“Hula is the language of the heart… and therefore the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people.” King David Kalakaua. “Hula is the language of the heart.” Hula is not just a dance it’s a dance from the Hawaiian culture. In the ancient Hawaiian days everyone in the Hawaiian Islands knew how to dance hula. Hula is a way of telling a story every step and every hand motion is telling a story. I think of Hula as a Hawaiian sign language because sign language tells others what your trying to say and hula is the same your telling something without words just foot work and hand motions. Hula is very important to me because when I started dancing in 3rd grade I knew that it was in my blood to become a hula dancer. This I knew because my first performance was in Liliuokalani Park for Liliuokalani’s birthday. And dancing in front of other people and my family made me feel so ecstatic even though I was only in 3rd grade I knew that this is something that I really enjoy and I will be dong for a long time. In the past I have done a lot of different sports like Martial arts, Golf, gymnastics, and much more. But Hula gave me a different felling it made me feel like hula is where I belong. So as I got older I got into Kamehameha Schools and this is where I learned even more about the Hawaiian culture and hula, they even have a hula class called Hawaiian Ensemble. I joined Hawaiian Ensemble in 7th grade because my hula kumu or teacher told me that there is many different ways of dancing hula other people might dance differently. So I wanted to learn how others dance hula and as the year was going by I saw that there are things that we do differently but the basics are so much a like or if not exactly a like. My first performance with the school was the Liliuokalani Festival, so I started off at the same point as in 3rd grade. But I realized that we hold our own shows at the school like ho?olaule?a and Christmas Consent or ‘?hamele kalikimaka and getting up on that stage with lights in my face I was kind of nervous but I enjoyed being up on that stage. It felt spectacular up on that stage with beaming lights in my face and dancing with my friends felt superb. “Hula is the language of the heart… and therefore the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people.” King David Kalakaua. Hula is more than just a dance it represents the Hawaiian culture and the stories of ancient Hawai’i.