T A B L E_T A L K Mardi Gras! Have you gone? Are you going? Grab some beads and party in the Wanderlust area of Table Talk R E C E N T L Y Cajun Mardi Gras By Margaret Spillane and Bruce Shapiro Singing, dancing, drinking and other mayhem in rural Louisiana (02/27/98) Looking for Kathmandu By Jeff Greenwald Gossip, chickens and sex in Nepal (02/26/98) Landing the Big One By D.T. Max Fishing and frolicking in Cabo San Lucas (02/25/98) Arigato, Nagano By Cintra Wilson Weird TV, naked hot springs and the big heart of Japan (02/24/98) Tara and Michelle are great and I am a worthless protozoa clinging to their skates By Cintra Wilson (02/23/98) Browse the Feature archives		THE SOURCES OF HAWAII'S SENSUAL DANCE ___________STILL SWAY IN A SACRED KAUAI SITE. BY JAMES D. HOUSTON | I first heard about the hula terrace from a Hawaiian dancer. We were talking about the spell cast by certain modern-day performers, whose voices and supple bodies seem empowered from an older time. She said that if I wanted to understand the true sources of hula, I should visit this place called Ke'e, on the island of Kauai. "It's mostly lava rocks," she said, "a kind of rocky platform out there by itself. It's dedicated to Laka, our deity of hula. You probably won't see any dancers. But you'll see where the dancing begins." This was an intriguing idea, a very Hawaiian idea: that a dance tradition could be linked to a gathering of rocks, might somehow originate there. I had to see the place, and last fall I finally had my chance. Though it isn't marked on many maps, the old terrace was not hard to find. Kauai is a small island. There is only one road to the north shore. I followed it from the main town of Lihu'e, up the windward side, bore west toward Hanalei, with its glistening taro ponds, and on past Lumahai Beach, where they filmed scenes from "South Pacific." Out that way razor-topped canyons notch the shoreline. About a mile past Ha'ena, the most northerly point in the main Hawaiian chain, the road ends at a sandy little cove called Ke'e Beach. From there, as the dancer had instructed me to do, I hiked along the shore for 100 yards or so. Beyond the last house on that side of the island, a wet path cuts inland through pandanus thicket. Nothing marks the route until you have climbed a while and come upon a simple sign saying, Ka-Ulu-O-Paoa-Heiau. "Heiau" means place of worship. "Paoa" had been a famous priest in this region. The corner of an old foundation loomed above me, the remains of the temple named for him, now a sloping stack of lava rocks. Climbing out of the trees I saw that a whole hillside had once been terraced with rock embankments rising from the temple toward a small plateau. On this uppermost level I found the platform, a rock-bordered and grassy rectangle, at the foot of a stone cliff splotched white with lichen. It is called Ka-Ulu-O-Laka Halau Hula. "Halau" means a long house or meeting place. "Ulu" means to grow or increase, as well as to be artistically inspired by a god or spirit. Thus: A Place of Dance Honoring the Inspiration of Laka. Whenever I come upon one of these revered Hawaiian sites, I have learned to stand still a while and listen and look around. Why here? I ask myself. Why not closer to the beach? Or at the top of this cliff? Or across that ravine? There is always some appropriate mix of features that gives the spot its own appeal and holding power. N E X T+P A G E+| Hula is more than a dance