Live Healthy Live Well

When I was little my grandmother loved everything about Hawaii and had the opportunity to travel there several times. She always wanted my sister and I to take a hula dance classes, but when you are a teenager, you don’t always want to do what your family asks of you. Fast forward 20+ years and my sister and I are making granny’s dream come true and will perform this week in our first hula dance review!

I initially thought, “I am too old for this! Who in their 40’s takes up hula dance classes?” The answer is: Anyone can take up hula dancing at any age! Hula is more than movement, it is story telling. With over 300 forms of hula, each has its own unique vocabulary of motion. A professionally trained hula dancer can recognize the lineage from teacher to teacher just by these movements.  There are two overarching umbrellas in hula dancing hula kahiko, is the traditional style of hula dance, and hula auana, which was popularized by the influx of tourists to the Hawaiian Islands and is a more modern style.

Hula is a great form of exercise. From beginners to advanced dancers, the slow, precise, focused movements help with coordination and muscle awareness, like yoga. It can also have a positive impact on hypertension and is a heart healthy exercise. One study found that 3 months after participants completed a 12-week hula class, participants’ systolic blood pressure had fallen by an average of 18.3 points—twice as much as those who did not participate in the class. The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities completed a 5-year research evaluating the impact of hula, as an exercise method for cardiac rehabilitation. The findings indicated improvements with breathing, endurance, muscle strength, and flexibility, due to coordinating the music and the chanting. Furthermore, participants reported improvements in memory, cultural insight, concentration, mental stimulation and just “feeling better overall” (Maskarinec, et al. 2017).

Learning about the health benefits is encouraging, but honestly, hula (or any style of dance) helps improve quality of life. Dancing is therapeutic and is a mentally healing experience for me. It is an avenue to socialize with women of all ages, express my emotions, and a way to spend quality time with my sister. And to my granny, “Sorry it took me so long to make this dream come true. You were right, I love it!”

So, who is too old to take dance lessons? Not me and not you! I encourage you to go out and try! Who knows? You might just love it too!

Written by: Dr. Roseanne Scammahorn, Family and Consumer Sciences Educator, Ohio State University Extension Darke County

Reviewed by: Patrice Powers-Barker, Family and Consumer Sciences Educator, Ohio State University Extension Lucas County

Sources:

Essoyan, S. (2013). Hula helps heart, soul, isle study discovers. Honolulu Star-Advertiser. https://www2.jabsom.hawaii.edu/native/docs/news/Hula_helps_heart_soul_isle_study_discovers_StarAdvertiser_8-2-13.pdf

Kaholokula, J., Look, M., Mabellos, T., Zhang, G., de Silva, M., Yoshimura, S., Solatorio, C., Wills, T., Seto, T., and Sinclair, K. (2017). Cultural dance program improves hypertension management for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders: A pilot randomized trial. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 4(1), 35–46. doi: 10.1007/s40615-015-0198-4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5283501/

National Institute on Health. (2019, September 10). Hula for Heart Health: Using Traditional Dance to Lower Blood Pressure. https://www.nimhd.nih.gov/news-events/features/clinical-health-services/hula.html

Maskarinec, G. Look, M., Tolentino, K., Trask-Batti, M., Seto, T., de Silva, M., & Kaholokua, J. (2014, March 27) . Patient Perspectives on the Hula Empowering Lifestyle Adaptation Study: Benefits of Dancing Hula for Cardiac Rehabilitation.  Health Promotion Practice, 16(1).  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4177511/