Waaaaay outside the comfort zone...

This month in hula class, Kumu's making us chant by ourselves.

Let me back up a bit, and bring you this information about hula from Wikipedia:

"Hula is a dance form accompanied by chant or song. It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians who originally settled there. The chant or song is called a mele. The hula dramatizes or comments on the mele.
There are many styles of hula. They are commonly divided into two broad categories: Ancient hula, as performed before Western encounters with Hawaiʻi, is called kahiko. It is accompanied by chant and traditional instruments.
Hula as it evolved under Western influence, in the 19th and 20th centuries, is called ʻauana. It is accompanied by song and Western-influenced musical instruments such as the guitar, the ukulele, and the double bass."

(See, you get an education here along with the extreme dorkiness!)

What we've been learning since last summer is hula kahiko, so we dance to chanting and drumming on a double-gourd (ipu heke). And we're learning the chants as well. Some of these chants are done without an accompanying dance, such as the one we're doing in front of class.

There's a pretty good example of what I'm talking about here (and wow, the dancing after the solo chant is pretty amazing too). Not only do we have to get the words right, we're supposed to sound like we know what we're saying, and do it with the proper vibrato. It's pretty challenging.

What is my point? It's like singing a solo. And I'd much rather dance a solo than sing one. I've done karaoke, and this is nothing like that. For one thing, there's no alcohol in hula class. Or loud music. Or loud people. Still, I got up and chanted tonight, mainly because I didn't want to spend the next two weeks stressing about it.

HOLY CRAP. My heart was in my throat as soon as I raised my hand and said I'd go first tonight. (If I had any balls, I'd have done it last week, as five of my hula sisters and brothers did.) I am pleased to report that I got it right, after a false start in a key that's too high for me, and didn't vomit from the nerves. I even managed to make eye contact with my hula brothers and sisters, while smiling (the chant is all about welcoming people, so to do it with a scowl or a look of terror is entirely inappropriate).

And now I don't have to worry about it anymore. Until he makes us do something like this again...