The Hawaiian Hut is a great venue for the performance. With its tiki-torch entrance, bamboo and rattan decor and retro ambiance, it seems a likely setting for such events.

Using masks by Michael Harada and several enigmatic characters, Shiroma attempts to avoid the traditional dance concert format with its random, usually unrelated, series of pieces. Instead, she offers a conceptual — if not sometimes ambiguous and overly eclectic — evening of dance/theatre, inadvertently sabotaged by her own generosity of spirit.

Shiroma's strong anti-war statements and depictions of our alienation from one another are weakened by the very nature of the production. Though the collaborators are impressive as individual artists, the parts do not necessarily add up to a comprehensible whole.

Literally towering over the ensemble is Shiroma's collaborator and the co-founder of Monkey Waterfall, Ben Moffat, as The Officer. Exaggerating his already considerable stature through the use of visible stilts (on which he seems completely at ease), Moffat presents a sinister figure. He is joined by an equally mysterious character, danced by Betsy Fisher, whose dubious motivations are reflected in her slinky movements. A final duet between the two is as touching as it is grotesque.

The third key figure is a Bunraku-like life-size geisha puppet accompanied by a puppeteer (masterfully portrayed by Jacquie Yang). Later in the performance, the geisha doll Keiko (Sami L.A. Akuna, aka Cocoa Chandelier) momentarily comes to life, only to be suppressed once more by the puppeteer.

Michael Pili Pang's hotel hulas (some are re-creations of dances by Maiki Aiu Lake, lovingly performed by Noelani Goldstein and other members of Pang's halau) and excellent swing dancing, most notably by Kristi Burns and Mathias Maas, anchor us in the time and place of the production. But the remainder of the evening drifts through a mixture of styles, ranging from a lyrical pas de deux performed by Malia Yamamoto and Squire Coldwell to Fisher's expressionistic choreography for herself. There's also an excellent solo Fisher created for Esther Izuo to "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and a moving modern solo choreographed and performed by Kristi Burns.