Many malihini, or mainlanders, consider...

Many malihini, or mainlanders, consider the hula to be a tropical treat performed for lei-ridden tourists when they hit the Tarmac in Hawaii. But the graceful combination of pantomime and dance is more than beautiful women in grass skirts waving their arms and swaying their hips.

The dance has ancient roots and is a revered art form in Hawaiian and Tahitian culture.

Today, in a special Father’s Day performance at 3 p.m. in Redondo Beach’s Aviation Park Auditorium, the Polynesian dance troupe Keali’i O Nalani will present a lively, colorful program of Hawaiian hula and Tahitian festival dances that promises family entertainment while teaching malihini a thing or two about the culture of the Pacific islands.

Misconceptions about the hula include the belief among some Westerners that it is a singularly female dance. The first hula dancers were actually men, said Bernard Keali’i Ceballos, the hula teacher or kumu hula of the Keali’i O Nalani troupe.

The movements within each dance tell part of a story. In Hawaiian hula, the subtle circular hip movement called ami represents the movement of nature while the expressive hand movements may simulate the motion of waves or the sway of a palm tree, Ceballos said.

The troupe will perform the hula familiar to most Westerners as well as its predecessor, kahiko. This ancient dance, combined at times with chanting called oli, is a centuries-old tradition used to pass on oral history. The chanting is the Hawaiian culture’s most ancient form of communication, he said.

Ceballos founded his hula school or hula halau in West Los Angeles in 1991 as part of an educational effort to preserve and perpetuate the language and cultural arts of Hawaii, Tahiti, the Samoan Islands and New Zealand.

He hopes the school, a nonprofit organization, will become a permanent center for teaching Polynesian cultural arts.

For Ceballos’ students, dedication to dance is dedication to their culture.

“Hula is said to be the dance of the heart,” Ceballos said. “You must dance from within. Anyone can dance a routine, but dancing from the heart is the thing.”

Ceballos’ 55-member troupe features dancers from 4 to 64 who will perform 12 numbers, including pulsating Tahitian drum dances and the ancient and contemporary, or auwana , Hawaiian hula.

The dancers will be accompanied by a band playing the guitar, ukulele, drum and traditional ipu heke, or gourd. The group’s April performance at the 1,400-seat Aviation Park Auditorium was sold out.

Aviation Park Auditorium is at 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd. in Redondo Beach.

Tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for children 4 to 13. Information: (310) 473-8020.