When Marnie Weeks first came to Hawaii as a 14-year-old visitor in 1961, Hawaiian music and hula in Waikiki were as ubiquitous as palm trees. Entranced, she bought several Hawaiian music records and took them home to Michigan with her.

"I learned every number by rote; there were no lyric sheets or Hawaiian dictionaries back then," Weeks recalled. "I was drawn to everything about Hawaii — from the language and music to the people and culture — and I longed to return one day."

Weeks made Honolulu her home in 1965. When the International Waikiki Hula Conference was launched in 2007, her background in event production and 16 years of studying and dancing hula made her the ideal person to produce it.

"Rick Egged, president of the Waikiki Improvement Association, started the conference when he saw that a growing number of visitors were identifying culture as their primary reason for choosing Hawaii as their vacation destination," Weeks said. "The visitor industry’s emphasis is on cultural tourism, which honors Hawaii’s people and heritage and presents and perpetuates its cultural resources in an authentic manner. Hula is perhaps the most popular aspect of the Hawaiian culture."

The conference moved from November to May this year to be part of Mele Mei (www.melemei.com), a monthlong celebration of Hawaiian music and dance leading up to the Na Hoku Hanohano Music Awards on May 27. It gives participants the rare opportunity to learn from 40 renowned kumu hula (hula masters) and Hawaiian cultural practitioners — the largest gathering of such distinguished mentors at one time in one place in Hawaii.

About 700 hula aficionados are expected to attend, hailing from Hawaii, the mainland and such far-off places as Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Finland, France, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland and the Russian Federation. Everyone is welcome — from beginners who don’t know much about hula to professional dancers who perform regularly but want to hone their technique and expand their knowledge.

"Following the theme of Lei Day, every kumu hula has selected mele (songs), oli (chants) and hula that revolve around lei or flowers for their classes," Weeks said. "The conference features 80 seminars and workshops that cover all aspects of hula; it really is a ‘hula buffet.’"

For example, participants will find out how to gather flowers and foliage to create their own lei and other adornments. They’ll discover how to make and play the instruments that accompany the hula, and learn the meaning, background, steps and gestures of kahiko (ancient) and auana (modern) dances.

"Experts will teach the dances in an atmosphere of aloha," Weeks said. "At free hoike (shows), students in 10 of the workshops will have the chance to perform the dances they’ve learned along with their kumu. The conference offers individuals the chance to learn, share and experience hula in the land of its birth, with a variety of respected sources. It makes Hawaiian culture and its practitioners accessible, with personal interaction. Meeting fellow dancers and kumu hula from around the world enriches and deepens the hula experience."

In short, the event celebrates the art of hula — its beauty, grace, power, stories and messages. "King Kalakaua said, ‘Hula is the language of the heart, and therefore the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people,’" Weeks said. "That’s evident at the International Waikiki Hula Conference, a joyful gathering of people who love hula and Hawaii."

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Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.