Monday, October 29, 2012

October 30th class

I know this might be too late for you to see before class tomorrow, but I'll post it anyway!

I will be bringing CD's of "To Make You Love Me, Ku'uipo" for everyone.

Aunty Lei will be joining us for sure tomorrow.

This is our last class of this session. We will plan to head to Aunty Leta's for more practice and fun after class.

We have one more class (first of the next session) in which we can practice/rehearse for the Pineapple Classic.

I hope to have particulars about the Pineapple Classic on November 10th for you, including call time and performance time. I know there will be a rehearsal with musicians at Halau Hula 'O Lono on Friday, November 9th.


Events this week and next

Saturday, November 3rd - Ono food and fine entertainment!

Aloha Serenaders (Aunty Manu, Gary Kalei Medeiros, and Peter Tabali) are playing at Kaua'i Family Restaurant from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

See website for driving directions: http://www.kauaifamilyrestaurant.com/location/


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Saturday, November 10th - The 6th Winter Pineapple Classic 5 km Run

The Classic raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at Mountain Meadows Farm in North Bend.
Address: 10106 422nd Lane SE, North Bend, WA 98045
30 miles east of Seattle
For a map click here.

Part of the fun is a Hawaiian lu'au, with food provided by Kaua'i Family Restaurant, and entertainment! A number of local hula halau participate, including Aunty Manu and Halau Hula 'O Lono.

You don't have to run to enjoy the day. $5 gets you kalua pork and all the sides. No charge for the entertainment.

If everyone is still interested, we will be dancing, too! More info in a separate post, specific to the performance. And if you are dancing, your meal is free!


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Sunday, November 11th - 4th Annual Slack Key Festival at Town Hall.

Town Hall is located at 1119 8th Ave., Seattle, WA 98101-2738

Doors open at 1 p.m. for show from 2 - 6 p.m.  Ticket information available, here:
http://www.seattleslackkeyfestival.com/

Aunty Manu will be entertaining in the lobby and although the website doesn't mention it, there will be craft sellers at the event.

The movie, The Descendants, will be showing at Saturday, November 10th from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Wing Luke Asian Museum in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District at 719 South King Street, Seattle, WA 98104

More about the museum here: http://wingluke.org/home.htm 


Monday, October 22, 2012

Class time reminder

Our class begins at 10 a.m. and ends promptly at 11:30 a.m. until the next session begins on Tuesday, November 6th. I will let you know for sure by next week whether times/classes will change.

We will work to finish and refine the steps of "To Make You Love, Ku'uipo" this week and next.


Words for "thank you" and "good"

It's nice to be able to say "thank you" in any tongue. It's usually the second word I like to learn in a new language, after "hello".

Mahalo - thank you

Mahalo nui loa - thank you very much

Mahalo nui - thank you very much, but a bit more casual


This is a word you can say when asked how you are. You'll hear it when things are going well in hula!

Maika'i - good, fine, all right, well

It can also mean "good-looking; handsome, beautiful; goodness, righteousness, benefit, well-being, morality; good looks, good health".

October 16th "Words of the Day"

We reviewed four Hawaiian directional words, associated with hula:

i mua (or imua) - move forward

ma hope (or mahope) - move back

'akau - right

hema - left


You'll hear the first two with the following steps: lele, ulei. You will also hear them (especially "i mua") to move up to the front of the class or stage! And you'll use it sometimes when you are dancing kaholo or kaholoholo in a particular hula.

'Akau and hema are directional words for the 'ami step, but you will hear them for direction now and again.

The word "'akau" has a kahako over the first "a" which lengthens the vowel. I can't seem to add it on the blog, as yet.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Another event in November

In its 6th year, the Winter Pineapple Classic 5 km Run (with Obstacles!) raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Teams pay an entrance fee and fundraise for the Society, then run the course, often in costume! The Classic will be held November 10, 2012 at Mountain Meadows Farm in North Bend. WA.

Part of the fun is a Hawaiian lu'au, with food provided by Kaua'i Family Restaurant, and entertainment! A number of local hula halau participate, including Aunty Manu and Halau Hula 'O Lono.

You don't have to run to enjoy the day. $5 gets you kalua pork and all the sides! No charge for the entertainment.

Take a look, here:

http://llswa.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=WPC_homepage


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

October 9th "Words of the Day"

We looked at these two words/phrases, both of which are associated with hula:

ai ha'a (meaning dance low, with bent knees)

hapa haole (part-white person; of part-white blood; part white and part Hawaiian); in reference to hula, it could be referred to as hula hapa haole, a hula danced to a mele hapa haole (a Hawaiian type of song with English words and perhaps a few Hawaiian words).


Pronunciation of Hawaiian

With assistance from the Hawaiian Dictionary by Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert:

Consonants - 8

h, k, l, m, n, p, w, ' ('okina)

The 'okina is a glottal stop, similar to the sound between oh's in the English word "oh-oh".

Vowels  - 5

(unstressed)
a   like a in above
e   like e in bet
i    like y in city
o   like o in sole
u   like oo in moon

(stressed)
a, a (with kahako) like a in far
e like e in bet
e (with kahako) like ay in pay
i, i (with kahako) like ee in see
o, o (with kahako) like o in sole
u, u (with kahako) like oo in moon

The vowels marked with the kahako (a macron line over the vowel) are somewhat longer than other vowels and are always stressed.

This is just the tip of the volcano! And it may not make much sense to you when it stands alone like this. But it will, as you get more familiar with Hawaiian words.

Greetings!

Today we went briefly over what to say to greet one person or more than one person:

Aloha!  (general greeting)
Aloha kaua!  (greetings to you - between two people)
Aloha kakou! (greetings to you all - from one person to a group)


We also touched on the words for specific times of day:

kakahiaka - morning (6 a.m. to 10 a.m.)
awakea - late morning/noon/past noon (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
auinala - afternoon (2 p.m. to 6 p.m.)
ahiahi - evening (6 p.m. to 10 p.m.)


So greetings that specify the time might look like this:

Aloha kakahiaka kaua! (Good morning to you!)
Aloha awakea kakou! (Good day to you all!)


And here's what you can say when you leave:

A hui hou  (until we meet again).  The "a" has a kahako above it, which lengthens the vowel - I just haven't figured out how to type it in here!


To Make You Love Me, Ku'uipo

Here are the words for the mele (song) we started learning today:

To Make You Love Me, Ku'uipo (ku'u means "my" and ipo means "sweetheart")

I'll weave the skies above
Into a gown you'll love
To make you love me,
Ku'uipo

I'll string the stars into
A lovely lei for you
To make you love me,
Ku'uipo

Hui (chorus)
I'll gather the stardust
And fashion a crown
I'll spin you a bracelet
To go with your gown

I'll steal to match it all
A rainbow for a shawl
To make you love me,
Ku'uipo

I will have a print-out of the words for you at the next class. Joyce and I will work on getting the music to you by then, also.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Upcoming events

This Saturday, October 13th, Aunty Manu and the Aloha Serenaders will be playing at Kauaʻi Family Restaurant from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Kauaʻi Family Restaurant serves up ono (delicious) Hawaiian food and plenty of fun and community.

The restaurant is located at 6324 6th Avenue South  Seattle, WA 98108 (Georgetown area).



Aloha kakou!

This is the first post on the new Wahine ʻO Renton blog! This blog will be only available for view by current hula students at the Renton Seniors Activity Center.

Its purpose is for learning, for announcements, for fun! So letʻs begin....

Last week in class, I wrote a few Hawaiian words on the board for you. Here they are again:

Numbers:
ʻekahi         one
ʻelua           two
ʻekolu         three
ʻeha            four

You will be mostly likely to hear these numbers as part of your hula movement vocabulary. Many times the "ʻekahi" will be assumed, not spoken, ie.

Kawelu                            forward on the right/forward on the left
Kawelu ʻelua                   forward on the right/back on the left
Kawelu ʻekolu                 back on the right, back on the left