"In Hawaiian culture, the hula is more than just dancing. The movements and gestures performed by dancers are just the surface. Underneath this surface is a cultural system that celebrates creation and procreation, a pantheon of gods and their descendants on earth, mythological and legendary exploits, historical events and places, ancestral beings and cherished relations, and natural manifestations of life forces that nurture and sustain Hawaiian people. Sacredness permeates much hula, and much of the work associated with creating, teaching, and performing hula."