Grandmothers of the Year!
(this year's float from Hilo Grandmother's Club)
this might be our last post, because the merrie monarch is over. What a party! Yesterday was the fabulous and fascinating hilo merrie monarch parade. I heard there were 90 floats.
The best part to me of the parade is mingling among the entries as they get ready to assemble. Everyone has worked so hard and is in such good spirits. The entries range from the large bountiful floats that carry such things as the Royal Court which includes King Kalakaua, his queen, courtiers and soldiers and musicians, all in 1880s garb; or entire hula halaus, maybe 50 women with their trio; to small floats that are a tiny volcano or island the shape of molokai on basically a wagon. Some floats have volcanoes that are actually steaming.
There are about 20 marching bands from different high schools and a uke band and there are teams of gaily decked horses with cowboys and pa`u princesses from each of the islands. for someone who has never seen them: the riders and the horses all wear tremendous flower garlands and the ladies wear long 1880s skirts that drape down the sides of the horse. the attention to detail and color with the clothes, the leis, the hatbands, the neck leis for the horses, really something. 
I also love seeing the work of entire families that lies behind all the floats. I had a great time getting to know the Ka`u Coffee Growers cooperative who had a float decked with actual coffee trees with beans on the branches. There are lots of pretty teen girls who are queens and princesses. I like seeing their parents put the finishing touch on their costumes and headbands and leis. The Tako drummers had to wear elaborate costumes with purple and deep turquoise and I liked seeing the moms consult about how to wrap and drape the kids.
The parade takes more than 2 hours to go by once it's going. meanwhile Hilo continues with its Saturday farmers market and its other businesses and on this day, you can buy Merrie Monarch 'security' t shirts. This turns out to be a controversial thing! Craig got stopped by a paddling group that said the sales might be illicit. Who knew. but they smiled and said 'oh, it's not your fault, enjoy!'
Another event simultaneous with the parade is free concerts at nearby kalakaua Park. under and near a huge banyan tree, there are musicians dancers and crafts. Again, among the best. There were women making tapa, and hats. the dancers included the halau of men that last night won best men. The musicians included Moses Kahumoku one of the best and rarely heard slack key artists, and Palani Vaughan, and many others.
In the two days since we last posted, we had some more excellent events. On Friday, many of us from the bay area who are here, participated in a hula workshop with Manu Boyd, learning an auana, but more than that, learning some reasons for our own hula style that we never knew. Manu Boyd comes from a hula lineage that is the same as the halaus I have danced in. Hula lineages are important; for those who don't know hula, hula is not just taught by anyone who has learned hula and wants to t each it; the teaching is done once permission has been given, after a long intensive training, and there are several main branches off the hula tree. our own features an upright posture, and extended hands, and the continuity is such that we can tell quickly watching most hulas if they come from our tradition, or not.
One thing we learned from Manu is that the reason we are expected to lift our feet off the floor soundlessly, in part reflects that a hula dancer would not have been dancing on clear ground, but more likely, on lau hala mats, with texture and edges in the weaving; so not lifting your feet would cause a lot of whispy noise, and yet, in some motions, you would USE this sound of the mats purposefully. Other times, you would need to lift your foot that tiny amount, so as to not brush the mat.
At noon we broke from the learning, and Darlene Ahuna was performing. Then the afternoon session was Manu Boyd's halau. what a treat. His entire band, all of Ho`okena, was there, and because the classes were at `Imiloa planetarium, the dancers performed under astounding photos of the galaxies. it was really poetic to see the dancers dancing pele and hi`iaka chants in their fire colored pa`us under glowing pictures of fiery nebulas. you realized it's all about fire, and energy, and the universe is full of it. I could not get a sharp picture of them, but this gives the idea:
During this performance, we saw what some of us thought was the best `auana hula solo we have ever seen. He has a dancer named Nohea, and she danced to 'Beautiful Kahana'. I have never seen such incredible graceful nonstop flow, her motions never stopped, her hands were exquisitely graceful, the choreography was awesome and her face lovely; and the melody, done live by ho`okena, with Glenn Smith doing the vocals solo, was to die for.
Another hilarious thing about Manu Boyd's lecture was hearing him talk about trends in hula. Apparently since he is a TV commentator this year for the Merrie Monarch, he has been watching the groups rehearse. He started to talk about how, all of a sudden, one halau started to incorporate spins and now everyone is spinning. and talked about how in our tradition, this is not always a welcome change, because the audience is who you dance for, and they are in front.
On a more serious note, he talked also about how the idea of 'lovely hula hands' is not how hula was in the past. He talked about how in the past, everyone in the room would be fluent in Hawaiian; so pantomiming the meaning of the song was not needed; what was only needed was for you to communicate what your experience of the story was. He said, "the story told the story, not the hands or the dancer". Now that so many people involved in hula have relearned the hawaiian language and many speak it daily, this is a great thought; that the choreography does not need to be miming as you would to a child; but to be expressing the personal experience of the dance.
his comments really held over in my mind as that night, we watched the ancient hula, hula kahiko, competition; and last night, the `auana. It was true! nearly everyone was spinning! it got to be a joke almost, spin spin spin! too much of a good thing. we are not talking about slow movements through 360; we are talking about really rapid spins, pirouettes in quick motion.
At the parade, and at the performance, we took lots and lots of pictures. we hope we can post them or will provide a link here.
The nights of the performances seem like the pinnacle of the merrie monarch, and they are wonderful; just being part of the crowd, sitting on the hard benches, hearing the sounds you can't ever hear on TV, like the men's firm stomping and the switch of wind and fabric, is incredible. The only reason for not writing more about them, is that they are not the entirety of the merrie monarch; the other events are so much fun. but one thing that is absolutely true about the MM performances, is the beauty and harmony of the contestants, their costumes, their leis and their musical support. And there is so much happiness and satisfaction in the young faces.One pleasure of this kahiko competition was that Keali`i Reichel brought his halau from maui, the first time in years; and his dancer won miss aloha hula, and she was a true hawaiian beauty, full bodies and graceful. But also, that he chanted for his halau with his old co kumu, uluwehi guerrero. the audience knew, and appreciated, the return of these two old friends and co kumus, back to the hall, together.
Another part of the Merrie Monarch that I enjoy is what Laurie taught me: that the ladies will often show up there in awesome combinations of leis and dresses and she has inspired me to do the same. So the pleasure is to find the dresses, and the leis. it's awfully fun to recreate a feeling of the 1880s in your mind and when you have a graceful full length dress and formal jewelry and flowers, it feels great. but best of all is people watching, especially to see the truly magnificent leis and dresses of the judges, and the people who have worked so hard to host this great dance competition and ho`ike.
Today in Hilo, it's warm and comfortable, and we are looking forward to a relaxing journey up the green Hamakua coast, towards Waipio, and to Mike's house in Kohala. Craig will take over the blog from here with his own experiences I hope.
The party may be over, but the memory of this incredible town and its ability to create such joyous experiences for all, with such fabulous music and so much grace and so much fun, is totally lasting. What fun!
One of the kumu hula, a former Miss Aloha hula, dancing on stage
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