Have you ever watched a group of Hula dancers very closely on stage? Did you notice that there always seems to be one dancer that "sticks out" and grabs your attention? And why is that? I'm sure that all of the dancers received the same if not similar training from their teacher.
Yet one of them had a little something extra that no one else had on that stage.
As an avid dancer and current Kumu Hula (Hula Teacher) for over 3 decades, I have attended many Hula lessons in my time.
I have danced with and had the privilege of witnessing the best of the best when it comes to Hula, and I am the better for it.
But the common denominator of these great dancers has always confused and eluded me.
Because I loved dancing Hula so much, it became my lifelong mission to learn what makes a great Hula dancer.
Read about the phases of my Hula experiences that led me to my answer...
Phase 1 When I first started taking Hula lessons, I thought it was the physically beautiful and handsome dancers that were the best (yes, a typical youngster, I was looking from the outside in).
But as I watched these dolls and hunks dance Hula more and more, I began to notice that they were not as smooth and fluent in their Hula than some of the other dancers who weren't as physically "blessed".
So I deduced that physical beauty wasn't the answer to becoming a great Hula dancer.
Phase 2 As I started taking more and more Hula lessons, I began to think that maybe it was the hard workers (the one who practiced their Hula dances religiously) that were for sure the best dancers.
Yet, when I saw them perform on stage, no matter how much they practiced, they made mistakes (like humans tend to do).
Okay, so perfection isn't the answer either, huh? Phase 3 It really wasn't until I started teaching Hula lessons did I get an epiphany to this lifelong quest of figuring out what makes a great dancer.
I polled my 8 year old class of 20 students and asked them "What makes a great Hula dancer?" One answered, "The pretty dancer.
" Another answered, "The one that smiles best.
" All were very good answers, especially for 8 year olds, but it was Kawika who floored me.
"That's easy, Kumu (Teacher).
It's the dancer who can best describe the story of the song through his/her dancing.
" "Wow, that's worth a million dollars," I thought to myself.
"Kawika hit it right on the nose and he's only 8 years old with 2 months of Hula lessons under his belt!" And so, thanks to Kawika, I am convinced that a great Hula dancer is a storyteller, one who tucks the meaning of a song deep into their heart, then uses Hula as a vehicle to pull that poetry out of their heart to deliver it to their audience in a life changing way.