My little hula dancers

In Utah, the kids had an end of the year dance festival where they performed two dances they had learned during the year. Well, here in Hawaii, the end of the year program was a Ho'olaulea that was all about the history of the hula. My visiting teaching partner, Tammy Meyers, is the Hawaiian Studies teacher at the kids' school and she was in charge of putting the program together. Each grade represented a different island with a boy and girl as "royalty" and accompanying attendants. They had a procession at the beginning where each of these groups was presented. I guess it's a real honor to be chosen for this. Then each grade performed a hula dance that represented a different time in the history of hula. Jackson's dance was He'eia. It was about surfing and they used rocks and sticks to make music. Abby's dance was the Hawaiian War Chant. It was danced by entertainers for visitors to the island. They used sticks called puili. Sabrina's dance was the Menehune Beach Bum Boogie and it was about surfing. It was a really fantastic program and I was so impressed. The only problem was that I didn't get there early enough so I didn't get a good spot (plus when you have 3 kids participating, it's hard to get in a spot where you can see all 3 easily anyway). So I was stuck up on a little hill by the fence, in the hot sun, with a cranky 3 year old boy. I was trying to take pictures and hold him and keep him quiet at the same time. It wasn't fun. But the program was great and I was really proud of my kids. They had all been nervous but did such a good job.

Jackson leading his class out and carrying ili'ili, the rocks used in the dance.