There are few places more beautiful than Hawaii — if any and when you learn how to hula with one dance school in North Lauderdale, you don’t even have to buy a plane ticket! Because, as I learned, once you enroll at Hālau Hula O Nā Liko A’o Puna, you’ll already feel the aloha spirit.
You may already love hula, but this native Hawaiian tradition is about so much more than dance.
Kumu Kona Garcia: “We’re very proud to keep everything the same as if we were a dance studio in Hawaii or a hālau hula. We teach the culture, the history, the protocols.”
And at North Lauderdale’s hālau hula o nā liko a’o puna, you can learn from one of the best.
Kumu Kona Garcia: “I am a kumu hula, and to be a kumu hula, you have to go through a process called an uniki.”
Kumu Kona Garcia: “It took me 20 years to achieve this goal. My original teacher is my great-grandmother, and we’re the only hālau hula in South Florida. So much so that we get invited to the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival every two years.”
In kumu’s Tuesday classes, every movement helps tell a story.
Kumu Kona Garcia: “We do hula kahiko, which is the ancient form of hula. And then we also have awana, which is the modern dancing. It’s very melodic, like what you learned today.”
Pmaika’i Tom-Dabach: “For wahine. For the women, it’s going to be a slight lift, and it’s called an ee.”
Alex Miranda: “So you’re like, down and then up?”
Pmaika’i Tom-Dabach: “However, with the kane, you’re going to keep your hands straight.”
Kumu Kona Garcia: “[She] showed you koali, which takes you to the island of Maui.”
Pmaika’i Tom-Dabach: “From the mountain to the ocean. Koali. And bring it down like that.”
Alex Miranda: “Oh, I love when I see that. Wait, no, I really want to learn how to do that.”
Lyndsey Kawailana Kamau: “Born and raised in Hawaii, I’ve danced since I was a baby. So being able to continue that culture and carry it on, even to my children, is a blessing.
So I shouldn’t feel that bad that I wasn’t so great on the first try.
Lyndsey Kawailana Kamau: “Exactly, honey. Over 30 years. But no, you did amazing for your first try.”
Lyndsey Kawailana Kamau: “First things first. Stretch. You gotta warm up.”
Alex Miranda: “I agree. Yeah, maybe I should have stretched.”
Lyndsey Kawailana Kamau: “But a lot of it is in your legs. It’s just bending your knees really makes it a lot easier.”
Kumu Kona Garcia: “When we did our ai ha’, a, we stayed very close to the ground, and that’s to absorb the warmth of the earth.”
Alex Miranda (tells the dancers): “Don’t come in jeans. Don’t come in jeans.”
Alex Miranda: “I think when you watch these performances, all of us have been so blown away by how beautiful they are, but don’t know exactly what it is that makes them so magical. And I think it’s this discipline in the movement, but at the same time, it’s very soft.”
But you gotta sign up by September 30th.
Kumu Kona Garcia: “We only enroll once a year so that all of our students grow together. And it’s $60 a month for unlimited classes.”
You have to join by Sept. 30 or you’ll have to wait another year! So click the link below and then just call the number listed there.
FOR MORE INFO:
Hālau Hula O Nā Liko A’o Puna
2020 Kaimuki Dr, Dania Beach, FL
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