What I find lacking in this review of hula is its lack of research, curiosity, information and depth. Macaulay provided highly inflected associations and stark opinions about the performance that clearly reflect a narrow vision of dance. He perceives the male sexuality--"handsomely muscular," "a touch of Chippendales" and "jockstraps"--but barely skims the deeper evocations of the dance. Inform us about the ritual, the sacredness, the significance. I was thrilled by the strength and power of Ka Leo O Laka I Ka Hikina O Ka La's male hula. That said, I must say that the hyper-masculinized hula does sometimes appear steroidal. My preference is for range of expression in the form--the grace and subtlety--not just the butchified, muscle-flexing stiffness that most people love. Interestingly, my hula friend utterly disliked one of the modern dance pieces on the same program, displaying her own narrow view dance.

A hula memorial for Becky Leialoha Jung (1965-2011)

Hereʻs a hula tribute to the late Becky Jung (the brunette; the blonde is Becca Anderson Darling), my dance partner in Pilobolus, who during the last year of her life started dancing hula with me. We are performing her favorite hula, Pa Ka Makani. Becky loved this hula because of its bombastic energy and sensuality. Hereʻs to you, Becky.

Here is the chant from www.huapala.org

Pa ka makani
Naue ka lau o ka niu
Ha`a ka pua kowali
I ke kula
Leha ka maka o ka manu
Ai pua lehua
Ha`u ka waha o ke kahuli
I ka nahele
Li ka 'io o Kaauhelemoa la ea

Kahiko ula ka lama i na pali
Ohikihiki ka ua ke nana aku
Nau ia e ua wale mai no
Kikii ka ua nana i ka lani
Hiki ka haili opua o Kaupea la ea

The wind blows,
The leaves of the coconut sway
The morning glory blossoms
And dances on the plains
The eyes of the bird glance about
Then sip lehua honey
The land shells trill
In the forest
The skin of Kaauhelemoa is chilled

The lama bushes redden the hillsides
The rain can be seen moving in columns
Rain on, rain on, as you please
Pour down torrents from the skies
Till the rain clouds of Kaupea appears

"Rolling Down Like Pele" by Laura Margulies

Here's a film animation about hula by my dear friend, Laura Margulies: http://www.lauramargulies.com/. Laura's got a new project "Local Kine..." and she's raising money here. Please kokua and give her money by going here:
http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/project/local_kine_academy_leader

Ku i ka māna

Like the one from whom he received what he learned.

Said of a child who behaves like those who reared him. Māna is food masticated by an elder and conveyed to the mouth of a small child. The haumāna (pupil) receives knowledge from the mouth of his teacher.

Pukui, M.K. (2008). ‘Ōlelo No‘eau. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press.

A student.

Nānā no a ka lā‘au ku ho‘okāhi.

“Often said by those seeking strong medicinal herbs. A plant that stood by itself was considered better for medicine than one that grew close to others of its kind.”

Pukui, M.K. (2008). ‘Ōlelo No‘eau. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press

The image is the the official plant of Hawai‘i, the kukui or Aleurites moluccana, the Candlenut. Every part of the kukui can be used.

Several parts of the plant have been used in traditional medicine in most of the areas where it is native. The oil is a laxative and sometimes used like castor oil. Candlenut oil is also used as a hair stimulant or additive to hair treatment systems. In Japan its bark has been used on tumors. In Sumatra, pounded seeds, burned with charcoal, are applied around the navel for constipation. In Malaya, the pulped kernels or boiled leaves are used in poultices for headache, fevers, ulcers, swollen joints, and gonorrhea. In Java, the bark is used for bloody diarrhea or dysentery.

In Hawaiʻi, the flowers and the sap at the top of the husk (when just removed from the branch) were used to treat eʻa (oral candidiasis) in children. In Ancient Hawaiʻi, kukui nuts were burned to provide light. The nuts were strung in a row on a palm leaf midrib, lit one end, and burned one by one every 15 minutes or so. This led to their use as a measure of time. One could instruct someone to return home before the second nut burned out. Hawaiians also extracted the oil from the nut and burned it in a stone oil lamp called a kukui hele po (light, darkness goes) with a wick made of kapa cloth.
Aleurites moluccana flowers

Hawaiians also had many other uses for the tree, including: leis from the shells, leaves and flowers; ink for tattoos from charred nuts; a varnish with the oil; and fishermen would chew the nuts and spit them on the water to break the surface tension and remove reflections, giving them greater underwater visibility. A red-brown dye made from the inner bark was used on kapa and aho (Touchardia latifolia cordage). A coating of kukui oil helped preserve ʻupena (fishing nets). The nohona waʻa (seats), pale (gunwales) of waʻa (outrigger canoes) were made from the wood. The trunk was sometimes used to make smaller canoes used for fishing. Kukui also represents the island of Molokaʻi, whose symbolic color is the silvery green of its leaf.

Wikipedia.

Lama ((Diospyros sandwicensis and D. hillebrandii; family Ebenaceae), Hawaiian ebony

Wrapped in kapa dyed yellow with olena (tumeric), a log of lama was placed on kuahu (hula alter) as the embodiment of the god Laka

"The lama (Diospyros sandwicensis and D. hillebrandii; family Ebenaceae), aka ēlama, is an indigenous ebony hardwood that was important to ka poe hula as well as traditional healers. Lama grew six to fifty feet high and often had galls or abnormal growths on its stem. The bark is black and smooth on small trunks, but rough on large, old trees. The leaves, pale green and glossy, are arranged in one plane alternately in opposite rows. The small greenish-white- or pink-petal flowers grow close to the twig. Lama produces edible bright red or yellow fruit borne in a cup like an acorn. D. sandwicensis is found in all types of forests of the islands from elevations, 15-4,000 ft; D. hillebrandii is found primarily on moderately wet forests only on Kaua‘i and O‘ahu from 492-1,500 ft. None are found on Ni‘ihau and Kaho‘olawe (Kapi‘olani Community College).
The word, lama, means “torch, light, lamp...enlightenment” (Pukui and Ebert). Such kaona was significant to the kupuna. The plant was considered sacred. The wood, which was very hard, close-grained and a rich reddish-brown color when old, was used in building houses for gods and other religious temples (Kamehameha Schools). They were also used for the tide gates of fishponds.
A piece of lama was wrapped in kapa dyed yellow with olena (tumeric) and placed on the hula altar as an embodiment of the hula god/dess, Laka, the sister/wife of Lono, the god of agriculture. Laka presided over the flora of the forest. And the presence of Laka that was manifested in the brightly draped lama signified the enlightenment that one could achieve through hula. Kumu Roselle Keli`ihonipua Bailey describes how the Hawaiians considered the forests sacred as well as “physically and spiritually dangerous” places where people could get lost, hurt or killed. Learning hula, she says, tames the “undesciplined body, spirit and mind, the forest personality.” Lama stood on the altar as a reflection of the hula practice that seeks enlightenment through poised discipline, respect and open consciousness (Ka ‘Imi Na‘auao O Hawai‘i Nei).
The wood was also used in the ancient Hawaiian healing arts. Lama was used to build the enclosure demarcating the place for healing. The structure, which was called the pa lama, was built in one day during daylight (lama) hours (ibid.). The bark, which was edible, was often mixed with kukui (Aleurites moluccana) and ulu (Artocarpis altilis) and applied to sores.

Bailey, Roselle. “Hula – A Way of Life” and “The Hula.” http://www.kaimi.org/hula.htm

Davenport, Cathy. “Hula Plants.” www.botany.hawaii.edu/ethnobotany/.../pdf/HulaPlants-111907.pdf

Kamehameha Schools. http://kms.kapalama.ksbe.edu/projects/2003/plants.

Kapi‘olani Community College. http://www.kapiolani.hawaii.edu/object/lamaplant.html

Ho‘okupu (ceremonial gift of honor & respect)

Literal translation: to cause growth, sprouting.
http://www.hawaii.hawaii.edu/hawaiian/KHaili/hookupu.htm