Dancers show song lyrics through movement

HUI O HULA

Hui O Hula, the Leisure World Hawaiian dance club, meets weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Both classes start at 1 p.m. Tuesday’s class meets upstairs in Clubhouse 6, Thursday’s class meets at Veterans Plaza or inside Clubhouse 3 when the weather is unfavorable.

Everyone is welcome and all are invited to watch the swaying hula dancers and listen to the music of the tropic. Those who fall under the hula spell can join in and dance the hula. Traditional hula is danced barefoot but soft booties or socks may be worn during practices. For more class information, call 562-4312242 or email Jojo@JojoJoe.com.

Hula is accompanied by chants (oli) or songs (mele). It was developed in the Hawaiian islands by the Polynesian voyagers who were Hawaii’s original settlers. As with any new language, learning Hawaiian may be challenging, but it is fun to learn and understand the lyrics then describe those words with the expressive hands.

The current hula is “E Huli Makou/Let’s Turn.” Dancers are learning the words maka, lima and kino which mean eyes, hands and body, respectively.

Instructor Jojo Weingart has been showing her dancers how to use their hands to describe maka by flipping their hands and waving their fingers by their eyes; lima by showing off their hands and fingers; and kino by waving from their heads and down with their palms. They are also learning how to huli (turn), imua (go forward) and ihope (go back). Hawaiian implements are also used in this hula.

The club gives a big mahalo/ thanks to Ren Villanueva, who popped in during class last week, with a box of chocolates on his 89th birthday. Dancers were thrilled. They applauded, sang “Happy Birthday,” and asked Villanueva to dance “Tiny Bubbles.” He never missed a beat. He is revered by the club. He and his wife moved into LW in 2007 and, in 2013 with friend Ric Dizon, started the Filipino Association in Leisure World. FALW and its many enthusiastic members have offered civic services and outreach programs throughout the years. FALW is open to everyone, not just Filipinos.

—Jojo Weingart