It's that time of year again, every April, the Merrie Monarch hula competition brings the best of halau's from Hawaii and mainland US to Hilo, Hawaii ... where the competition has taken place for 55 years.

It's nice to see this continued appreciation and respect to hula, a dance that's been around since the ancient times. It disappeared for a brief moment because of Western/Christian ideology that it was a sinful dance, but now that we are beyond that dumb religious belief, it's great to watch both the kane (men's) and wahine (women's) hula dances.

The traditional and ancient forms of dance is known as "kahiko". And then there's the "modern" dance. 

I prefer the kahiko dance because it's close to what the "real" kind of hula dancing, the real essence and mana of it, and the celebration of the original Hawaiian gods and goddesses, particularly Hi'iaka, Pele, Ku, etc. 

Modern hula to me is what I jokingly call "haole hula" ... western influenced in ways where especially in the 1950's, women danced the hula and were sexualized in appearance. 

Note that hula was traditionally only a "male" dance, and at one point, it was "kapu" or forbidden for women to dance hula. 

Each hula tells of a story through a chant, and I love how the clothing and dance movements always depects what the chants are. Chants are always in native Hawaiian language, and sometimes I wish Merrie Monarch could translate those chants so that the public can understand and appreciate even further the meanings of each of the chants.

Even though I live on Big Island, it's impossible to get a ticket to this popular event. Maybe one day, or 2019 Merrie Monarch ... I'll be able to sit in on this competition. I'd love to watch it live!

Have you seen hula dances or traditional hula dance in Hawaii?

(Note: Photo credits respective to photographers and none of the above photos belong to me, they are ONLY used for illustrative purposes.)