Hui O Hula: Hawaiian Dance Club

Hui O Hula is Leisure World’s Hawaiian dance club. The club welcomes anyone who wants to learn hula. Relaxed and friendly, classes are open to all regardless of skill level.

Weekly lessons are held Tuesdays at 1 p.m. in Clubhouse 6, upstairs in the Mirror Room, and Thursdays at 1 p.m. at the Optum Health Care Center conference room, next to the pharmacy.

July began with a festive Fourth of July celebration for Leisure World veterans and their guests, sponsored by the Filipino Association of Leisure World, a yearly tradition of the club. Beloved member and founder Ren Villanueva cooked hot dogs and hamburgers with his family, while other members brought enough salads, fruit and desserts to feed an army. The afternoon was filled with goodwill, friendship and appreciation for the veterans of all wars.

For this year’s patriotic celebration, hula instructor Jojo Weingart taught dancers “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” the classic American patriotic march written by George M. Cohan in 1906.

In hula dancing, the hands tell the story. For this song, dancers used gentle wrist movements to show the flag waving in the breeze, raised their hands to show the “high-flying flag,” placed their hands near the heart to express love of country, and used open arm movements to honor freedom, courage and unity.

On Saturday, July 18, at 5 p.m., Hui O Hula will perform for Care Connections Network at its Summer Luau in Huntington Beach. After that performance, the dancers will hurry back to Leisure World for the Golden Age Foundation’s Multicultural Festival at the Amphitheater, beginning at 7:30 p.m. (see page 1).

For more information, call or text 562-338-1502.

—Jojo Weingart

Hui O Hula has performed at the Impaired Vision and Hearing Club's annual summer kickoff since 2007.

Lori Chamberlin