BERTHOUD — When it comes to “worship hula,” coconut-shell bikini tops, flimsy grass skirts and aggressive booty shaking are out.
Instead, the hula dancers in Niau Mora’s class undulate their hips to the beat of Hawaiian worship music. Barefoot, they wear flowing tribal print skirts and red sarongs, called kikepas, over white tops, with colorful flowers pinned in their hair.
The whole point of worship hula is to use the entire body to praise God, said Mora, a Longmont resident who leads a worship-hula ministry called Ka Wai Ola O Ke Akua, which means the “Living Waters of God” in Hawaiian.
“When our hips go from side to side, we see the water, we see the trees, we see the movement that God has so naturally given,” she said.
The native Hawaiian was raised on Maui, but it wasn’t until after she decided to become a Christian at the age of 40 that Mora met a sacred-hula dancer who took her on as a student.
“I never danced a Hollywood hula or a hoochie-coochie hula, but all my hula has been praise — praise and worship,” Mora said.
When Mora moved to Colorado in 2006 and enrolled at Charis Bible College in Colorado Springs, she started worship-hula ministries at the school and at a nearby megachurch, New Life.
She has since settled in Longmont, and a year and a half ago, she launched the Living Waters ministry. Women in the group meet Wednesday afternoons in Berthoud for rehearsal and also have performed at churches, hospitals, schools, maternity homes and centers for women with drug and alcohol addiction. They will perform in Loveland today at a dance-worship presentation.
Hula dancing was on Berthoud resident Yvonne Dawdy’s bucket list. The faith element is an added bonus, she said, and is an effective form of evangelizing to those who may not want to listen to preaching.
“There’s a surrender that happens when people watch us dance because it’s not threatening,” she said.
Hula falls into one of two categories. Kahiko hula, an ancient form of the dance, has spiritual roots and is accompanied by chanting or traditional Hawaiian instruments. Auana hula, which is what Mora teaches, is a more modern variety that incorporates Western instruments such as the guitar, string bass and ukulele.
Mora’s hula is set to religious Hawaiian or Hawaiian-inspired music. She also incorporates hand movements and signs that represent elements of nature, such as mountains, trees and water.
