i style of hula I wish to use in the choreography of Haydn's Creation.