A public health study found that a quarter of the state’s residents have danced or still dance hula.
Mele Look is the director of community engagement and researcher with the Department of Native Hawaiian Health at the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine.
For the last 20 years, the department has built on research that started with a cardiologist and heart health. It has since expanded to preventive care and more.
Look is part of a research project into the health benefits of dancing hula. Early on, she learned how kumu hula lineage was intertwined with healer lineage, sparking her interest in researching links between the two.
“I was going through an ʻūniki with Kumu Māpuana de Silva, and in our hālau, Mōhala ‘Ilima, it's an intensive, immersive training session,” Look said. “I started really thinking how hula has so much health aspects, and how, when we develop programs of health interventions, it's very similar to how Māpuana de Silva structured her session classes.”
Look referred to this three-month-long class structure during a brainstorming session to share with her peers.
The responses were mixed, but Dr. Todd Seto, a cardiologist with Queen's Medical Center, wanted to get behind the project to look at how hula could be used for cardiac rehabilitation. It became the team's first proposal to receive a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Fast forward to today, and the team is still building on what a hula health program would look like. Their various foundational studies, outcome studies, and educational curriculum include analysis and evidence of physical health, spiritual health, and emotional health aspects of hula.
At the physical level, hula is considered a moderate or vigorous physical activity. From novice to competition level, hula can be equivalent to fast walking or a competitive basketball game. Community-building is also part of emotional health.
One of the team’s major areas of study focused on hypertension and high blood pressure management.
“We pivoted to this prevention for heart disease and stroke, which is prevalent in a lot of populations in Hawaiʻi, especially Native Hawaiians,” Look explained. “It had a very successful study among the best of non-medication interventions for high blood pressure control… The participants dropped in their systolic blood pressure, which was remarkable. And what experts said was, what was even more remarkable is, after the study ended, three months out, when they were totally on their own, they maintained that improvement.”
The research team continues to expand as other Hawaiʻi scientists look at hula-based programs for breast cancer survivor recovery and Parkinson's disease physical therapy.
Look hopes that their research can inspire other cultural communities to use their practices as foundations for health intervention.
Read Hula and Health publications here.
This interview aired on The Conversation on May 19, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this story for the web.
