糖心视频

On Thursday, August 29, 2024, the "13th College Hula Competition 2024" was held at Momijizaka Hall (Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture), and Aoyama Gakuin University 's hula club, Uluwehi, won first place in the group category and the Fact Sheet Award (Yokohama Mayor's Award). This marks Uluwehi's fourth consecutive victory in the same category at this competition, and their fifth victory overall.

The College Hula Competition is Japan's first student hula competition, launched in 2012 with the aim of promoting understanding and exchange of Hawaiian culture. With the goal of fostering cultural exchange between Japan and Hawaii, it is a competition for student hula dancers who are seriously dedicated to the traditional Hawaiian culture of hula. It aims to accurately transmit hula as a traditional Hawaiian culture by competing on understanding of mele (songs), hula technique, and the unique beauty of hula. This year marks the 13th competition.

Comments from students

Runa Toyoda (Representative of the Hula Circle Uluwehi, 3rd year Department of Education, Faculty College of Education, Psychology and Human Studies)

It is a great honor to have won first place in the team category of the College Hula Competition. We received support from so many people in order to participate in this competition. Our team worked hard together to show our gratitude to everyone who cheered us on and supported us, so we are very happy that we were able to repay that kindness with this victory!

There was certainly some pressure as we were aiming for our fourth consecutive victory in the group category, but our strongest feeling was the desire to give gratitude and inspiration to those who were watching, so I think we were able to give our all on the day. We were also able to receive the Fact Sheet Award (Yokohama Mayor's Award), which is the first time we have received this award in the group category. We spent a long time deepening our understanding of the song, discussing it many times and incorporating our own interpretations, and carefully wrote the fact sheet, so we were truly happy when we received the award!

I owe this result to the support and encouragement I receive from everyone. I will continue to work hard so that I can express my gratitude to all of you.

▼Hula Circle Uluwehi Lovers' Club

Uluwehi is the only hula club Aoyama Gakuin University, founded in 2017. The club's name, "Uluwehi," means "new shoots growing lush and green" in Hawaiian. Since most of the members were hula beginners when the club was founded, the name was chosen with the hope that everyone would grow into beautiful hula dancers.
These budding members practiced diligently every day in order to become wonderful hula dancers, and in 2019, their third year since founding, they won first place in the university group category at the "College Hula Competition," which brings together university hula dancers from all over Japan.