Arts & Culture Classes
Ongoing Classes
Okinawan Dance
Sundays, September 20 – October 25, 2026 (6 Sessions)
2:00pm – 3:30pm
UH Manoa Music Department 118.
Fee = $75.00
Click here to register.
Experience Okinawan culture through dance in this introductory class. Participants will learn selected dances from the Okinawan classical & folk traditions. No experience necessary & no performance required. Bring tabi or socks to class.
Instructor: Yukie Shiroma is an Okinawan-American sansei born in Hawai‘i and raised in San Francisco. She was a founding member, performer, and choreographer of the Asian American Dance Collective (now Asian American Dance Performances). In 1987 she received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from the University of Hawai‘i and was the founder of the Mid-Pacific Institute School of the Arts Dance Program where she served as director for twenty years. In 2006 she received the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship and has been teaching Okinawan dance at UHM in the Department of Theatre and Dance since 2013. Artistic Director of mask dance theatre, Monkey Waterfall, she currently directs the Imaginary Homelands Project in collaboration with musicians Kenny Endo, Norman Kaneshiro, Derek Fujio, Brandon Ing, and Jesse Shiroma, challenging the definitions of tradition in the retelling of ancestral stories.
Elemental stories, a creative writing class
Wednesdays, September 23 – October 28, 2026 (6 Sessions)
6:00pm – 8:00pm
UH Manoa Kuykendall Room 205.
Fee = $75.00
Click here to register.
With Elemental Stories, we’ll explore the four elements–earth, air, water and fire–through prose and poetry. Connecting to the natural elements gives us new inspiration for our work. For example, water relates to emotions, point of view and the music in our words. We’ll spend time working through pieces of prose and poetry as a class and discuss the power of the elements, with an emphasis on the elements here in Hawaiʻi. From there, we’ll create prompts for new writing and filters for critique. The class is for experienced writers and those picking up a pen for the first time. We’ll look at examples and discuss craft elements such as imagery, character, pacing, tone, theme and conflict.
In a two-hour class, we’ll spend approximately the first hour in discussion, including interactive activities. The second hour will be devoted to writing and feedback.
Deborah Harada, M.A writes fiction and poetry. Recently, her essay, Belonging, was included in Honolulu Magazine in a feature focusing on local writers. She has published short fiction and poetry and is currently seeking representation for her first novel. She developed this curriculum and has taught creative writing to a wide range of students, in Hawai’i and Los Angeles. She is Executive Director of the Lōʻihi Arts Foundation.
Korean Dance and Drum class
Sundays, October 11 – November 15, 2026 (6 Sessions)
2:30pm – 4:00pm
UH Manoa Music Department 116.
Fee = $75.00
Click here to register.
This class is an introduction to the more traditional dances & drum sequences of Korea as preserved in the Halla Huhm Korean Dance Studio. This studio celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2025. Students will be taught some basic dances as well as experience playing on percussion instruments such as sogo, janggo and buk.
No experience necessary; all ages welcome.
Mary Jo Freshley took her first Korean dance class here at the University of Hawai’i in 1962 which was taught by the late Halla Huhm. She then went to Halla Huhm’s studio and began assisting in 1974. Ms. Freshley has performed in all major studio recitals, has studied in Korea at the National Gugak Center in Seoul, as well as participated in four Samulnori festivals in Korea. In May 2024 the Halla Huhm Studio was part of a series of performances at the National Gugak Center which featured legacies of 100 years, going back to Halla Huhm’s teacher, Bae Ku-ja. There have been many changes in what was once called “traditional” Korean dance, but these dances are worth saving as they reflect the history of the country.
Kyungsook Hyun has been a student at Halla Huhm Korean Dance Studio under Mary Jo Freshley since 1984. She teaches classes at Halla Huhm Korean Dance Studio when Ms. Freshley travels to mainland and teaches a beginner class on Saturdays. She is versed in Traditional Korean Dance: court dance, folk style dance, percussion instruments such as sogo (small hand drum), janggo (hour glass shaped drum) and buk (standing & carrying drum), Gayageum (12 string Korean traditional zither): folk songs & sanjo (solo piece).