Apollo Bay Hula Dancers

13 Replies

 Four Ballet Dancers

In reply to Sepia Saturday’s suggestion of four ballet dancers I give you …….

Four Hula Dancers, with their partners, late 1920s

Apollo Bay Hula Dancers late 1920sThe couples from the left are

Ron Telford and Hazel Fricke

Fenton Dobson and an unknown lady

Mr and Mrs Smith

Unknown man and May Telford

I don’t know where the photo was taken but I believe the group is from Apollo Bay.  Hazel Fricke and May Telford are cousins and Ron Telford is their first cousin once removed. Apollo Bay people were very good at putting on amateur enertainments.

Hula Dancing was  popular as an entertainment in  the era and both the men and the women are dressed appropriately.  The grass skirt or palm leaf skirt has been replaced with either paper streamers or perhaps ribbon, though I suspect the quantity of  ribbon needed would have proved expensive.  All are wearing leis and the women headbands to represent a wreath of flowers.

I can’t decide if the small ukeleles the men are holding are real or imitation. I can’t find similar images.

Hula dancers 1883These hula dancers were photographed in 1883 and can be seen in a most interesting collection of historical hula dancer photos on A Polar Bear’s Tale blogspot

But if you really want to put a smile on your face then have a look at this video made by some students at the University of Hawaii . It  gives some history of the dance then a very easy to follow lesson in doing the hula.  Do  join in.  Guaranteed to make you happy and relaxed.

And more dancing related posts can be seen through the links on Sepia saturday

 

13 thoughts on “Apollo Bay Hula Dancers”

  4. jofeath

    A lovely photo for the prompt. The men look very dashing, and the women are so 1920s. Surprising that they were doing that in Apollo Bay back then. Great video too

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  6. Barb Rogers

    Lovely photo to start your post. And the video was interesting, especially some of the pics from history. I was sorry to hear the historian say Hawaii became a US territory (at min. 1:00) in 1990, rather than 1890. It had been a state for 31 years by then! I love stories told by dance!

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    1. boundforoz Post author

      Well noticed. It sounds a bit like a nervous student doing the reading. And as Wikipedia tells us Hawaii became a Territory in 1898 and a State in 1959. I never knew that. So it was still a Territory at the time of World War 2. Interesting. So that got me thinking. Why is our Australian Northern Territory still a Territory and not a State ! Any Aussies who want to pursue that question might like to read this newspaper article.

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  7. Sherri

    Hula dancing has been very popular for a long time, and I imagine was considered a little risque in the early 20th century. A wonderful photo to share for this Sepia Saturday. Thanks.

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  9. Sharon

    My interest was immediately drawn to the name Telford. My Great Grandmothers married name was May Telford and her husband was Fred Telford…..but they lived in South Australia in the 1920s.

    I have a hand made belly dancing costume that I purchased in Egypt but have never had a suitable dress up party to wear it 😦

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    1. boundforoz Post author

      Interested to hear that you have a Telford connection but unfortunately not the same family as mine. Do you know what part of Scotland they came from. Mine were from Roxburghshire. How about putting on that belly dancing costume, taking a photo and letting us see it.. As Alan says, Bring back a bit of fun and nonsense.

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Your comments are most welcome. It's nice meeting you.