Dance Magic 808 Social Dance @Hale Ikena

Wow! Another BLAST this week. If you haven't tasted the magic of Dance Magic 808, no hu hu. The new dance organization is on Dance Fever Oahu website. Read all about the organization's mission....it's not only Ballroom but will be incorporating all style of dances and might include HIP HOP. Line Dancing is already on a roll.
Last night was their second Dinner and Social Dance at Hale Ikena since it's formation early this year. It was a Thursday night and as usual the menu called for Mongolian Beef but there were other entries on the menu that could tickle the palate. When Lani and I got to Mulligan's, the line was a bit long getting to weigh and pay for our dinner but it was worth the wait. It reminded me a little like the Shabu Shabu eatery. You know...get your bowl of goodies and bring it to the chef to cook and wait at your table for the waiter to bring the cooked meal to you. I skipped the beef and went deep for the jumbo shrimps and crab meat and garnished them with fresh fruits and veggies. A dash of olive oil brought out the ono favor, and not to mention the two scoops of fried rice which were a meal in it self. Lani and I had to eat light since we were gonna do a solo demo on the Night Club Merengue. General dancing was in full swing when we entered the Ballroom. But before I go any further, I'll let our EmCee Lynn Nakamura's e-mail give you, our readers, a first hand look of this fun filled evening of social dancing, dance demos and exhibitions, and onolicious dinner..........


Mahalo to all of you who were able to attend tonight's 2nd social dance at Hale Ikena. It was another successful dance thanks to all of you. We want to thank and recognize our hardworking instructors, future instructors, our website creator and our DJ for what they do or will be doing for Dance Magic 808.





At our social, we showcased our students (some are very, very new to dancing) and were very proud of all of them. They all did very well. Thank you to all the students who participated in the group dances (class steps).



We had 2 solo exhibitions. Andy & Monica Pascua did the Filipino Tango (they will be teaching this in the future) and Frank & Lani Sierra did the Night Club Merengue (they will teach this at the next class session). Both couples did a great job getting the audience excited about the dancing. Thank you all for performing.

We also want to thank everyone for making it such an enjoyable evening. It was fun encouraging the dancers by cheering and clapping. We appreciated everyone's enthusiasm.

At the social, we also took the opportunity to introduce the management staff of Dance Magic 808.

We apologize that the dance had to end early due to some unexpected necessary work that needed to be completed that night. We appreciated everyone's understanding. Because we had to leave early, Hale Ikena's management has informed us that the next time we have our social, we can stay until 10 pm instead of 8:30 pm.

Here are the names of the Management Staff:
President: Lynn Nakamura
Vice President, Treasurer & Dance Director: Richard Nakamura
Secretary: Candace Yap
Board of Director: Audrey Fu

Names of our Instructors:
Andy & Monica Pascua
Elsie McGrew
Joshua Manzano & Stephanie Shimizu
Robert & Vanelle Hirayasu
Frank & Lani Sierra
Roxanne "Roxie" Kaino
Lester & Henrietta Muramoto
Cullen & Cheryl Chong - we forgot to mention them


We want to thank our DJ, Andy Pascua, for playing the dance music tonight and we would also like to thank Henry & Joanne Rimas for being the DJ at our 1st social dance.

We also want to thank Noli Boado who did a fantastic job creating the Dance Magic 808 website - www.dancemagic808.wordpress.com - we are still adding and updating the website with instructors' pictures and other information. Thank you Noli - we are very appreciative of your work.


Joshua Manzano had a very pleasant surprise from the students and instructors of Dance Magic 808. Roxie Kaino & Eileen Nakano, representing Dance Magic 808's students & staff, presented Joshua with a card and funds to help him with his expenses when he travels with the UNLV Dance Sport Team to compete at locations outside of Nevada. We at Dance Magic 808 have very wonderful people that are so caring and are willing to help other people if they can.

Derek & Keiko Oh brought the really cute bags that Keiko designed to distribute to the dancers that had ordered them at our 1st social and to sell to other dancers that wanted to purchase the bags. The monies collected for these bags ($10) will be donated to the United Japanese Society of Hawaii to help the Japanese people. Thank you Keiko & Derek for your generousity and to everyone that is helping them by purchasing a bag.

We sang "Happy Birthday" to Derek Oh since it was his birthday. He didn't answer when Joshua Manzano sang, "How old are you today?"

We hope that you'll all be able to join us for Dance Magic 808's 1st Anniversary Ball which will be held on Friday, July 6, 2012, at the Pacific Beach Hotel.
We'll need some volunteers to help us at this ball so if you are available and would like to be a part of this fabulous evening, please send us an email.
If you would like to participate in a group routine, please email us. We plan to have several group routines and will be advising you on the dances so you can decide on the dance you want to participate in.

Thank you all again for making this 2nd social dance so successful and fun. We look forward to seeing you all again at either our classes or our dances.

Richard & Lynn Nakamura
Founders of Dance Magic 808
cell 372-2256 (Lynn)


On hand was Peter Loo of U.S. Army MWR Business Ops Division who presented Appreciation Awards to last session dance instructors.

IBDI 3rd Term Student Party @The Palladium

We sure had a BLAST, too, at the IBDI Student Party last night. This was the first time for Lani and me since becoming members of IBDI. It was also a Registration Night to enroll in the 4th Term that starts on August 1st. We were greeted by Grace Nohara, and Dana Morey at the Reception Table and Dana reminded Lani and me "no forget to pick up your bento". The "party" was free to students of the 3rd Term and IBDI members, which came with a bento prepaid for a buck. Not bad bento for the price if you were planning to burn the floor and lose some excess you know what. Registration went fast and quickly, thanks to the capable staff of volunteers. Lani and I enjoyed Renna and Sergio's Samba Variation class so much that we signed up for their Night Club 2 Step I & II class. More dancers started to pour into the Ewa side Ballroom and the program began to take shape as lady EmCee Renna Villanueva called students of the six 3rd Term dance classes to perform what they had learned. It was "no shame" time and many of the students from each class hurried to the dance floor as their class name was called. Each class performed very well. Then it was time for the instructors of the 4th Term classes to show a demo of the dances for the 4th Term. Some lead instructors were not available so the Assistant Instructors filled in for the demo.(You can checkout what dances are offered by surfing to my "That's Dancing" weblog.) Lani and I were impressed with all the instructors' performances but moreso with Renna's young grandson who pinch-hit for gran'pa Sergio in the Night Club 2 Step with Renna.
There were monetary door prizes as well as potted flowers for the lucky ticket holders (tickets were given to only to those who performed in the Macarena, Electric Slide, and YMCA Line Dances lead by Renna. The fun had just begun...there was a Twist Contest for the best Twist Dance couple. Lani and I made the cut to the last six couples but could not muster enough audience votes to make the finals. AUWE! but it was good, good fun for the participants and the audience. The Round or Circle Dance was equally as fun dancing with whoever we came face to face when the music stopped....Waltz, Rumba, Cha Cha, and a whole assortment of danceable music. Yeah! the music was great so I'm gonna mention the DeeJay who has been spinning the discs for the Student Party and the dance classes in the Ewa Ballroom....Harold Kaneshiro. So guys and gals, when you see him, giv'um the Shaka Sign. We gotta appreciate all DeeJays who give their time to spin the music so we can burn the floor....and no forget the EmCees and the team of organizers who make it possible to enjoy an evening of fun games, socializing, dining, and dancing. To lady EmCee Renna who kept the program going at an exciting and entertaining high level...SHAKA and Mahalo!

What A BLAST We Had!

Sure sound like the WASABI 50's & 60's Band had a BLAST at the Cupola and at Ige's. Gotta thank Doreen Nakamoto for the wonderful feedback on the venues. Gary Moore, and impressions of Sammy Davis, Frank Sinatra, Little Richard....those are heavyweights appearing with the WASABI Band. WOW! Anyway, thank you, Doreen for your thunder. Es da kine news dancers like to know after reading whea you guys goin' be playing. So no put the brakes on giving us the big picture on what kine experience you guys had at the party. Who knows? Maybe you'll get mo' bigger crowd at your next show. Fo' now here's your thunder loud and clear.....


Thank you to all who joined us at the "Cellar" event at the Honolulu Design Center's Cupola Theatre this past Thursday, July 7, and we hope more of you can join us when we do this again this coming Thursday, July 14. We were very impressed with the place...nice smooth floor to dance on, good regular pupu menu as well as $5 Happy Hour pupus, free parking (there will be no valet this week!), full bar & drink specials, and AIR-CONDITIONING! Big Mahalo to George Chun & Andrea Dismuke from Tom Moffatt Productions for coming to show their support!!! Too bad George is having trouble with his back, otherwise, he'd be jumping up on that stage with us to do his Frank Sinatra songs! Get better soon, George, so you can grace our stage with your presence & WOW everyone with your sexy voice!!!

We'd also like to thank our Ige's gang for one terrific night on Friday...Ron Ige was so happy that the place was packed! Of course, our friend Garry Moore sure made us look good when he joined us on stage to do a few numbers with us, yeah?! Imagine, we are but lowly musicians compared to the likes of Garry Moore, who is a well-known, top-knotch entertainer here, as well as nationally & internationally! He's recently been on tour in Europe and in Branson, and is soon to return to the mainland, but in the meantime, we are blessed to have him home with us. He had so much fun, he's coming to our gig at the Cupola this Thursday, too! He appeared on national TV on "The Next Best Thing" doing an impression of Little Richard and got to meet the real Little Richard! He's also performed as Sammy Davis Jr. in "The Return of the Rat Pack" shows in Waikiki with Al Waterson, Kimo Kahoano, George Chun & Cameron Krainin. Who knows? Garry might even do his impressions for us that night!!!

Make sure you invite all your friends & family to join in on the fun, OK?!!!

Love XOXOXO,
Doreen

Trekking To Old Sugar Town Waipahu

It's been ages and I mean a very long time since Lani and I have trekked to Waipahu but it was a must this past Sunday. No, not for a dance class. Of course it would've been nice to visit Renna and Sergio's dance studio while we were there but the Mazda Auto Show took longer than we had expected. So it's gonna have to wait till next time. Okay, let's rewind. Our son, Dean who assists us in our dance class at Ali'iolani CSA had entered his Mazda 3 in the Cutter Mazda Auto Show Contest. So as proud parents, we gotta giv'um support to win at least one of the prizes in his car category. There were 7 categories (Mazda 6, Rotary Engine, Protege, etc.) including the Mazda Speed 3 category that Dean was in. The "show" of all the different models of Mazdas was amazing. More amazing was the passion showed by the participants in how much work they had put in to alter a stock model into a classic model. It was a long and hot afternoon but Cutter made it an enjoyable affair; everybody got free bottled water and bento. The Hip Hop and Lambada music by DeeJay Gage kept the spirits running high. And the airconditioning in the showroom really was a blessing.
There must've been at least 30 cars entered in the contest and the 1st and 2nd place winners were voted by ballots. Long story short....Dean won 1st place and received a trophy. Congratulations, son!

Hooked On The Hustle

WOW! I never thought I'd get Hooked ON The Hustle. Gotta "stay alive" on this one 'cause it's a fun dance. Joshua and Stephanie continued the Swing Hustle at Hale Ikena last night and as usual everyone since day one showed up but some how the dance floor seemed like there were more people on it. But first! Lani and I took that long drive to Ft. Shafter for lesson numba four in the Hustle. Couldn't miss this lesson; not after Joshua and Stephanie taught the class those fancy syncopated steps last week. Got there just before the class started. Joshua started the class with isolation exercises to the beat of disco music. That's akamai since we needed to get our bodies flexible and relaxed for the steps ahead. A demo of all the steps we learned from day one to the present really helped jogged my mind as well as my feet. Repetition is a great teacher and Joshua made full use of it until he was satisfied that everyone was on the same page. What followed were welcomed moves. Never thought I'd be dancing a cross over break in the Hustle but it worked well with the lady spin out move to a dip. Walla! Most disco music go on for 5 minutes and that's how we spent the last 5 minutes; dancing all the moves that Joshua and Stephanie filled us with. It was fast and it was fun!