At the Kuhio Beach Hula Show on Waikiki’s shoreline, you can watch local dancers perform both traditional and contemporary hula for free, weekly — and if you pay attention, you’ll notice that every hand gesture and footstep is carrying a specific meaning. That’s the part most visitors miss. Hula isn’t a performance in the way a stage show is. As the cultural guide at To-Hawaii describes it, hula carries stories through movement, chant, rhythm and memory — a living library that survived suppression, revival, and more than a millennium of oral tradition.
This article covers what hula actually means, how its two main forms differ, where the tradition came from, and how visitors can engage with it respectfully. Whether you’re watching a free beach show or considering a beginners’ class, understanding the language underneath the movement changes everything about the experience.
For centuries, mele and oli preserved Hawaiian history and knowledge before Hawaiians had a written language — making hula one of the most consequential oral archives in Pacific culture.
Hula is storytelling first, performance second. The hand gestures depict specific elements — waves, wind, a monarch, a birth — while the chant (mele or oli) provides the narrative. Hula kahiko is the ancient, ceremonial form; hula ʻauana is the more modern, Western-influenced style. Visitors who understand this distinction get considerably more from any performance they attend.
What hula actually is and where it began
Cultural travellers
Families with older children
History-focused visitors
Hula began in ancient Hawaii as a form of storytelling and cultural expression, brought to the islands by Polynesians who arrived by handcrafted canoe from places including Tahiti and Samoa. Those early practitioners had no written language. Hula, as documented by historian Kelli Y. Nakamura, served as the primary means of preserving genealogy, cosmology, and history across generations.
Ancient hula was dedicated to Laka, the patron goddess of the art form. Some legends state that the goddess Pele danced the first hula on the shores of Hawaii; others credit Laka as hula’s creator. Sacred performances took place inside heiau — ceremonial structures — and were conducted only before aliʻi (chiefs) and priests. Before dancing, performers often prayed, fasted, or offered gifts to Laka or other deities. The Kumulipo, an ancient chant about the creation of the world, represents the kind of sacred narrative that hula was built to carry.
Students trained in hālau schools under a kumu hula — a master teacher. Traditional hālau rules were strict: students were prohibited from cutting their hair or fingernails during training. Graduating dancers underwent purification rituals and were cleansed in seawater. What I tend to notice when reading about this tradition is how little of that context reaches most visitors watching a hotel luau. The discipline involved is significant.
Hula kahiko and hula ʻauana explained
The two main forms of hula look and sound quite different — and understanding which you’re watching shapes how you read every movement.
Hula kahiko: the ancient form
Hula kahiko is danced to ancient chants called oli and uses percussion instruments including pahu drums — made from wood and sharkskin — and ʻiliʻili stones. Other instruments include the ipu (a single gourd drum), the ipu heke (a double gourd drum), puʻili (split bamboo sticks), and ʻuliʻuli (feathered gourd rattles). Traditional music also used bamboo pipes, sticks, and rattles. Oli is performed without instruments; the voice alone carries the chant.
Kahiko performers often wear costumes made from kapa bark cloth, leaves, and feathers. Traditional costumes also included leis, a pau skirt, and ankle bracelets made of whalebone or dogteeth. The emphasis is on Hawaiian history and spirituality. In standing dances, the ʻōlapa perform the movements while the hoʻopaʻa chant the mele and provide percussion — two distinct roles, both essential. The chant recounts the story; the dance emphasizes parts of it through hand movements and footwork. Common steps include the kaholo, hela, and kaʻo.
If you’re hoping to see authentic hula kahiko, the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo is the most serious context available to visitors. Invited hālau compete before judges, sell-out crowds, and live television cameras at Edith Kanakaʻole Stadium, where the festival has taken place since 1971. Tickets are extremely difficult to obtain — plan well in advance if this is your goal.
The Merrie Monarch Festival includes both male and female team competitions, and a Miss Aloha Hula is crowned each year. It is held annually in Hilo — about a 45-minute drive from Kona on the Big Island’s east coast — and draws visitors from across the Hawaiian Islands and beyond. The King Kamehameha Traditional Hula Event and Chant Competition is held every June and offers another serious venue for kahiko.
Hula ʻauana: the modern form
Hula ʻauana emerged under Western influence and uses instruments including the guitar and ukulele. Themes center on love and nature rather than sacred history. Modern hula ʻauana adopted new instruments and outfits — you’ll see flowing dresses and more melodic musical accompaniment. Hula Kui, a transitional style, combined ancient traditional approaches with newer interpretations of older dances and helped bridge the two eras.
ʻAuana is what most visitors encounter at resort performances, luaus, and the Kuhio Beach Hula Show. That’s not a knock against it — contemporary hula carries genuine artistry and cultural meaning. But it’s worth knowing you’re watching a different tradition from kahiko, with different origins, instruments, and intentions. The Royal Hawaiian Center on Oahu offers regular performances and workshops where both styles appear, and it’s free to attend. What I’d do is go to both the Royal Hawaiian Center and the Kuhio Beach Hula Show on the same day — they’re close to each other on Waikiki and together give a reasonable breadth of styles without major logistical effort.
For families, Hula O Na Keiki — a children’s hula competition — offers a different kind of viewing experience, focused specifically on younger dancers preserving cultural heritage. The Aloha Festivals, a month-long celebration including parades, concerts, and hula performances, runs annually and gives visitors multiple opportunities across several weeks to catch different styles and venues. Lily and Ethan both tend to respond well to outdoor performances with visible movement and music — the Kuhio Beach setting, with open space around them, works considerably better for that age group than seated indoor events.
How hula survived suppression and revival
The history of hula’s near-extinction and return is inseparable from the broader history of Hawaiian sovereignty.
The suppression period
Protestant missionaries arrived in Hawaiʻi in the early 1800s and denounced hula as pagan. Queen Kaʻahumanu, who had converted to Christianity, outlawed hula in 1830. She died in 1832, and the prohibition’s enforcement weakened over time — but the damage to public practice was real. Many traditional hula forms were driven underground or simply stopped being taught during this period. The research is clear that Western contact significantly disrupted the transmission of kahiko traditions that had been maintained for centuries.
King Kalākaua and the first revival
King David Kalākaua ruled Hawaii from 1874 to 1891 and actively supported the revival of traditional Hawaiian arts and crafts. He featured hula at his 1883 coronation and again at his 1886 birthday jubilee — public acts of cultural reaffirmation during a period of significant political pressure. Kalākaua’s reign kept kahiko traditions alive at a moment when they were at serious risk of disappearing entirely. The American overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom on January 17, 1893, followed his reign and ended that governmental support.
The Hawaiian Renaissance and modern hula
The Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1960s and 1970s renewed serious interest in hula kahiko. Cultural pride, the founding of new hālau, and the establishment of the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo drove that revival. As Sharon Māhealani Rowe documented in her 2008 Dance Research Journal article “We Dance for Knowledge,” hula carries knowledge that is specifically Hawaiian and not replaceable by other means. Native Hawaiian leader and kumu hula Vicky Holt Takamine, and teacher John W. Keānuenue Kaʻimikaua — who described hula as a way for Hawaiians to remember their culture and forefathers — represent the contemporary generation keeping that transmission active.
Attending hula performances and learning as a visitor
Where to see hula on Oahu
The Kuhio Beach Hula Show and the Royal Hawaiian Center are the two most accessible regular venues for visitors on Oahu. Both are on or near Waikiki — within easy walking distance of each other. No planning beyond showing up is required for either, which makes them practical for visitors with loose itineraries. The Royal Hawaiian Center includes workshops where participation is possible, not just observation.
Hula With Aloha offers beginners’ classes for visitors who want to learn the basic steps rather than simply watch. This is worth considering if you have children who learn better by doing — hula kahiko basics like the kaholo and hela are teachable in a short session and give participants a completely different appreciation for what they’re watching at performances afterward.
What I’d do: use the Royal Hawaiian Center workshop as the entry point, then walk to the Kuhio Beach Hula Show later the same evening. The contrast between learning a few movements and then watching trained dancers perform them is instructive in a way that purely observational visits often aren’t.
Etiquette and practical notes
Visitors are advised not to take photos during hula performances unless permission is given. This applies across venues — it’s a consistent expectation, not a rule specific to sacred contexts. At free outdoor shows, it’s worth observing what other audience members are doing and following their lead before assuming photography is acceptable.
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If you’re documenting your Hawaii trip and want footage of the landscape and cultural context rather than the performances themselves, a compact camera setup handles outdoor island conditions well without being obtrusive. An action camera with good stabilization — waterproof and small enough to carry without drawing attention — works for capturing the broader context of outdoor venues like Kuhio Beach without pointing it at performers during restricted moments. A waterproof action camera with built-in stabilization manages beach and outdoor venue conditions without the bulk of a traditional camera bag.
| Feature | Hula Kahiko | Hula ʻAuana |
|---|---|---|
| Era of origin | Ancient Hawaii, pre-Western contact | Post-Western contact, 19th–20th century |
| Chant type | Oli (chant without instruments) | Mele with melodic accompaniment |
| Instruments | Ipu, pahu, puʻili, ʻuliʻuli, ʻiliʻili | Guitar, ukulele, modern percussion |
| Costume materials | Kapa bark cloth, leaves, feathers | Flowing fabric dresses, modern lei |
| Themes | History, spirituality, royal occasions | Love, nature, contemporary life |
| Where to see it | Merrie Monarch Festival, King Kamehameha Competition | Kuhio Beach Show, resort luaus, Royal Hawaiian Center |
Merrie Monarch Festival tickets sell out entirely and well in advance — this is not an event you can decide to attend a week before. If the festival is your primary goal for visiting Hilo, plan your entire trip around it at least several months out. The King Kamehameha Traditional Hula Event and Chant Competition in June is a less-crowded alternative for seeing serious kahiko competition.
- Hula kahiko and hula ʻauana are distinct traditions with different instruments, chant styles, costumes, and purposes — knowing which you’re watching changes how you read the performance.
- The Kuhio Beach Hula Show and Royal Hawaiian Center are free, accessible entry points on Oahu; Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo is the most serious competitive venue but requires advance planning.
- Photography during performances is restricted — observe what local audience members are doing before assuming cameras are welcome.
Questions visitors ask about Hawaiian hula
What is the difference between hula kahiko and hula ʻauana?
Hula kahiko is the ancient form, danced to traditional chants using percussion instruments including the pahu drum, ipu, and ʻiliʻili stones. Hula ʻauana emerged under Western influence and uses instruments like the guitar and ukulele, with themes centered on love and nature rather than sacred history or royal occasions.
Practically speaking, kahiko is what you’ll see at serious competitions like the Merrie Monarch Festival; ʻauana is what appears at most resort shows and free beach performances on Oahu. Both carry genuine cultural meaning, but they come from different eras and serve different purposes.
Where can visitors watch hula for free in Hawaii?
The Kuhio Beach Hula Show on Waikiki is a free weekly performance featuring local dancers. The Royal Hawaiian Center on Oahu also offers regular performances and workshops at no charge. The Aloha Festivals — a month-long annual celebration — includes hula performances across multiple venues.
None of these require tickets or advance booking, which makes them accessible for visitors with flexible itineraries. Arrival timing matters at outdoor shows — earlier arrival means better sight lines, particularly at Kuhio Beach where crowds can build.
Is it respectful for visitors to attend hula performances?
Yes, attendance at public performances is welcomed. The main etiquette consideration is photography: visitors are advised not to take photos during performances unless permission is given. Beyond that, attentive, quiet observation is appropriate — treating hula as a cultural transmission rather than a backdrop for vacation photos.
Hula With Aloha offers beginner classes specifically designed for visitors who want to participate rather than only watch. Engaging with the form in that context — with a kumu hula’s guidance — is considered a respectful way to learn.
Can families with young children attend hula shows?
The Kuhio Beach Hula Show works well for families because it’s outdoors, free, and informal — children can move around without disrupting others. The Royal Hawaiian Center is similarly accessible. Seated indoor performances or competition events may be harder to manage with very young children.
Hula O Na Keiki is a children’s hula competition specifically aimed at younger audiences and younger performers, making it a naturally family-friendly context. The Aloha Festivals, with their parade and concert elements, also tend to suit families better than formal competition venues.
What did hula mean before Western contact?
Before Western contact, hula reaffirmed Hawaiian spirituality and sacred oral traditions. Ancient hula was dedicated to the goddess Laka and performed in heiau before aliʻi and priests. Some chants praised a reigning monarch; others marked occasions like the birth of a royal child.
For centuries, mele and oli preserved history and knowledge before Hawaiians had a written language — meaning hula functioned as a living archive, not an entertainment form. That distinction is central to understanding why suppression during the missionary era was so damaging and why the revival matters so much to Native Hawaiian communities today.
Hula kahiko suits visitors drawn to Hawaiian history and spiritual tradition at its most serious — seek out the Merrie Monarch Festival or King Kamehameha Competition for that context, and plan well ahead. Hula ʻauana, available weekly at Kuhio Beach and year-round at the Royal Hawaiian Center, works for any visitor wanting cultural engagement without the logistical complexity. Families with children will find the outdoor Waikiki venues far more manageable than seated competition events. And if you have a day in Hilo regardless of festival timing, the city’s relationship with hula — as the home of Edith Kanakaʻole Stadium and the Merrie Monarch tradition — comes through even outside competition season. If this was useful, you might also enjoy reading about Pele’s role in Hawaiian mythology and hula’s origins.
Sources and further reading
Hawaiian hula cultural overview. To-Hawaii, 2025.
Hula origins and meanings. History.com, 2025.
We Dance for Knowledge. Dance Research Journal, vol. 40, no. 1, 2008.