Mormons and the Hula
The Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii
James Whitehurst
Mormons are currently celebrating the 25th
year of continuous operation of their Polynesian
Cultural Center in Hawaii. A most successful
business adventure, it grosses over 30 million dollars
a year, and is currently the major paid tourist
attraction in Hawaii, capturing the attention of one
out of every four visitors to the island. A startling
fact in a state like Hawaii that prides itself on
tourism.
Even more surprising is the fact that, although
owned and operated by the Mormon Church, hula
dances are a prominent feature of the entertainment.
On floating platforms that glide through lagoons
separating various Polynesian villages, at ethnic
demonstrations in the cluster of huts, and at the
spectacular evening performances with 150 singers
and dancers, the hula is wiggled with gusto.
Mormons dancing the hula? How could this be?
According to the popular stereotype, Saints are the
“squarest of the square.” They don’t smoke or
drink-even cokes. Chastity is a strict requirement
for temple marriages, and profanity is proscribed.
Even excessive sideburns are off limits at the
Brigham Young University campus.
But when it comes to dancing, Mormons are
surprisingly “with it.” Joseph Smith shocked his
contemporaries by countering the stereotype of the
gloomy prophet, and Brigham Young encouraged
most types of dances. In the trek to Utah, i t was
common for a fiddler to strike u p a tune at nightfall
so the pioneers could dance away their weariness.
When they arrived in the Great Salt Valley, dance
halls were some of the first public buildings under
construction-long before work was begun on the
temple. Saints kicked u p their heels with lively
square and line dances while mainstream Protest-
ants continued to shun dance as the work of the
devil.
Accvptance of dance has paid handsome
dividends for Mormons who are currently able to
attract and hold their youth in ways other Christian
groups might well emulate. Most LDS buildings
have a cultural hall that is used each week for
teenage dances and dramatic activities. By the time
youth enroll in a university, many of them bring
talents and skills that can be tapped for dance
1
troupes such as the Ballroom Dance Company, T h e
Young Ambassadors, or the American Folk Dance
Company-all at Brigham Young University where
the Department of Dance is bigger and more varied
than almost any university in the world. Such
openness to dance and theater has provided a n
unheralded evangelical and public relations tool,
creating much good will for this harassed religion.
LDS dance troupes have opened doors for Saints
even in communist lands such as the People’s
Republic of China and Poland.
But these are exceptional breakthioughs. T h e
major, long-standing showcase for Mormon dance
and drama is the Polynesian Cultural Center in
Laie, Hawaii. Here, in regular performances each
afternoon and evening, the Mormon Lest for dance
can be seen at its best. A lagoon winds its way
through a charming setting of Polyne5ian huts. O n
floating platforms, energetic youth in native dress
of Fiji, Tonga, or Samoa dance to the pulsating
rhythms of rattles and drums. Six Polynesian
cultures are portrayed in the model villages
surrounding the lagoons, and the tourist gets a
chance to try his hands and hips at the hula or
other dances with the assistance of chairning youth.
In a n evening program set in a 2,500 seat
auditorium, multiple types of Polynesian dances
are smartly choreographed with spectacular
lighting effects that rival anything found in the
nightclubs of Waikiki.
All types of dance, however, have not been
uniformally accepted by the Saints. In the 19th
century, the waltz fell under partial ban due to its
association with brothels and barrooms; in the 20th
century, the twist was officially condemned as
faddish. How, then, did straight-laced Mormons
ever start doing the hula? What made the situation
in Hawaii so different?
Missionaries and the Hula
Mainline missionaries, primarily Congrega-
tional, had been spreading the gospel in Hawaii
since 1820. But their attitude toward native culture
was almost completely negative. “Heathenish”
dance was abhorrent, especially the hula, with its
hip-swinging rhythms. It was a form of sympathetic
2 Journal of American Culture
magic: results were sought through imitation. Just
as the mime of pulling in fish would help produce
the next day’s catch, so fertility could be imitated
by bodily gyrations. Since orgies sometimes
climaxed these dances, it is understandable why the
first missionaries were shocked. Their overreaction
to a few dances led to the banning of all dance.
But the hula did not disappear; it was simply driven
underground to the grog shops in harbor towns.
When the Mormons arrived in the mid-l800s,
they were less shocked by “heathenish” dance. Was
it because the worst excesses had been abolished
and only the harmless forms remained? Or was it
because “degradation is in the eye of the beholder”?
Whatever the case, the Saints found themselves in
a new situation. Rather than attack native culture,
they could in fact swing with a backlash that had
developed as a protest to the missionaries’
puritanical attempts to root out paganism, ban
sensuous dance, and impose western dress. The
excessive clothing recommended by mainline
missionaries had helped increase tuberculosis on
the islands, and there was a genuine fear of genocide.
The birth rate had fallen drastically, and land-
grabbing was common, for Hawaiians had no
concept of real estate ownership. Like the American
Indian, the native Hawaiian was becoming an
endangered species.
T h e Native Hawaiian Renaissance
Such concerns prompted King Kalakaua (who
reigned 1874-1891) to begin a campaign to save his
people from cultural imperialism and restore native
traditions that had given them identity. He
borrowed a slogan-“Hawaii for the Hawaiians”-
from the masthead of a newspaper published by
the infamous Walter Murry Gibson, who had fled
to Honolulu after his excommunication by the
Mormons and the collapse of his petty Mormon
empire on the island of Lanai. Gibson later joined
Kalakaua’s cabinet and helped the King plan an
elaborate coronation ceremony which blended
European royal traditions with those of native
Hawaii. As a part of the coronation festivities in
1883, the King reintroduced the hula into polite
society.
Appreciation of dance may be a clue to the
natural link that seemed to be forged between the
King and the new religion invading the island-
Mormonism. Were the Mormons and the King
kindred spirits? Kalakaua may well have sensed such
a bond, for he visited the new Mormon colony at
Laie on several occasions and saw in it an
embodiment of the very virtues he was trying to
encourage in his subjects. The motto he had chosen
for his reign-Ho’oulu lahui (“Increase the
Race”)-dovetailed nicely with the Mormon
emphasis on large families. On one occasion he
complimented them specifically on their prolific
tendencies, along with their industry, morality, and
cooperative spirit. Mormons were quick to exploit
this friendship on several occasions. When
Protestant and Catholic leaders tried to push
discriminatory legislation that would bar Mormons
from claiming tax exemption or performing
marriages, Kalakaua, prompted by Walter Murry
Gibson, intervened on their behalf. Still there were
limits to this friendship. Kalakaua was not about
to become a Mormon; the Merry Monarch loved
alcohol too dearly and was reputed to be a
womanizer. His wife, Queen Kapiolani, however,
evidently toyed with the idea of conversion, and
is reported to have contemplated Mormon baptism.
Pride in Ancestral Heritage
In addition to dance, Kalakaua and the
Mormons shared an interest in helping Hawaiians
recover their ancestral chants, which came close to
being lost forever. Mainline missionaries decried
them as heathen recitals of a past that is best
forgotten: Mormons, on the other hand, saw the
chants as valuable oral genealogies that could help
Polynesians trace their ancestry back to Book of
Mormon peoples. In searching the Mormon
scripture, they discovered the story of a certain
Nephite named Hagoth who had sailed from
America into the Pacific around 55 B.C. With the
help of their own genealogies, supplemented by the
Book of Mormon, Polynesians could trace their
ancestry back to biblical times through Hagoth, an
American Nephite.
Scholars fond of tracing Polynesians back to
Asian, not American, origins, might scoff at such
theories; but Pacific islanders, rejoicing in their
newfound identity, eagerly embraced these
promises. Their chants could help them prove they
were not unimportant peoples to be shunted aside
by an advancing white civilization; instead they
were a branch of Israel miraculously preserved in
the Pacific! Their history didn’t begin with the so-
called discoveries of Captain Cook. It began with
Adam!
Toward a Theology of Dance
Aboriginal dances, like chants, came to be
perceived in a similar way as part of an Israelite
heritage-much diffused and diminished through
time and distance, to be sure, but still a matter for
pride, not shame. Acceptance of these dances may
be related to the high evaluation of the human body
4 Journal of American Culture
Hawaii-Village Dancers
found in Mormonism. Where traditional Christian-
ity, particularly Protestantism, had separated body
and spirit, putting flesh on a lower level, Mormons
had done almost the opposite. For Mormons, to
have a body is more important than to be an
incorporeal spirit. Only by taking on a tabernacle
of flesh and undergoing trials in this material world
can spirit beings rise to a higher stage of glory.
In fact, God himself so progressed until he now
has a body; and, like him, we are to have glorified
bodies in the hereafter. Sexuality, then, is never
sinful per se; it is the means whereby waiting spirits
can come into this physical realm and enter a growth
process that angels might well envy. So when pious
Protestants of the time were shocked by Mormon
dance, Brigham Young could respond: “Every
faculty and power of both body and mind is a gift
from God. Never say that means used to create and
continue healthy action of body and mind are from
hell.” If anything, dance is more to be equated with
heaven, for “there is no music in Hell.” (John A.
Widtsoe, Discourses of Brigham Y o u n g , Salt Lake
City: Deseret Books, 1925, p. 373-4)
The ‘Gathering Place’: Laie
All of this helps explain why Mormons have
created an institution like the Polynesian Cultural
Center, where dance predominates and is performed
with such gusto. Its location at Laie is due to the
concept of a “Gathering Place” in preparation for
the Millennium. Here, a “little Zion” clustered
about a majestic Mormon Temple built in 1910,
the first such temple in the Pacific area. This
gleaming white temple served as a magnet to draw
Mormon converts from scattered islands thousands
of miles away. Many came here to do “temple
work”-to baptize deceased relatives by proxy and
perform endowment rituals that could bind their
families for the “eternities.” Since many of these
rituals can be endlessly repeated, some families
migrated to stay; others were simply looking for
employment. By mid-twentieth century, several
thousand settlers were drawn mainly from Samoa,
but also from as far away as Tonga, Fiji, and Tahiti.
Each of these groups had brought its own
distinctive lifestyles, unique foods, dress, music, and
dance. On Saturday mornings, the various island
Mormons and the Hula
peoples gathered at the shore for a hukilau
(Hawaiian term for a fishing festival that involved
competitive sports and a huge meal or luau). For
entertainment following the meal, one or two
groups displayed dances popular on their islands.
This soon became the most popular aspect of the
festival, and tourists stopped to see what was going
on. I t I S not hard to imagine how ideas began to
fly: “ W h y not charge admission?” “Each group
could perform some dances.” “We could make
handicrafts to sell and teach people our games!”
“We could have some model villages for people to
visit and call it ‘Polynesia in a Day!’ ”
So began one of the most unique and successful
enterprises in the tourist industry-tourism with
an educational and religious purpose. Operated in
large part by students on work-study grants at the
new Mormon college at Laie, it has grown to a
42-acre complex of “Six Flags” amusement-park
size. It’s profit is plowed back into operating
expenses for the college next door: Brigham Young
liniversity’s Hawaii campus.
T h e Tarnished Zmage
But success has produced its own set of
problems. When I first visited the PCC shortly after
i t openrd in 1963, I was impressed with the serious
effort made to portray authentic village life. There
was a slightly unfinished look about it then: gravel
paths and patches of mud. Now, the center is
postcard-pretty, with well-manicured lawns, and
paved paths. T h e huts still look authentic, but the
concretr floors, concealed electric lights, weather-
proofed roofs, and sprinkler system disclose the
increasing commercialization of the enterprise. T h e
villages have always been artificial: no one cooks
or sleeps there and there are no pigs or odors of
common village life. Everything is operated
smoothly and efficiently by smiling students. Some
say it has become an “ethnic Disneyland.”
Planned improvements include a theater with
a giant-screen spectacular that will rival the
5
Omnivox currently drawing crowds at Caesar’s
Palace in Las Vegas. But is this progress? One of
the more attractive features of the PCC is the way
students interact with visitors i n hands-on
demonstrations making tapa cloth, husking a
coconut, or wiggling a hula. T h e visitor of the
future will sit, at least part of the time, in a darkened
theater watching screen images instead of live
actors-removing the experience one step further
from reality. Perhaps we tourists are the ones to
blame; we like our experiences of foreign culture
packaged for easy consumption. We grab a few
bargains, snap a few pictures, and go on our way.
T h e Saints have been far more persistent: they
came as missionaries; they stayed as missionaries.
They have been more successful in Hawaii than
elsewhere because of their openness to Polynesian
gifts and graces. Mormon missionaries to Hawaii
did not isolate themselves in mission compounds
but lived among the people, ate their food, danced
their dances. T h e PCC which thev founded has its
weaknesses, but it educates as well as entertains,
and provides work-study grants for hundreds of
college students; some of them can even dance their
way to a diploma!
Conclusion
From frontier days to the present, Mormons
have pioneered an approach to dance that is
strikingly at variance with mainstream religion.
Pioneer preacher Peter Cartwright prided himself
on interrupting public dances and turning them
into prayer meetings; the Mormons welcomed such
dances and prefaced them with prayer. T h e latter
seems a healthier approach, for the natural delight
of the body in rhythmic motion must surely be one
of God’s good gifts. If so, even the hula might be
included under the Lordship of Christ and danced
pro gloria Deo.
James Whitehurst Dept. of Religion, Illinois Wesleyan
University, Bloomington, IL.