The Power and Beauty of Hula Is Her Oasis in the Media World

Sarah Freund is very much in the prime of her career as director of media at Brill Media. But she’s already living the life of a snowbird: summers in her native northern Michigan close to family, and the rest of the year in Hawaii, where she’s taken up the practice of hula dancing. “My parents actually originally met in Oahu, but they didn't take me here as a child,” Freund said. She came to the islands for the first time after college to do a work-exchange program on an organic farm and “just fell in love with it.” Shortly after getting married, she and her husband bought property there in 2017. Enchanted by the beauty and power of hula, Freund began taking lessons in 2020 with a friend who was already part of a hula hālau (the Hawaiian word for school). Because of the pandemic, lessons during that time were held at the teacher's house in an open-air carport, and everyone wore masks. Now, the group has a dedicated hula space and even invites other hālaus to practice with them—recently hosting a group from South Korea. Off the Clock: The Creative Behind a Bird-Watching Club for People of Color In addition to holding classes twice a week, Freund’s hālau does fundraising and performances at special events like weddings, but their focus is largely on ceremonial work. “I love the storytelling through the dance,” Freund said. “You're really connecting to the Hawaiian culture, to the people.” Her hālau dances the hiko, the traditional style of hula performed to appease the gods that also includes chanting and playing instruments. Everyone in the hālau also makes their own regalia, including collecting the native plants and hand-sewing each piece. “Even the tea plants we wear around our wrists and our ankles, we’re going to gather those. We're cleaning those. We're wrapping those—it's more than just the dance.” Brill Media is based in California, so Freund works 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Hawaii. And when her job gets stressful, she relies on her hula training to find balance. “The breath of ha (life) is something that's very embedded in the culture here,” she explained. “There's a lot of meditative-type chanting and things that we do in hula, and it all goes back to that breath of ha; it's really just conscious breathing.”

Off the Clock

The Power and Beauty of Hula Is Her Oasis in the Media World

Off the Clock: Sarah Freund of Brill Media finds connection in the Hawaiian tradition

Eva Kis

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Eva Kis