Care Nursing and Rehab was visited Friday afternoon by a hula dancer, Angela Torres.
Not a traditional St. Patrick’s Day activity, but it fit in very well with facility’s resident family. She performed dances from Samoa, Tahiti and Hawaii.
“I have been dancing with a hula troop in Midland for three years led by Diane Faulkner, our Kumu Hula, or master hula,” Torres said. “We perform in competitions, Ole Soreheads Trade Days, Flea Market in Stanton, Kiwanis’s pancake Jamboree and many places t throughout the Permian Basin and New Mexico.”
Hula was an ancient form of prayer for all pacific islanders. Originally, dance was not allowed by women and children but only the men could express themselves in prayer by a dance called the Hula. When war came to the Polynesia area the men had to leave and fight, so the women carried on the prayer dances. When the men returned, they agreed that women and children should be allowed to dance the ancient hula, or kahiko.
The hula most people know today is Hollywood infused hula or Hula Auana. The kind of hula was made famous during the Elvis movies. The modern hula is not so much prayer, but instead tells a story about a flower, a girl or past king of Hawaii. With Auana came the cellophane grass skirt and coconut bra. Another form of hula is Maori from New Zealand, which is where the poi balls came from. Poi balls were originally made of poi root, and were used to teach soldiers hand eye coordination.
Pictured is Torres from Care Nursing and Rehab on Friday.
