I'm looking at my Merrie Monarch program in which I circled the numbers of the halau that I thought were serious contenders. Of the top spots (women's overall, men's overall and overall winner), I called two. But I never thought a men's halau would amass more points than a women's to take the top trophy, even though Halau I Ka Wekiu was so awesome I hardly have words for their performances. They found the coming-together place of technical excellence (which is vital to the judges) and interpretation (understanding and communicating the story in a creative way, which is vital to the audience) and they nailed it.

By my count (and it's 2 o'clock in the morning so don't call to tell me I'm wrong), a dozen halau received awards last night. Of these, I'd circled the numbers of eight. I didn't anticipate the award for Snowbird Bento's group: I think they're great but the judges have passed them over before so I hesitated despite their impressive performances. If you'd told me Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu would get an award, I would have laughed in your face; he's so out there and the judges are generally so conservative. I love listening to him chant even though it's so different than anyone else's work, but I didn't think he'd ever crack the points barrier.

I called four of the five award winners in Miss Aloha Hula Thursday. Pretty good. Maybe it's time for me to retire from Merrie Monarch while I'm ahead.

In any case, my first impression of this year's Merrie Monarch remains: It is a passing of the torch time and, although veterans such as Mapuana de Silva were rewarded, it was heartening to see Snowbird Bento, Carlson Kukona, Kaleo Trinidad, Napua Greig and Kahulu Maluo-Huber, all of the newer generation, collecting their ipu heke. Hula is passing into good hands.

It is, indeed, "the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people," as King David Kalakua said. And I can't say better than that.

And that's it from Hula Central. Until next year.