After half the 'auana program, here's a piece of advice: If you want to look like a hula dancer, wear a princess line dress with a gored tea-length skirt. Although the costumes varied as to color, fabric, sleeve design (from sleeveless to cap sleeves to one-shoulder designs), darn near every dress we saw was princess line and gored — for obvious reasons.

Princess lines are flattering and lengthening to all body types and the extra fabric in the gores sways satisfyingly and leaves plenty of room for deep 'uehe.

One men's halau looked to me as though it had made a bit of a costuming error in choosing tight black jeans that prevented them from bending their knees as much as they should, making it almost impossible for them to sway their hips as we all want them to do.

Another had a costume malfunction involving cummerbunds that couldn't stand up to the energetic movements of the dance. In food, the rule is that the garnish should be an integral part of the dish, not just dressing. So in hula, the costuming should enhance the dance and never interfere with it — a challenge for halau that want to do something a bit different.

And speaking of something different, Halau I Ka Wekiu tried something a little risky: They danced not just in shoes but in high heels — twinkling silver sandals with high, transparent heels. And they wore graceful white gowns with deeply V-d backs held together by spaghetti lacing, as close to backless as we've seen at Merrie Monarch.

But the costumes disappeared as this exceptionally graceful and disiciplined halau floated up the ramps and formed their lines, performing a crowd-pleasing "Popohe Ka Pua" with gorgeous hands and interesting elevation changes

A trend to take note of: Weaving chanting into modern numbers. Several Miss Aloha Hula candidates did it, and a couple of halau have done so tonight, as well.

If this Merrie Monarch had a celebrity face, it was Kaumaka'iwa Kanakaole, who was everywhere — on TV talking about gathering practices, on the radio talking about his new CD, "Welo," and singing for several halau in that distinctive style of chant-cum-singing that his family has developed.