Revival of Hula

[Jeffrey Kopp]

You are fortunate to have seen a performance by "Aunty Edith," whom I believe is regarded as the "grandmother" of the Hula revival; she died not long after you saw her, in 1979.  There is a picture of her at http://www.hulasource.com/aunedkan.html

I know the "east of the mountains" Indians had a lot of dance ceremony, but I am not familiar with what was done out here, though I have learned from the list there was much storytelling, and even what I understand as being a regular traveling intertribal sort of Chautauqua (a kind of Vaudeville circuit, if you will), up and down the coast.

I know oratory was a high art in Native American language and culture, but have gotten the impression that along the Pacific it was rather formal and solemn.  Did coastal ceremony include much dance-as-storytelling?  I've seen clips on TV of amazing,  hand-cranked film of North Coast natives dancing in canoes with huge masks (very emphatic, rhythmic vertical motion), but must admit I don't know what it meant (i.e., whether it was merely celebratory or ceremonial, or if it included historical narrative).

Regards,

Jeff

On Tue, 25 Jun 2002 12:28:58 +1200, "Ross Clark (FOA DALSL)" <r.clark at auckland.ac.nz> wrote:

>The hula revival has been going since the 1970s at least. I saw a
>sensational group led by Edith Kanaka'ole at the South Pacific Arts Festival
>in 1976.
>
>More directly in the Kanaka-Chinook connection, the Squamish people at
>Capilano (North Vancouver) now have a hula group. I just missed one of their
>performances when I was in Vancouver last year. 
>
>Ross Clark
>