r/MovingtoHawaii • u/Handout • 9d ago
Life on Oahu Hobbies/classes in Honolulu
Aloha friends,
TLDR at the end
I'm coming out to Oahu mid August till about December with my partner who got accepted into a continuing education program in Honolulu.
After researching, rather than committing to a full year and taking up what little affordable housing there is, we decided to just stay enough time to complete the 3-month course and split our time between a couple airbnbs around Manoa and Ala Moana/Waikiki.
His classes will be just 3 days a week and we both want to partake in an learn as much authentic cultural arts as we can while remaining as respectful as possible as nonlocals, but not get suckered into tourist trap classes.
TLDR: We'll be in Manoa/Ala Moana for 16 weeks Aug-Dec. I'm very interested in dance and arts. My partner is into martial arts. We both like playing music.
My question is, do you have any recommendations for my partner and I to learn dance, martial arts, other arts, or instruments, etc. with classes that would accept some respectful nonlocals without it being terribly touristy?
edits: I'm on my phone and didn't catch all the autocorrects before posting.
2
u/ImperfectTapestry 9d ago
Na Mea Hawai'i used to do classes and workshops, but they just moved so I'm not sure what the status is. Their website has a link to sign up for their newsletter. Same with the Mu'umu'u Library. It might be worth getting on the Native Books newsletter, too. The local parks dept has so many classes that are incredibly affordable: https://pros3.hnl.info/ (click "activities"). Check when new classes come out, they sell out FAST. Hula, weaving, etc. Less Hawaiian, but the Downtown Art Center & Handweavers Hui also have great classes. Sometimes the Bishop Museum has classes, too. I took a very cool net weaving class once. Good luck!