Post #378678 by Limbo Lizard on Wed, May 7, 2008 6:58 AM

By happy accident, I was switching through the channels late last night, and I happened on a great little independent documentary on PBS. I thought it would be of interest to some, here. It's Na Kamalei: The Men of Hula.
It's about the only male-only hula school (halau) in Hawaii. It began decades ago, in the early 70's, in attempt to recover the ancient traditions of the hula, as part of the Hawaiian Pride movement. The art of hula had become almost exclusively associated with female dancers, thanks to Hollywood and tourist shows. But originally, it was very much a "man thing", too.
Here's the full link:

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/menofhula/?campaign=pbshomefeatures_5_independentlensbrnakamaleithemenofhula_2008-05-07

There's a "Check local Listings" link. I may have seen the last showing in my area (Dallas), but I checked around, and it's showing in many other areas this week, still.

BTW, the idea for the film grew from an earlier documentary by the filmmaker, Lisette Marie Flanary, named 'American Aloha - Hula Beyond Hawaii'. That one's available from Netflix.

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-05-08 07:51 ]