When one’s thinks of the Hawaiian Islands, often times Hula is associated with it. Hula is a way of life for most Hawaiian and is past from generations to generations, from mother to daughters, father to sons and teachers to students. Dancing the Hula demands dedication and devotion. It is an art form of story telling through beautiful hand motions, chants and songs. 

Every year after the Easter holidays, hundreds of people all over the world gather in Hilo, Hawaii to witness the Merry Monarch. It is our King Kalakaua who brought back this ancient art and under his reign, Hula revived and was once again celebrated. In honored of that, King Kalakaua was known as the “Merry Monarch.”

In 1971, the first competitive Merrie Monarch competition took place at the Hilo Civic Auditorium. Nine groups participated and was well received by the audiences. A few years later, with the introduction of men partipants, audiences cheers as they quickly fell in love with the rapid changing and develpments of Hula. Dancers and audiences kept returning every years that the Merry Monarch had to be relocated to a larger area. In 1979, it’s was moved to Edith Kanakoole Stadium. And every year after that, without any interrruption, the Merrie Monarch been seen live by people all over the world and it cover on all State-wide television. 

In the Merry Monarch, there are two divisions of group competition, the male (kane) division and the female (wahine) division. Each halau or groups has up to seven minutes on stage and during their performance, they are judged on a variety of things. Similar to the Winter Olympics, judges are looking for different elements in each performance. They are judged on the entrance (kaʻi), the chant (oli), the dance (hula) and finally the exit off stage (hoʻi).  The groups are scored on each aspect of the performance and up to 30 halau compete each year. Tickets usually sell out extremely quickly.

Merrie Monarch Festival — April 4 to 10, 2010. 

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