A Visit to the Ala Wai

By Sue Comparetto,
Dancing USA, March 1996

My trip to Hawaii was not a dancing vacation, unfortunately, but I manage to sneak in two very different dancing experiences. I first called the local USABDA chapter and got many helpful referrals.

"No great person ever complains about the lack of opportunity."

I arrived in Honolulu, Oahu on Thursday the only weekday that there was not a noon Tea Dance at Ala Wai Golf Course Pavilion. I walked along the canal to check out the 12000 sq ft eucalyptus wood floor I had read about in my National Dance Directory from Dancing USA.

I picked up a monthly schedule of dances (and there were many) and I made my plans to return for the Friday noon dance and maybe peek in at the USABDA dance and show. The Tea Dance crowd was casual and friendly. I soon figured out that I was supposed to get my own folding chair from the back and return it when I left.

It was a happy crowd. I can only figure that was because everyone was retired and enjoying life or on vacation. Once the gentlemen determined that I didn't bite, I got asked quite a bit. I stepped all over Phil's feet during our Fox Trot. He did not ask me again, but he did help me locate local danceable Hawaiian music and bands. I  enjoyed a Cha Cha Cha with Charlie, many half dances with a man just overcoming a heart problem.

The most memorable dance, however, had to be a Hawaiian Waltz with a native Hawaiian in lime green pants, whose name I couldn't pronounce. As we counted the usual 1-2-3 he said to imagine a dolphin rising and falling on the waves of the ocean. That would be the feeling of the Hawaiian Waltz. It was the most fun I had traveling across the dance floor. The floor was like glass, not slippery at all, just smooth, dark and shiny - great wood.

For special occasions they open up the divided room to expose the entire 12000 sq ft floor, so I returned Saturday just to see the floor.  Impressive. The Ala Wai Golf Course Clubhouse ballroom has Tea Dancing from 12 to 2 PM four days a week and practically every Friday to Sunday evening to recorded music, rarely to live music. This multi purpose facility is used for dancing of all kinds, including Scandinavian, Folk and Japanese. Let me tell you they dance in Hawaii.   *  *  *  *