Elegant hula dancers will be swaying along with the palm trees at stages throughout Waikiki this weekend when an international hula event returns to the Hawai‘i Convention Center.

Some 460 attendees are expected to celebrate hula at the three-day International Waikiki Hula Conference, which runs from Friday to Sunday and will fill an estimated 2,600 room nights and pump about $820,000 into Hawaii’s tourism economy. The event, which will bring attendees from throughout the U.S., Japan, Taiwan, China and Canada, is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Merrie Monarch Festival, which preceded the conference by about a month. Sponsored by the Waikiki Improvement Association, it focuses on giving visitors and locals a chance to learn about hula in the land of its birth.

As many as 80 workshops will feature topics related to Hawaii island, Hilo, Merrie Monarch founders Uncle George Na‘ope and Aunty Dottie Thompson, and the Merrie Monarch himself, King David Kalakaua.

Participants can learn modern and ancient hula, chant, history, costume, lei and implement making, Hawaiian language, songs and music. More than 40 of Hawaii’s top kumu hula will be participating in the conference, which will also include 10 hula shows, where conferees perform on public stages throughout Waikiki.

On Friday from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., they are scheduled to perform at the Waikiki Beach Marriott, the International Market Place, the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa, and the Kuhio Beach Hula Mound. At the same time on Saturday, dancers will perform at the Royal Hawaiian Center, the Outrigger Waikiki Beach, the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort and the Kuhio Beach Hula Mound. A closing concert, called "Kanikapila," will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Sunday at the mound.

During the conference, students attend classes and then share what they’ve learned at the shows, said kumu hula Kapi‘olani Ha‘o, who studied under Na‘ope and is teaching two classes and performing Friday night.

"I love to see the tears of happiness on the faces of these dancers when they are done and you see that they have learned hula and they understand it," said Ha‘o, who has taught hula for 35 years and has participated in the conference since its inception in 2007. "They are so thankful to feel what we in Hawaii feel."

For more information, visit www.Waikikihulaconference.com or call 923-1094.