Hula Auana (Group) Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

The group class for hula auana, the modern style of Hawaiian hula danced to song and stringed instruments, entered by a halau as a team and placed separately for women and men.

Hula auana is the modern form of Hawaiian hula. Where hula kahiko is danced to chant and percussion, auana is danced to song, usually sung in Hawaiian and accompanied by stringed instruments such as the ukulele and guitar. The gestures often tell the story of the song, so the dancers’ hands, hips and expression follow the lyrics line by line. In a competition it is the second half of a pair with Hula Kahiko, and the group class is where a school of hula, known as a halau, enters a team to be placed against other teams.

The festival the template is built from runs the class as a division grid. Group Auana is held separately for wahine (women) and kane (men), so a halau can send a women’s team, a men’s team or both, and each is placed against teams of the same division. The template mirrors that: one Team item, filed once under Wahine and once under Kane, in the Hawaiian language, scored out of 100 as a working scale.

The source publishes no scoring rubric, point scale, criteria list or eligibility rules, so none is asserted here. The template’s 10-minute limit and 100-mark scale are working defaults for an organiser’s own event, not the festival’s rules. Anyone running a hula competition should agree the time limit, the number of dancers, the music arrangements and the judging sheet with their panel and publish them with the entry rules.

Placings in the source go beyond a simple top three. In the most recent results the template draws on, five places were awarded in the women’s Auana class and four in the men’s, varying with entries, and a combined Overall award spanning Kahiko and Auana is printed for each division. The template leaves the number of places to the organiser, and an organiser who wants an Overall award should define how the two classes are combined.

This page describes how the class is organised for people who run events. The songs, their meanings and the protocols around them belong to the communities and halau who carry them, and they are not explained here.

Where Hula Auana (Group) is run

On eTalenter this item is used in one template, the Hawaiian hula festival template, as two Team assignments: Wahine (women) and Kane (men). The template is built from the results published by a long-running annual hula competition in Hawaii, United States. Other hula competitions and halau showcases run their own classes and rules, so read an organiser’s notice before assuming the same arrangement.

• Hawaii, United States (the competition the template is built from)

Key facts

• A Team item: one halau team is entered and placed as a unit
• Held in two divisions, Wahine (women) and Kane (men), each placed separately
• Danced to song and stringed instruments, the modern style, as opposed to the chant-based Kahiko class
• Language on the template is Hawaiian; score is a working 100-mark scale
• The source prints no judging rubric, age rule or time limit, so the 10-minute limit is a template default only
• The number of places varies with entries, so the organiser decides and publishes it

On eTalenter, Hula Auana (Group) is filed under On Stage and typically scored with Rating out of 10. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Hula Auana (Group) is most often entered as an Team competition, commonly run for Male, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 10 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Hula Auana (Group)

What a Hula Auana (Group) panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• The source publishes no judging sheet, so what follows is organiser guidance for agreeing yardsticks with a panel, not rules from the source
• Song and movement together: whether hand gestures and body movement follow the meaning and phrasing of the lyrics rather than running independently of them
• Unity of the team: dancers turning, swaying and finishing together, with matching posture, gesture height and foot placement across the line
• Grace and control: smooth, flowing movement, balanced weight and steady hip work, without hurried or stiff transitions
• Expression: faces and hands that carry the feeling of the song, which is where many auana pieces are won or lost
• Dress and presentation: attire and adornments that suit the song, worn neatly, with nothing distracting from the dance
• Time discipline: finishing inside the agreed limit so one halau’s piece does not squeeze the programme

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Hula Auana (Group) under Scoring Setup, or start from judge scoring and tabulation software.

How to prepare for Hula Auana (Group)

How entrants and their teachers usually get Hula Auana (Group) right on the day:

• Settle the rules before registration opens: the number of dancers, the time limit, whether music is live or recorded, and how many places will be awarded, then publish them
• Register each team under its halau name with a named contact, and enter women’s and men’s teams separately, since each is placed in its own division
• Learn the lyrics and their meaning before polishing the steps: dancers who understand the words gesture with more conviction
• Agree the music arrangement early, and test any recorded track or live accompaniment on the venue’s sound system before the day
• Drill uniformity: film a run-through and check that posture, gesture height and footwork match along the whole line
• Practise entrances, exits and formation changes in the actual performance space so nobody is rushed on or off
• Time every rehearsal against the agreed limit and plan a cut if the piece runs long
• After a loss, ask the panel for comments and rework the weakest section, often the expression or the timing between the music and the movement

Frequently asked questions

Is Hula Auana (Group) judged individually or as a team?

Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Team entry, commonly for Male, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.

What is the difference between hula auana and hula kahiko?

Auana is the modern style, danced to song with stringed instruments. Kahiko is the ancient style, danced to chant and traditional percussion. In the festival the template follows, each has its own group class.

Is Hula Auana (Group) open to men and women?

Yes, in separate divisions. The template files the item once under Wahine (women) and once under Kane (men), and each division is placed on its own.

How long is the performance and how is it scored?

The source publishes no time limit or scoring rubric. The template uses a 10-minute limit and a 100-mark scale as working defaults, and an organiser should set and publish their own.

Can recorded music be used?

The source states no rule either way. An organiser should decide whether live accompaniment or recorded tracks are allowed and say so in the entry rules.

How many places are awarded?

It varies. In the most recent results the template draws on, five places were awarded in the women’s class and four in the men’s, depending on entries, so the template fixes no number.

Want the full judging picture? Read judge scoring and tabulation software, or browse every on stage competition item.