New passengers on NCL America's Pride of Hawai'i yesterday got a taste of local-style backyard party when a new hula show debuted featuring not a Waikiki showroom troupe but a real hula school, Halau Pua Ali'i 'Ilima.

They also got a feel for how a hula school works when kumu hula Victoria Holt Takamine grabbed the microphone: "I'm taking over the show," she said. "That's what we kumu hula do — we take over."

Gesturing to the dancers' ti leaf skirts, she explained some of the many uses of ti in Hawaiian culture, concluding with a tidbit unlikely to be shared in a typical tourist setting: that ti leaf skirts are inauthentic, an imported idea that came in during King David Kalakaua's time.

This approach — employing "just folks" dancers and larding the show with information — is at the heart of NCL America's new Ho'okipa Aloha program, in which select halau perform aboard each of the company's Hawai'i-based ships during Honolulu stops.

Takamine, a respected teacher, Merrie Monarch hula competition judge and cultural activist, is organizing the project and has tapped Mapuana da Silva's Halau Mohala 'Ilima and Maelia Loebenstein Carter's Ka Pa Hula 'O Kauanoe O Wa'ahila to help. A fourth hula school is being sought, with each covering one weekend's worth of performances a month.

Until now, cruisers saw hula only during on-shore excursions — and that was generally of the showroom variety. "They are not going to see a whole line of very streamlined, slender dancers," Takamine said. "That is the image Hawai'i projects, but dancers come in all shapes and sizes. NCL is willing to take the chance of not having that Waikiki look."

Each hula school will design its own show, placing its own stylistic stamp on the performance. But whatever is danced, education will be a part. "For example, if we're doing a song about sailing out of Honolulu, we're going to talk about Mamala Bay, not Honolulu Harbor. We're going to do songs about the places they are going to see as they travel in the Islands," illustrating how important place names and history are to Hawaiians, Takamine said.

NCL spokeswoman Denise Hayashi, who was instrumental in bringing Takamine aboard after the two worked on the Ho-nolulu Centennial project, said, "We knew that, with halau, the show would be representative and respectful and would honor the local people and culture of Hawai'i, which is so important in the visitor industry."

More than 250 passengers crowded into the Spinnaker Lounge for the show, until there was standing room only. Marge and Bob Tracy, of Beaverton, Ore., were surprised to see a male soloist and impressed by his wide-swaying 'ami. "I didn't even know men did the hula," Marge Tracy said. She shot a look at her husband and giggled. "I think it's great that Hawaiian men aren't afraid to dance like that. He looked really good."

That's how Takamine hopes it will go: One 45-minute hula performance isn't going to create deep understanding, but every little eye-opening bit of insight or information is a step.

Takamine considers the program a win in another way: The halau are being paid, helping them travel to competitions or for cultural experiences and to purchase costumes and implements. And the three musicians — out of work after the Outrigger Reef Hotel showroom closed during renovations — now have a steady three-night-a-week gig.

Takamine has already been asked if her involvement with Ho'okipa Aloha means that the 'Ilio'ulaokalani Coalition, a group she heads that works to protect and preserve Hawaiian cultural rights and practices, is "supporting the cruise-ship industry." No, she says, but this is an opportunity for dialogue between those who care about Native Hawaiian culture and a key Hawai'i industry.

"I don't see conflict. I see opportunities for education, and opportunities for people to work. We need to hold the industry to a higher standard, and NCL is working at it," she said. "I raised my children and put them through college dancing in Waikiki. Now there are almost no venues. Our musicians and our dancers need to work, and we need to work with (companies like NCL) not just to educate the visitor but also the cruise operators."

Meanwhile, Takamine's biggest challenge may be ahead of her: She's got to find a halau to take the cruises on Merrie Monarch weekend in April — because everyone who's now participating will be in Hilo.