National Dance Week Hawaii

National Dance Week Hawaii
I wish I was able to get to more dancing events. Everyone running/​volunteering/​and working the events were all wonderful. They really wanted to get keiki involved in dance. They had patience for us older folks too, the feet just don’t want to be moved as quickly and as well as they used to when they were really in their groove time.
There really were different opportunities to get to know different dance styles and work with master dancers. It isn’t just watching dancing with the stars that it takes just 44 min plus commercials for a dance to go from falling over to falling head over heels in love with a partner that four feet are dancing better than Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers together in Heaven. They have the real dancers that really know how to teach us and other beginners to those that really want to get into dance professionally and know how to teach and get the right answers for going into the right direction artistically.
Price point– it was really reasonable for each activity. They had discounts for multiple classes if you registered for more than 1 at a time. Otherwise It was well priced and within reason.
IMO the events were not as attended as well as they really should have been. As Yogi Beara said, «it is so popular –no one goes there anymore.» It really is either that there are so many great activities to do daily here in Hawaii or there are just not enough people in HI to make huge events compared to big dance cities like LA or New York.
Hopefully they will keep presenting this here in HI year after year. Hope it gets more traction and I know it will get better and better year after year. Looking forward to more great events.

National Dance Week Hawaii is an annual dance festival going on for 5 years strong. Master classes of all genres are taught by instructors from abroad, mainland, and HI at local studios throughout Hawaii. During NDWHI, local studios have special $ 5 classes to promote dance in Hawaii and to encourage people to learn other genres of dance and check out new studios. This year they offered salsa, pole dance, belly dance, hip hop, contemporary, house, jazz, broadway, hula, and zumba. This year there were classes on Oahu and Hawaii islands.
This year was the first year that I attended master classes during NDWHI. I went to Sekou Heru’s house master workshop and Brent Koki’s hip hop workshop. Sekou’s house class was a blast. This was my first time back dancing house (which I love!) in 5 years, and it was so much fun! We started off with the fundamentals, learning and building up our house dance vocabulary, and then we learned a combination. We were then challenged directionally to develop a sense of space, performing the combination facing a partner and facing various sides of the room. It’s amazing how just shifting 90 degrees can be so challenging with the quick directional changes in house routines. If you ever have a chance to take a class from Sekou, I would highly recommend it! That was the first time I’ve met him, and I can tell that he has a beautiful soul and is a great person and teacher. Sekou is extremely knowledgeable about the history of dance and is passionate of sharing his gift.
Brent Koki’s hip hop class was held at 24-​VII Danceforce. That was the first time I had been to that studio. It’s tucked away past the Macy’s end of Windward Mall. Hip hop’s definitely not my forte anymore with all the intricate moves it has evolved into over the years, but I challenged myself to step outside my comfort zone and dive in. Brent Koki is amazingly talented and even for this beginner class I took, the choreography was brilliant and innovative.