Wot?

"To be merely free is not much. To be able to do whatever you want to do does not

in itself produce a good life or a fine character. All you can say is that without
freedom the real problem of a good life cannot even begin."

Calvin and Hobbs doing the Manoa Shag

By Harry Shibata, Niu Valley

Simple steps are walking steps. Most everyone has heard them mentioned. For beginners, walking kind of steps should be their first goal. Waltz, Foxtrot, and Merengue are only part of the many out there. Of course it would be tough to learn the Foxtrot using only the simple steps, you would have to learn it on your own in "street dancing" And most of us learned a little in our "street dancing."

Line dancing is crucial, specially for men. Women become accustomed to following so it is just naturally good for them. But for men, they become familiar with the music used in most partner dancing. They can learn the timing, rhythm and the steps and develop their own styling by themselves, making it easier for them to lead later. Of course the fun as always is moving to the music. On Oahu, HBDA leads with men line dancing and it is being copied in the West by others very nicely. I believe that if there had been no Rail Fiasco, the West would have eventually taken the lead in dance on this Island, but it will never happen now.

Hello! Anybody in the Eastside? If we can gather a few interested folk, and find a place to dance, it would be a good beginning for dancing in the territory. A new Eastside Dance Club, that could meet weekly to perfect the dance movements already in their repertoire. With a DVD from somewhere, they could add steps and patterns whenever they feel ready. So it would take ten years to be a really good dancer, but it would be lots of fun along the way.