Archive for July, 2009

Just about every club, sport, and organization has them. Some kind of ritual or rule, spoken or unspoken, that everyone goes by. When I trained karate as a teenager, it was an unspoken rule that we weren’t to enter other dojos. In most cases, no one knows why the rule or ritual is there, but it is followed just the same. It’s done that way because that’s the way it’s always been done. Instead of following blindly, we should be asking “why”.

Since moving to Miyakojima my wife has started doing hula. Now I am not going to claim to know anything about hula, but apparently there is a rule that you don’t learn hula at two different schools. Basically, if you are learning at one school you are forbidden to enter others. One of the girls didn’t know this and was also performing with another school. Once the original school found out a few of the members were pretty upset.

Now I think when learning something like martial arts or dance, which are very stylistic, it is actually beneficial to study very diligently in one style before trying out others. Simply because it is easier to learn the movements that way. But they were upset because “it was against the rules”. Why is it against the rules? No one really has any idea. I assume it has to do with the religious origins of hula, but I honestly don’t know (if you are a Hula teacher please feel free to inform me).

The point is that this is a hula “dance” club. I’m sure that everyone wants to learn the culture of hula, but does that mean you must follow all the traditional rules? Especially when they are outdated and most don’t even know the original meanings? I think understanding them is important to learn and maintain the heritage, but that does not mean they need to be practiced. It may not beneficial for the person to study at two schools, but shouldn’t that be for her to decide?

Let me know what you think and what your thoughts on the topic are.