Miss Aloha Hula 2012, Lilinoe Sterling, and Kumu de Silva
What is the link between dance and philosophy?
I found out yesterday, from two very different island voices, one from the Big Island of Hawaiʻi and the other from the Very Big Island of England.
My current companion on the Saddle Road is Oxford University Professor Daniel N. Robinson – via The Teaching Company’s course, Great Ideas of Philosophy. Yesterday morning I popped Lecture 5 into the CD player: “The Greek Tragedians on Man’s Fate.”
Here is a paraphrase of what Oxford University Professor Robinson said:
When societies had limited resources for recording what was of value to them, one method used was the dance, such as the dance of the cranes that Theseus performed to communicate the secret of the Minotaur’s labyrinth to his people. Chorus and singing add vividness to dance, and narratives of consequence can be acted out before the whole people to remind them of who they are and what their responsibilities are. Thus, out of gesture, dance, ritual and bardic oratory comes a world of stories and philosophical disquisitions cast in the form of dialogue: The world of Greek dramatists that will issue eventually in the dialogues of Plato.
Later on that evening, revered kumu hula Aunty Pualani Kanakaʻole Kanahele of Hālau O Kehuhi said the same thing, more simply, while serving as commentator for KFVE’s coverage of the 49th Annual Merrie Monarch Festival’s Miss Aloha Hula competition.
“Hula,” said Aunty Pua, “is one of the best examples of transferring knowledge down the generations.”
Here is a link to a video where you can hear Aunty Pua’s manao about knowledge transfer in her own words: “Dances and chants tell us who we are and give us priorities for our life today.”
Hālau o Kekuhi is the hālau hula and the center of cultural knowledge for the Edith Kanakaʻole Foundation, and is creator of Holo Mai Pele, a hula opera that premiered on Maui in 1995 and was subsequently broadcast on PBS Great Performances: Dance in America.
Mahalo Aunty Pualani Kanakaʻole Kanahele and the KFVE team for the wonderful coverage of the Merrie Monarch Festival.
If you are not lucky enough to be in Hilo, Hawaiʻi to see the world’s most respected hula competition, you can access Merrie Monarch Festival coverage it on the KFVE website.
