Not a performance for tourists — a language
Hula is a formal system for transmitting genealogy, history, mythology and prayer through movement and chant, developed and practiced long before Western contact. Every gesture in traditional hula carries specific meaning — hand movements can represent nature, emotion, or narrative events, in a codified vocabulary passed down through halāu (hula schools) under a kumu hula (hula teacher/master).
Hula kahiko vs. hula ʻauana
Hula kahiko is the ancient style — chanted (not sung) to the accompaniment of traditional instruments like the ipū (gourd drum) and pūniu (knee drum), performed in a way meant to closely preserve pre-contact form. Hula ʻauana is the modern style, developed after Western contact, incorporating melodic singing, guitar, ʻukulele, and steel guitar — the style most visitors picture when they think of hula, and a legitimate, widely respected tradition in its own right, not a lesser version of the "real" thing.
The Merrie Monarch Festival
Held annually in Hilo the week after Easter, the Merrie Monarch Festival is the most prestigious hula competition in the world, drawing halāu from across Hawaiʻi and beyond. It's named for King Kalākaua, who actively revived hula and other Hawaiian traditions during a 19th-century period when Western missionary influence had suppressed them. Tickets sell out quickly, but the festival is widely livestreamed — worth seeking out even if you can't attend in person.
Watching hula as a visitor, respectfully
- A luʻau performance is a legitimate but commercial context — see our luʻau guide; it's a real introduction to the art form, not a fabrication, but it's a different context than a halāu's own practice or competition.
- Ask before photographing dancers outside of an explicitly staged tourist context, per our etiquette guide.
- Free public hula performances happen regularly at spots like Waikīkī's Kūhiō Beach and various shopping centers — a genuine, low-key way to see real halāu perform outside a paid luʻau context.