Dance Critique
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Dance is a projection of inner thoughts and a form of expression and communication through movement. The Hula is a world concert/ritual dance that in its original form was a "celebration of man's communication with the elements of music." Hula dancers do not dance to rhythms, but to words; the dance interprets the words of the song and tells a story. The concert Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu is a modern form of the Hula, which uses traditional Hawaiian songs and songs in English. Since some of the songs are in English, the audience can connect how the Hula interprets the words in the song. In this paper, I will describe the first dance titled "Hula in Red," the ninth dance titled "Read my Hips," and the last dance titled "Finale" in Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu.
When the curtain opened for the first dance, men and women dancers were on the stage. The men were standing hunched over, faces towards the ground and the women were on their knees, faces also toward the ground. The background consisted of a reflected image of green, tropical plants onto the back wall. Colorful, tropical flowers covered the perimeter of the stage and a few green plants were towards the back of the stage...