Free Hula Lessons At Royal Hawaiian Center

This post has been sponsored by Royal Hawaiian Center as part of an ongoing partnership, but all thoughts, copy and photography is mine alone. 

Did you know that there are free classes you can take at Royal Hawaiian Center? It’s true! Royal Hawaiian Center offers complimentary cultural programming Monday – Saturday for visitors to the Center who wish to participate. One of their programs is free hula lessons and they are held Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 10AM and Wednesday at 4PM in the Royal Grove. Each free hula class lasts one hour and all ages are welcome. If you’re looking for something fun (and TOTALLY FREE) to do in Honolulu, today’s post on free hula lessons at Royal Hawaiian Center is for you!

Free Hula Class In Waikiki

“Hula is the art of Hawaiian dance. It expresses all that we hear, see, smell, taste, touch and feel. Hula is life. The late kumu hula — dance master — Maiki Aiu Lake’s philosophy expresses the depths of this Hawaiian art form. Puake‘ala Mann, a kumu hula graduate of Halau Hula o Maiki, shares basic hand gestures, footwork and body movements that accentuate mele – chant or song lyrics.”

 

Dane and I headed down to the Royal Grove at Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center (it’s the center stage — you can’t miss it) for the Monday morning hula class. We didn’t really know what to expect, but TONS of people show up, so get there early. 

After a brief introduction, everyone was instructed to take their place on the lawn to go over arm, body and leg movements. Unlike other classes, this one didn’t feel intimidating at all. You are among so many people that it just feels like a fun instructional class with friends. We went over motions 2-3 times each before we moved on to a new technique. And honestly when you mess up, you just keep going! 

A surefire way I know this class and Pua, the kumu (teacher) are excellent? Dane isn’t big on dancing and he totally rocked this lesson. By the end, he was really getting into it!

 Definitely keep in mind that this free hula class and lesson is completely casual. Don’t stress out about what you’re wearing or if you have any hula experience — just show up and have fun (that’s what we did!). 

This is definitely one of those fun activities that I would recommend for the whole family whether you live here or are vacationing here. It helps that it’s completely complimentary! 

If you are interested in more free activities in Waikiki, definitely check out the Free Lei Making or Free Hula Show at Royal Hawaiian Center!