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PAT Watarai is not a doctor, but he has earned quite a reputation as a foot-removal specialist.
That is, if you come to one of Watarai’s ballroom dancing classes with two left feet, you have his assurance that you’ll leave with just one.
Pat Watarai
"People come in with no coordination or no rhythm, but if we lay down a foundation and they learn how to execute simple movements, it’s amazing how quickly they can go from there,"•Watarai says. "It’s all about having a good time."
Watarai is one of several dance instructors who volunteer their services for the nonprofit Dance Hawaii. In more than two decades of teaching newbies the basics of the box step and the charms of the cha-cha-cha chasse, Watarai has witnessed the way dance can transform the way people see, and feel about, themselves and the way it can reveal trust and harmony between partners.
"Ballroom dancing is the best nonverbal communication you can have with a partner," he says. "If the communication isn’t there between lead and follow, it ain’t happening."
Watarai grew up in Kaimuki and graduated from McKinley High School before earning a bachelor’s in medical technology from the University of Hawaii. He spent the next 25 years working at Straub Clinic and Hospital, managing the lab at the UH Health Center and working in private labs.
At one of his stops, a co-worker invited Watarai to a ballroom dance class, using the class’ favorable female-to-male ratio to entice the young divorcee.
"I said, ‘Oh, OK,’" he says, laughing. "Then I got there and my partner was 25 years older than me."
Watarai said he felt as awkward and unsure in his movements as the lead character in the Japanese film "Shall We Dance?" But just like the hapless, toe-stomping Shohei, Watarai also found himself seduced by the art and artistry of ballroom dancing.
Drawing on the same focus and commitment he brought to previous athletic pursuits — he played baseball and football in high school and competed in triathlons as an adult — Watarai dedicated himself to mastering the American social and international forms of ballroom dancing. Before long he was recruited to share his newfound expertise as an instructor.
Over the last two decades, dance has provided Watarai both relief and inspiration through a whirlwind of life events, from changing careers and embracing religion to raising his daughter and autistic son and supporting his girlfriend in her recent battle against cancer.
"I love dancing and I love to teach dance," he says. "There’s nothing more rewarding than watching someone laughing and enjoying themselves because they’ve learned a new skill. I get a lot of gratification from being a part of that."
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