Hui O Hula

Hui O Hula offers two free hula classes each week. Classes meet Tuesdays at 1 p.m. in Clubhouse 6, upstairs in the Mirror Room, and Thursdays at 1 p.m. in the Optum Health Care Center conference room next to the pharmacy. All residents are welcome. Comfortable clothing is recommended. Dancers may dance barefoot or wear soft socks or booties, and chair hula is also welcome.

Hula combines music, movement, memory and coordination while giving participants an enjoyable way to remain active.

The class recently learned “A Hawaiian Lullaby,” written in 1973 with lyrics by Hector Venegas, who wrote the words while his young daughter was recovering from a serious illness. This hula will be performed at the Holy Family Catholic Church’s parish picnic and potluck on Sunday, Sept. 27, from 1-3 p.m. at the plaza.

In class, two more hula are being introduced. The first is “Ka Loke” or “The Rose,” a Hawaiian love song compares a beloved person to the fragrant rose associated with Maui. The second, “Pidgin English Hula,” uses playful, period-style pidgin-English dialogue to tell a humorous story about romance, jealousy and a lovers’ disagreement.

—Jojo Weingart