Hula 'spectacle' on local stage Saturday

Even with five children and a full-time job as a home-health nurse, Sharon Pillsbury has, for many years, found time to hula.

Pillsbury, 56, is the director and instructor for Kalispell’s local hula school, which has a long Hawaiian name that translates into Hula School of the Peaceful, Heavenly, Flowing Waters.

She took up hula 14 years ago after seeing her son’s girlfriend dance.

“I loved it and stuck with it,” she said.

Though she had danced previously in many styles — African, modern, belly dance — she appreciates the attributes she calls unique to hula.

“You can dance hula your entire life, childhood through old age,” Pillsbury said. “At family celebrations, people just get up and dance. Family, history, the aloha spirit — they’re all tied up in hula.”

The hula school will give its 17th annual show at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Glacier High School Performance Hall in Kalispell. The theme is Kahawai (Rivers of Knowledge). The local school will be supported by a large contingent from California, with a four-piece band, dancers and craftsmen coming to town to lend their support and talents to the show.

The show will feature two different hula styles. In the first half, ancient dances will be presented, along with traditional chanting and instrument-playing encompassing the history and mythology of hula and Hawaii.

During the second half, the Sacramento band will accompany dancers in the more modern styles of hula.

“It will be a spectacle,” Pillsbury said. “The band is excellent and the ancient part of the program will give you chills with the chants and the ancient costumes.”

Kalispell’s Margie Henderson, 46, will be part of the show, as will her daughter Anna, 10. She said people often react with surprise after hearing of her passion for the art form.

“I’m a middle-aged white woman, born and raised in Montana, overweight, and I love to dance hula,” she said. “I know that’s crazy.”

 After eight years of dancing, her ties to the dance at the heart of Hawaiian culture are deep.

“It’s a very ancient dance, very spiritual, and it somehow calms and feeds the soul,” she said.

But the real draw for Henderson is the sense of family that springs from hula.

“The other part of why I love it is the community that happens with the women I dance and share those experiences with,” Henderson said. “They’ve become my best friends and a huge part of my life.”

The local hula school, which practices weekly at the Dance Art Center in Kalispell, receives support and guidance from a school in Sacramento.

Hula master Kumu Juni Kalahikiola Romuar, who will be part of the Saturday program, provides all the choreography and cultural instruction to the students through Pillsbury.

“We really are very thankful for the school in California,” Pillsbury said. “They really do this for us out of the love of spreading hula. It’s a gift and a responsibility they have given us.”

Pillsbury is an instructor but not a “kumu,” a teaching title that has to be bestowed. She is not allowed to create dances for the school; they must be handed down through a kumu.

With an age range from 6 to 60, there currently are 23 students in the school; Pillsbury said around 25 has been the average. The school began with Sherry Maier, a native Hawaiian who opened the program as Paradise Productions 17 years ago. She passed it on to Macy Massey, who later moved and left it in Pillsbury’s care about four years ago.

Students at the school not only learn to hula dance, they also study Hawaiian language and culture, and every two years a Hawaiian trip is planned. Besides the annual show, members of the school dance for public events such as Relay for Life and farmers markets, in nursing homes and in schools.

Pillsbury said that even though Northwest Montana might seem like an odd place for a hula school, it actually is a good fit.

“Hula is the language of the heart, and a lot of us feel that connection here,” she said. “We live in a majestic beautiful environment that hula reflects, and the aloha spirit reflects Montana friendliness.”

Kalispell’s hula school, Halau Ka Waikahe Lani Malie (Hula School of the Peaceful, Heavenly, Flowing Waters), gives its 17th annual performance at 3 p.m. on Saturday in the Glacier High School Performance Hall.

Tickets are $15 for general admission, $10 for students or $5 for children under 12. Purchase tickets at all Montana Coffee Trader locations, visit www.hulamontana.com or call 755-4434. Tickets also can be purchased at the door. Hawaiian CDs and handmade crafts will be sold at the door.