[ OUR OPINION ]
AYUMI NAKANISHI / ANAKANISHI@STARBULLETIN
Pleasant Hawaiian Hula Show dancers performed perhaps for the last time Thursday at the Waikiki Shell.
Hula show is too important
to let dieTHE hula show that represents Hawaii's hospitality, that since 1937 has delighted untold millions in Waikiki with a free display of dance, is now a thing of the past. It needn't be; it shouldn't be. Surely the tourist industry, government leaders and the agencies that promote tourism in the state can find the money to keep the show going.
THE ISSUE The program that has charmed tourists in Waikiki ends its 65-year run.
The former Kodak Hula Show had been a tradition for 65 years, ever since Fritz Herman, who was vice president and manager of Kodak Hawaii, dreamed up the idea so that tourists could photograph hula dancers, an image that became an icon of the islands. It was an early marketing tool to sell film that at the time was incapable of capturing pictures without flashbulbs, which were prohibited in the nightclubs where hula was often performed. The daylight dance and music were put on thrice weekly without charge, first on the beach at San Souci, then at the Waikiki Shell.
In 1997, Kodak dropped its sponsorship because the show no longer fit its marketing strategy. In stepped the Hogan Family Foundation, which kept it going for three years, renaming it the Pleasant Hawaiian Hula Show. The foundation, which spent about $500,000 a year for the show, now is refocusing its efforts toward educational programs. It has generously attempted to find another sponsor, but has been unsuccessful thus far.
The show provided a glimpse of Hawaiian heritage difficult to find in a Waikiki so full of glitz and so absent connections to the islands' host culture. With the increase in tourist demand for cultural activities, its demise is a loss to the industry. If anything, the show should have been expanded to display the range of hula, which extends to chant, philosophy, language, instrumentation, clothing and the legends and history of Hawaiian people.
While praising the show for highlighting Hawaiian culture, the Hawaii Tourism Authority, with an annual budget of some $60 million, says it doesn't fit HTA's criteria for funding. Would it be impossible for the authority to make an adjustment or shift through its priorities to make funding available? HTA should look for a way either to scrape together some money or lead the way in seeking funds from hotels owners, tour operators and others in the industry who certainly have benefited from the show through the years.
Meanwhile, the city, which receives about $600,000 from the HTA, says demand for the money is greater elsewhere. It, too, could shift some funds, as it did for its movies-on-the-beach activities. Undoubtedly, the hula show is as much of an asset as another run of "Mrs. Doubtfire" or "Jurassic Park."
Hawaii should not bid aloha to its traditions. It should not let the curtain fall on one of the few remnants of Hawaiian culture left in Waikiki.
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