Standing Into Danger: Royal Kuhio

Showing posts with label Royal Kuhio. Show all posts

Friday, February 21, 2025

Good for the Body, Good for the Mind

Wednesday marked the halfway point in our stay in Waikiki.

It's gone so fast I can't believe it.

I still haven't gotten up on a paddle board or climbed Diamond Head.

Beautiful Diamond Head

Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

February 14, 2025

It's not that I haven't been busy. I've been doing a lot.

Mostly I've been working on my anti-dementia plan.

Say what? Every time I forget something, I worry.

Every time I have trouble figuring something out, I worry.

Even though dementia doesn't run in my family, I worry.

So I've been doing things that are good for the body, good for the mind ~

As in learning hula dances, Hawaiian words, and a Hawaiian chant.

Kilohana Hula Show

Prince Kuhio Beach, Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

February 12, 2025

Kilohana Hula Show

Prince Kuhio Beach, Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

February 12, 2025

That will make my family members laugh!

They know I can't dance, can't carry a tune, and am terrible at learning languages.

But they cheer me on, because I don't give up.

I can't dance, but I still try!

Me (Louise) During Our "Thriller" Rehearsal

270º East ~ Ovation of the Seas

South Pacific Near New Zealand October 28, 2023

So, I have a round of hula lessons: One on Tuesday and two on Sunday.

I catch hula shows like the Kilohana show on the mound at Prince Kuhio Beach

and the Wednesday night hula show at the Royal Hawaiian Center.

I even try to catch the performance class following my class on Sunday night.

My Sunday night class is two hours long and is taught by Pono,

the resident manager at the Royal Kuhio where Terry and I are staying.

He teaches using the method that Hawaiians have used for centuries,

which means you watch and then try it, practicing until you get it right.

The most advanced students line up in the front,

and the other lines form according to the students' progress.

Guess where I am?

I'm the very last line, standing behind four and six year old Hawaiians. 😂

But I don't mind! I consider it a privilege.

Pono at the Lunar New Year Lion Dance

Royal Kuhio, Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

February 1, 2025

And I practice, practice, practice, especially in the pool.

I walk up and down in the pool chanting and working on flexibility in my feet.

I stand by the side of the pool and drill the various steps:

kāholo, hela, ami, kā'o, lele, uwehe, and combinations of these steps.

The uwehe (oo weh' heh) is the most challenging for me.

When doing the uwehe, you lift one foot, lower it, and shift your weight to the opposite hip.

Then you raise your heels and push your knees forward while swaying your hips.

All of this is done with your knees slightly bent.

And sometimes you do step, owehe, step, owehe a number of times to a fast beat.

Kilohana Hula Show ~ uwehe Step

Prince Kuhio Beach, Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

February 12, 2025

I've really struggled with the owehe.

A couple of days ago, Pono told me what owehe means in Hawaiian.

I thought it meant this complicated step.

No.

Pono told me it means the splash a raindrop makes when it hits the ground.

Isn't that beautiful?

Now I'm telling myself step, splash, step, splash which makes me faster.

I think I'm finally getting it!

uwehe ~ Pinterest

Oh, there's one harder step, and I don't remember what it is called.

It's only appeared in one of Pono's drills in one class.

You crouch down, and remaining in the crouch,

take eights steps around clockwise until you're back where you started,

followed by eight steps anti-clockwise to do a complete circle to the left.

This takes knee bends to a new level!

Repeat, repeat, repeat ...

I just laughed. 😂

I crouched for about 20 seconds, but couldn't move anything.

Then I toppled over. 😂

So I have more exercises to do in my daily stretching session.

Source

Pono is an excellent teacher.

He keeps us all engaged, from 4 years old to me.

He makes it fun, but everyone knows when he's serious,

and he can silence everyone with one word.

Well, maybe not the tiny toddlers who have escaped from their mothers' carriages.

They are celebrated as the gifts they are and run, giggle, shriek, and laugh freely.

Pono says things like:

"There is no shame in our culture. Leave your shame at home."

"All we can do is try. What's the key word? ... "

"After the first e komo, take a big breath and run to the end of the sentence."

That last quote refers to the longest sentence in our permission chant:

e komo, e komo aku ho'i au ma loko inā ka pu'u nui waho nei lā lē

We say the chant at the beginning of each class

to ask permission to enter the space and dance.

When Pono chants it with his melodic voice coming deep from his belly,

the chant is a thing of beauty, ancient and mysterious.

A male hula dancer or hula kāne dances to the beat of an ipu hula or large gourd drum.

Hyatt Regency, Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

March 3, 2015

You can hear an example of a chant and hula here .

where the 2024 Merrie Monarch Kahiko (first place) winners perform He Inoa No Hina

to honor Hina, the Hawaiian Moon Goddess.

Hina is the mother of the island of Moloka'i.

The Merrie Monarch Festival is a non-profit organization

honoring the legacy of King David Kalākaua.

The king inspired the perpetuation of Hawaiian traditions, native language, and arts.

I have been making recordings wherever I can, so I can practice hula at home in Aurora.

The hula offerings online are not the best.

I have finally grasped enough that I think can really learn.

Here is a quick, simple, and touristy hula taught by the Kilohana singers and dancers:

Simple hula lesson given during the Kilohana Hula Show

YouTube

There's a big contrast between the two videos, I know,

but Waikiki performers make experiencing hula fun for visitors from around the world

and continue the long tradition of extending Hawaiian aloha to visitors.

I'm participating n a hula Class at the Royal Hawaiian Center.

Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

February 1, 2025

I'm linking to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date, Tom's Aloha Friday, and Nicole's Friday Face Off.

For Rain: Favorite Animal ~ My favorite animal is the platypus, and my favorite platypus is Tilly whom I saw in the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia in 2023. Tilly was swimming too fast for me to catch a photo of her.

Tilly, rescued in the wild at four months old, is treated at Taronga's Wildlife Hospital.

Taronga Conservation Society

For Tom: Aloha ~ Aloha is a complex word and its meaning goes beyond "Hello" and "Goodbye." To Hawaiians it has a deeper cultural and spiritual meaning as a force that holds existence together. It encompasses love, affection, peace, compassion, and mercy. Source

The following photos are a sequence of steps for "When I say aloha to you."

They are performed by the daughter of my hula instructor at the Royal Hawaiian Center.

(The photos aren't as sharp as I'd like, but I was taking screen shots of my video.)

When I Say ...

Aloha ...

To ...

You.

For Nicole: Friendly Faces! ~ Spending a lovely afternoon with friends. Kathy and I knew each other in 1963-64. She was in my brother Roy's 7th grade class and I was in grade 8 at Wolfville High School. Her father baptized me. We reconnected in Honolulu where she and her husband live, and we have been getting together for several years.

Terry, Kathy, and Bruce

Magic Island

February 20, 2025

Bruce, Me, and Kathy

Magic Island

February 20, 2025

See you next time! ❤️🌺🍀

A Wave Breaks on Magic Island ~ Sweeping in from Māmala Bay

Oʻahu⁩, ⁨Honolulu⁩, ⁨Hawaiʻi⁩, ⁨United States⁩

February 20, 2025

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be

Friday, February 28th. 🤞

On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

Friday, February 7, 2025

Bring on the Lions and the Year of the Snake!

I am delighted to be back at the Royal Kuhio again this year

and to have had the privilege of welcoming the Year of the Snake

with the Wah Ngai Lion Dance Association on February 1st.

The lion dancers welcomed in the Chinese Lunar New Year

by performing a traditional lion dance for residents and visitors in the lobby.

Bring on the Lions!

Royal Kuhio

Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

February 1, 2025

The Wah Ngai Lion Dance Association

is a non-profit organization

formed in Honolulu in 2005.

All members are volunteers made up of

students and working professionals.

Website

Everyone should see a lion dance at least once in their lives.

Yes, it's visually exciting and throbs to the beating of drums,

the clashing of cymbals, and the singing of the gong.

But a lion dance is much more than vibrant sights and sounds.

It's a traditional Asian art form that dates back 5000 years to its origin in China. Source

Dancing Lions

Royal Kuhio

February 1, 2025

The lion dance tells a story and brings fortune and good luck to the audience.

Two people mimic the movements of a lion, one in the front and one in the back.

The dancer at the front leads the lion, setting the direction, pace, and footwork,

and the movements of the head, ears, and mouth.

The dancer at the back must follow the steps of the head dancer

and the beat of the music while bent over.

Lion dances are most popular during the Lunar New Year celebrations,

but they are also performed at community events, business openings, weddings, school festivals and other events. Source

Lions Delighting the Audience

Royal Kuhio

February 1, 2025

Anticipation grew as Royal Kuhio employees set the stage for the dance,

carefully suspending a Chinese cabbage in the entrance to the lobby.

The purpose of this curious act was revealed at the end of the dance.

A red packet or hong bao (Mandarin) or lai-see (Cantonese)

containing a gift of money was attached to the cabbage.

Other red packets were hung by the doors in the lobby area.

These packets are traditionally presented on many occasions in China

and other countries with sizable ethnic Chinese populations.

They symbolize good fortune and wealth.

They are also given to lion dance performers for their service. Source

People quickly filled the lobby area in anticipation of the dance,

and excitement and laughter increased as the members of the

The Wah Ngai Lion Dance Association arrived.

Pono Ka'ahanui, the resident manager, has worked to increase cultural events at the Royal Kuhio.

I love to participate in his traditional hula class every Sunday.

Everyone enjoyed the dancing lions as they pranced around displaying their skills.

Accompanying the lion dancers were musicians playing the drum, cymbals, and the gong.

The drum represents the heartbeat of the lion,

and the cymbals and gong represent its thoughts.

The exciting music is loud and intense to drive away ghosts and evil spirits.

One of the Lions Collects a Red Packet

And Another Red Packet

There are two different styles of Chinese dancing lions: Southern and Northern.

The more acrobatic Northern Dance features martial arts moves, kicks, leaps and climbing,

and the lions have a shaggier, more realistic appearance.

The Southern Dance mimics lion behavior

with lots of blinking, licking, scratching, and shaking.

The lions have oversized, stylized, dragon-like heads

and the lead dancers can manipulate their mouth, eyes, and ears.

The colors of the lions represent different qualities:

red for courage, green for friendship, and yellow for liveliness.

Northern Lion Dance

Flickr ~ Choo Yut Sing ~ License

Southern Lion Dance

One of the great things about the lion dance performance in the Royal Kuhio

is that everyone could be close to the lions and see their movements easily.

A Parting Shot

And that Chinese cabbage?

It's a famous lion dance routine known as choi chang or getting the greens.

A head of lettuce containing a red packet with money

is hung high in a doorway or outside a building.

The lion carefully approaches the suspended lettuce, often performing a difficult feat

such as the front dancer standing on the shoulders of the back one.

The lion grabs the lettuce, eats it, and spits it out spreading good luck and prosperity. Source

People often take a piece for good fortune and luck during the coming year. Source

You know I got a piece of lettuce!

All too soon the Wah Ngai Lion Dance Association members were packing up,

moving on to another celebration of the Year of the Snake.

The departure of this magical cultural group left quiet in its wake.

Back in our condo, I wrapped my cabbage piece carefully and tucked it in my purse

next to my father-in-law's St. Christopher's Medal (the patron saint of travelers).

With luck and good fortune, I'll be back to the Royal Kuhio next year

to see the Wah Ngai Lion Dance Association welcome the Year of the Horse!

I'm linking to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date, Tom's Aloha Friday, and Nicole's Friday Face Off.

See you next time! Aloha! ❤️🌺🍀

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be

Friday, February14th. 🤞

Books Read in 2026

"18 Days in Heaven" by Gale Poirot
"A Serial Killer's Daughter: My Story of Hope, Love, and Overcoming" by Kerrie Rawson
"Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life" by Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD.
"Is Math Real? How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics Deepest Truths" by Eugenia Cheng
"Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir
"Tell Me Everything" by Elizabeth Strout
"The Covenant of Water" by Abraham Verghese
"The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity" by David Graeber and David Wengrow
"The Life Impossible" by Matthew Haig
"The Lord go the Rings" by JRR Tolkien
"The Match" by Harlan Corben
"The Night the Path Disappeared" by Terri Bergen
"The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper" by Roland Allen
"Theo of Golden" by Allen Levi
"Think Twice" by Harlan Corben
"Why Christianity Must Change Or Die" by John Shelby Spong

Standing Into Danger

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Friday, February 21, 2025

Good for the Body, Good for the Mind

Friday, February 7, 2025

Bring on the Lions and the Year of the Snake!

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