Hula Sisters Barbara Jean Wong & Colleen Lewis say, “Aloha!”

When Barbara Jean (“B.J.”) Wong and Colleen Lewis visited my home to tell me about learning and performing hula, I didn’t expect them to arrive looking so pretty—with flowers in their hair and handmade Hawaiian gifts for me. I was even more delighted when I saw the musical instruments they brought, some of which are handmade by the hula haumana (students of hula): a large double gourd (ipu heke,) split bamboo called pu’ ili, and feather gourds called uli uli.     “Hula students gather at the halau (hula school) to dance,” Colleen explained. “When the ipu heke (double gourd) sounds, the kumu hula (teacher) calls out, “Makaukau?” (“Are you ready?”) The students answer, “Ae!” (“Yes!”) and dancing begins.      “We met at hula in 2011, B.J. said. “Now, here we are, 15 years later, still friends and still in love with hula.” Then, to the recorded sound of drums, B.J. called out, “Makaukau?”  “Ai!” answered Colleen, and they began to hula, right in the middle of my dining room!