Finale: Dance Magic 808 1st Anniversary Ball

Aloha Everyone,

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved with Dance Magic 808’s 1^st Anniversary Ball which was held on Friday, July 6, 2012, at the Pacific Beach Hotel.

Whether you were one of the many dedicated volunteers, special entertainers, guests, family members, or other dance organizations’ members, you were all part of what made the evening enchanted and enjoyable at our first anniversary ball.

This “Ball” would not have been successful without everyone’s participation and we really appreciated everyone’s support of Dance Magic 808’s 1^st Anniversary Ball.

Here’s a recap of the Dance Magic 808’s 1^st Anniversary Ball for those who missed attending this fabulous and enchanting evening.

On the day of the “Ball”, Friday, July 6, 2012, volunteers were already arriving at 2:00 pm to put on the finishing touches to all the decorations that was worked on the night before. There were also performers who came early to practice. The “Grand Ballroom” was buzzing with excitement.

The night before, volunteers worked tirelessly to make this “Ball” beautiful for everyone to enjoy.

Audrey Fu, our Decorations Committee Chair, collaborated with her dear friend, Peter Ataie to come up with the beautiful decorations for our kingdom.

Peter is a successful entrepreneur from Los Angeles and is talented in building with a world of imagination and ingenuity. He constructed the beautiful entry to our magic kingdom and decorated the rest of the kingdom.

After everyone had finished decorating the ballroom and performers practiced their routines, it was time to change and get ready for the beautiful guests that would be arriving soon.

Our reception table had 5 lovely Princesses/maidens (Ann Manuel, Joyce Sakamoto, Lolita Nariyoshi, Diane Nishimura and Sandy Hamasaki) to assist of our guests in finding their table number.

The lobby area was starting to get filled with ladies in their gowns and fine clothing and the men in their coat & tie looking very dashing. We were going to wait until 6:00 pm to allow everyone entry into our magical kingdom because we wanted to make sure the performers had enough time to practice their routines.

There were ushers handsomely dressed in their coats, ready and available to escort the guests to their seats.

At 6:00 pm the guests quickly entered our beautifully decorated entry way to the ballroom. Many of them started to dance since our DJs, Henry & Joann Rimas, were playing ballroom dance music for everyone to dance to.

More guests arrived and filled the ballroom. There must have been over 400 people in that beautifully decorated ballroom. There were lots of ladies with tiaras and some even wore beautiful gowns.

The “Ball” was in full swing when the “Welcome & Introductions” started at 6:45 pm.

Emcees, Audrey Fu and Paul Tamaribuchi (dressed in uniform), Welcomed everyone to Dance Magic 808’s 1^st Anniversary Ball.

Paul introduced his co-emcee, Audrey Fu and gave a little background on her, telling the audience that she is a retired business women and owner of popular fashion boutiques, Villa Roma and Chocolates for Breakfast which were located in the Ala Moana Shopping Center, Ward Warehouse, and the Waikiki Shopping Plaza. She is a Board Member of Dance Magic 808 and the Decorations Chairperson for this event.

Audrey introduced Colonel Paul Tamaribuchi saying that he is a member of Dance Magic 808 and is married to Gail Tamaribuchi. He is a Colonel in the Hawaii Army National Guard and the Deputy Commander of the 29^th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, and since tonight is in appreciation of our military, he’s in uniform representing the Brigade and National Guard.

Paul mentioned some housekeeping information and advised everyone that tonight’s event is being videotaped for future cablecast on ‘Olelo Community Media and their camera crew will be out and about videotaping. He also mentioned to check for the cablecast dates or to watch online, you should log onto www.olelo.org

Next the Co-Founders, Richard & Lynn Nakamura, of Dance Magic 808 were introduced. The emcee mentioned that Richard & Lynn are volunteer dance instructors, teaching the International style of dancing as well as American Social, and some swing dances like the Hustle and West Coast Swing. Richard told the audience that they had a short speech written but now could not find it so they would try to remember what they wanted to convey to the audience. They mentioned that about a year ago, they formed Dance Magic 808 to provide lessons to friends who expressed an interest in ballroom and line dancing. They started their first classes at Hale Ikena at Ft. Shafter and currently have classes at the Salt Lake District Park. Richard mentioned that seeing so many of their members hard at work on Thursday night to prepare for Friday night’s big “Ball” really amazed them. Richard & Lynn thanked all their members who volunteered to help at this anniversary ball and thanked them for their support of the club this past year. They will try their best to continue to provide more fun times be it with classes, socials, or other special events. Finally, they thanked everyone at the ball for attending and celebrating Dance Magic 808’s 1^st Anniversary Ball with them.

After their speech, the following volunteers were called up to the stage to be recognized because without these volunteers, Dance Magic 808 would not be possible.

Everyone was told to hold the applause until everyone was on stage.

President: Lynn Nakamura

Vice-President/Treasurer/Dance Director: Richard Nakamura
Secretary: Candace Yap
Board Members: Audrey Fu and Gail Tamaribuchi

Instructors:

Andy & Monica Pascua – American Social & Filipino Tango

Elsie McGrew & Roxanne Kaino – Line Dancing
Joshua Manzano – American Social
Stephanie Shimizu – American Social & International Assistant
Robert & Vanelle Hirayasu – American Social & Argentine Tango
Frank & Lani Sierra – American Social
Lester & Henrietta Muramoto – International
Ed Ho & Veronica Munez – Bachata (not in photo)

Other volunteers:

Dance Class Registrar – Lynn Duong

Webmaster – Noli Boado, who created and maintains Dance Magic 808’s website.

Please check out our website at www.dancemagic808.com

After everyone was on stage, there was applause from the audience.

The Dance Magic 808’s 1^st Anniversary Ball Committee Chairs were also recognized:

Anniversary Ball Chairperson: Lynn Nakamura

Decorations Chairperson – Audrey Fu and her committee members:

Assistant Decorations Planner – Peter Ataie

Table Decorations – Gail Tamaribuchi

The Stage (castle) Decorations – Linda Quon

Banner & Wishing Well – Stan Akamine

Thank you Paul Lee for making the Wishing Well

Reception Table – Ann Manuel

Ushers – Roy Hamasaki

The emcee thanked all the volunteers above and to the other volunteers, too numerous to mention that assisted in this ball and helped Richard & Lynn with Dance Magic 808 throughout the year.

Whenever possible, Richard & Lynn tries to recognize all of their volunteers because they are the core of this dance organization and are appreciated for all that they do for Dance Magic 808.

The emcees, Audrey and Paul, introduced the Presidents of other dance organizations, professional instructors and people who traveled across the ocean to attend this event.

President Chris Jay – International Ballroom Dance Association

President Rudy Luat – Pan Pacific Ballroom Dance Club
President Glenn Okazaki – USA Dance
President Ivan John – Hawaii Gardenia Circle
President Deanie Bates – Aiea Ballroom Dance Club
President Diane Wong – Ilima Dance club
President Peter Sy – Wahiawa Ballroom Dance Club
Dance Director Michael Yap – Friends of Ala Wai Dance Academy
Vice President Shirley Ota – Hawaii Ballroom Dance Association

Not mentioned was President Roland Reaver of the Swing Club – our deepest apology. Richard & Lynn were not too familiar with the Swing Club and had they known he was the president, they would have mentioned him. Richard & Lynn want to “Thank you” and your members for attending Dance Magic 808’s 1^st Anniversary Ball.

Professionals:

Simone Escano

Sergio & Renna Villanueva
Geoffrey Fells
Leeanne Bampton (7 times 10 dance champion of Australia, Dance Director of Dancing with the Stars in Australia)
Iwalani Tseu (Reknown Kumu Hula Instructor with daughter, Aureana Tseu was Miss Hawaii USA and Miss Teen Hawaii and held many other titles 

Off-island Guests:

Carol Tokuda & Stanley Okinaka, Dance instructors from the Hilo Ballroom Dance Club

Ken & Ellen Kitabayashi & their dance group from the Kauai Ballroom Dance Club – Lihue Chapter

Roy & Glenda Tamashiro and President Dan Works and their members from the Kauai Ballroom Dance Club – Hanapepe Chapter

From Los Angeles, Members of Dance Now, they will be performing for us

From the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), local boy, Joshua Manzano, Sonya Petkova, & Sonya’s sister, Nina Petkova

Now the fun part:

At the ball they held a “Belle of the Ball” event to honor all you beautiful ladies at the ball. Distinguished panel of judges circulated amongst all the beautiful ladies and selected 6 “Belle of the Ball” finalists. The one who best represented the "Ball's" Enchanting Evening Theme from head to toe would win. How did these lucky ladies know they were a finalist? The judges gave them a finalist card and these lovely ladies would be asked to come up to the dance floor to make their final impression on the judges later this evening. The winner would receive a cash prize that totaled the evening’s dinner for two.

The emcees introduced the judges for the “Belle of the Ball” contest:

Peter Ataie is a successful entrepreneur from Los Angeles and a talented builder with a wealth of imagination and ingenuity. He constructed the beautiful entry to our enchanted kingdom and is a very dear friend of Audrey Fu.

Racyne Sugai is the lead artist and co-owner of Sassarella, an on-location hairstyling, makeup artistry and spray tanning company. Her work has been seen in MidWeek, Hawaii Weddings and Honeymoon Escapes, Look Hawaii and Military Spouse. She also works with Wilhelmina Hawaii and freelances for Dior. Racyne has done extensive work with many pageant title holders and being a former title holder herself, she continues to support the Miss Hawaii USA and Miss Chinatown Hawaii pageants. She is also the oldest daughter of Lynn Nakamura.

Our last judge needed no introduction; she’s the marvelously talented, internationally renowned and lovely Melveen Leed. She too is a very close friend of Audrey Fu.

After the judges were introduced, Marsha Ninomiya was called upon to give the invocation. Marsha gave a very beautiful and heartfelt invocation. Marsha is a very giving and caring individual so her invocation had a lot of meaning for everyone especially for us.

It was a very meaningful invocation, thank you Marsha.

2011 Miss Hawaii International, Leilani Soon, in her beautiful red gown, performed a hula to the song, The Prayer. Leilani who is Hawaiian, Chinese, German, and English represented Hawaii at the 2011 Miss International pageant in China. Lani has a BA in teaching English as a second language as well as a certificate in Asian Studies from the Hawaii Pacific University. She is currently pursuing a MA in Korean at the University of Hawaii at Manoa while working at JTB as a customer service associate. Lani speaks Korean, Mandarin, and American Sign Language. She loves dancing ballet, hula, and sign dance as well as playing the piano and believes that dance is a language that can speak to the heart without words. When she danced the hula, the first phase of the song was done in sign language. She performed a beautiful hula which everyone enjoyed.

At 7:15pm, all performers were invited to the buffet line first. From 7:15pm to 8:15 pm there was general dancing while some people went to the buffet line. The buffet stayed open until 8:45pm.

8:15pm – the emcees, Audrey Fu and Paul Tamaribuchi, welcomed everyone back to start the program.

The selection of “Belle of the Ball” was beginning. The 6 finalist were called to the dance floor and had to parade around the dance floor and when they reached the judges, a selection was made. The 6 finalist were: Debra Ota, Lynn Duong, Violeta Mata, Candace Yap, Renna Villanueva, & Gail Tamaribuchi

The judges have made a selection and announced the Dance Magic 808’s 2012 Belle of the Ball was Candace Yap. She was given a scepter that lighted up and an envelope with the cash prize. She had sparkling pins in her hair, had a beautiful yellow gown and beautiful shoes. She looked gorgeous, just like a princess and represented the look for this enchanting evening. Congratulations Candace!!!

There were a few more introductions and acknowledgements of some very special people that attended the ball.

Sherri Yoshimoto, co-worker and friend of Lynn Nakamura, helped to design Dance Magic 808’s Anniversary Ball flyers, tickets, invitations, and favors.

The leaders of the 29^th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and their lovely wives and partners were introduced.

In recognition of our nation’s birthday, we’d like to honor all of our military service members and veterans. Thank you all very much.

Kim Anderson and Tony Butindaro – they would be performing (singing) for us.

Melveen Leed and her husband, Mike Reyes were introduced.

Part I – Dance Exhibitions Begins

Our first entertainer and a very good friend of Audrey Fu is the legendary Melveen Leed. She is nine times Na Hoku Hanohano award winner for best female singer and has traveled the world representing Hawaii. Melveen performs every Saturday from 11 am – 2 pm at the International Market Place, Food Court in Waikiki free of charge. It’s a show you don’t want to miss as it changes each time according to her special guest for that day. She will be performing at her jazz concert to a sold out crowd at the Ala Moana Hotel. Melveen sang her popular song, “Paniolo Country”, and the emcee invited all the line dancers to the dance floor to dance the electric slide to this song.

It was so much fun watching everyone get up on the dance floor and start dancing. Instead of singing from the stage, Melveen was down on the dance floor too singing her song while everyone did the line dance. Everyone was having so much fun and it was so nice to watch.

Melveen did another song entitled, One Note Samba, and the audience just loved her. She is a true entertainer. She had a grand time performing at this event.

Emcee, Paul, welcomed the “The Magic Formation Dancers” to open tonight’s dance exhibitions. They are all members of Dance Magic 808 and the formation was choreographed by Line Dance Instructor, Roxanne Kaino.

The dancers are: Arnold Chun, Manny Carreon, Benedict Duong, John Balmores, Eileen Nakano, Audrey Fu, Tandy Alconcel, Roxanne Kaino, Connie Laderta, Millie Chun, Lynn Duong, & Pat Balmores.

This was a very entertaining line formation and everyone did really well. They really worked hard to put this together. Many of them have never danced before and for some this was their first time performing for anyone. Thank you all for participating and being a part of Dance Magic 808’s 1^st Anniversary Ball.

Next up were Richard & Lynn Nakamura. There performed their lively quickstep that they choreographed.

From here I’ll list the exhibitions and the dancers that went on:

Kauai Ballroom Dance Club – Lihue Chapter – performed the America Social Rumba, choreographed by Ken & Ellen Kitabayashi.

The dancers were: Bryson & Medina Cabalteja, Juanito & Amelia Duarosan, Ken & Ellen Kitabayashi, Eddie & Fely Ibanez, and Tom & Marites Yano.

Thank you Ken & Ellen and the Kauai dancers. We really appreciated you coming from Kauai to attend and perform at our ball.

Robert & Vanelle Hirayasu did a very romantic Argentine Tango. Robert & Vanelle are volunteer instructors of Dance Magic 808. Thank you Robert & Vanelle.

Our next performers were Gayle Kawahakui & Jun Lim. They did a beautiful International Waltz that was choreographed by Gayle Kawahakui. Thank you Gayle & Jun.

Our Dance Magic 808 members performed the Mambo, choreographed by Andy & Monica Pascua.

The dancers were: Mike Ihara & June Hasegawa, Andy & Monica Pascua, Manny Carreon & Tandy Alconcel, Wayne Fuchigami & Roxanne Kaino

Thank you dancers; it was such an exciting mambo. You all looked great. All that practicing really paid off.

To end Part I, Kim Anderson sang “Once Upon a December” and invited all dancers to dance a slow Viennese Waltz. Kim was recently seen as the “Muse of Epics” at Diamond Head Theater’s production of “Xanadu” and as Kate McGowen in “Titanic, the Musical”. Other credits and leading roles include “The Wizard of Oz” as Dorothy, a role for which she was honored with a Po’okela Award for “Leading Female in a Musical” at the age of 14, “Meet Me in St. Louis”, “West Side Story”, “The Musical of Musicals”, “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change”, “The Wind in the Willows”, and “The Butler Did It”. Kim has written and directed several original musicals and works as a professional singer. She is also Richard & Lynn Nakamura’s niece. Kim started to sing and Richard & Lynn Nakamura and Joshua Manzano & Sonya Petkova started to dance the Viennese Waltz. Other dancers, Ivan John & Nancy Luckie, Calvin & Debra Ota, and Glenn Okazaki & Anne Ho also joined in. Thank you all for participating. There probably were others that wanted to dance but were shy. Next time, please come and dance. It was all in fun.

There was general dancing, with music being played by Henry Rimas, to give the audience a chance to dance before Part II.

During the evening, the emcees made announcement about the “Wishing Well” that Paul Lee made. It was located near the dessert table. It was so cute with a little pail and it was decorated with lights. The donations collected in the “Wishing Well” would be donated to various deserving organizations.

Part II began with Richard & Lynn Nakamura asking Ralph Hasegawa if he would come to the stage. They wanted to give him a lei. Ralph is a fellow ballroom dancer and is being deployed to Afghanistan. He didn’t know that he would be called to the stage. He mentioned to his girlfriend that if you serve in the military you do it because you want to and it comes from the heart. He didn’t want a lot of fanfare. We felt that we wanted to recognize him because what he and other military personnel do is to give us our freedom.

Next, Lynn Nakamura gave a donation from Dance Magic 808 to the Hawaii National Guard Association. On behalf of the 29^th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and the Hawaii Army National Guard, Colonel Paul Tamaribuchi accepted the donation. Lynn said that we can never repay the military for what they do for us every day. They sacrifice their lives for us so that we can have the freedom to do what we want. The donation was just a small token of their appreciation. Thank you to all the military personnel.

Kim Anderson & Tony Butindaro sang a duet, “Time to Say Goodbye”. Tony was last seen as wide eyed optimist, “Sonny Malone” in Diamond Head Theater’s production of “Xanadu”. Previous credits include the role of “Jim Farrell” in Titanic, The Musical, “The Angels in Black Present the 7 Spirits of Christmas”, and “The Angels in Black Present Classic Bible Stories”. Tony is a member of the music team at Hope Chapel Kapolei and has written and performed several songs featured on the album entitled, “Now is the Time”. They sang a beautiful duet. Thank you Kim & Tony for sharing your talent with us.

Our next performers were Andy & Monica Pascua, instructors for Dance Magic 808. They performed the exciting Filipino Tango. Thank you Andy & Monica.

All the way from Los Angeles, California, we welcome our friends The Dance Now group. They performed the American Social Foxtrot to the song, Singing in the Rain.

The dancers are: Bill Steeber & Barbara Greenlaw, Bill Morey & Gee Gee Barden, James & Andrea Gutman, and Frank Trapp & Keiko Isshiki.

This was like a Broadway production. They had umbrellas and it was very entertaining. You had to be there to see their dance. Everyone enjoyed this routine because it was different and they performed so well. Thank you Dance Now for attending our Dance Magic 808’s 1^st Anniversary Ball and for giving us a delightful dance.

Next up was our very own Dance Magic 808 instructors, Frank & Lani Sierra. They performed a lively Club Merengue and it was fun to watch. You may not have known it but Lani had a pinched nerve in her hip so at times it was a bit painful but like a true trooper, she performed the dance very well. Thank you Frank & Lani for entertaining us with your lively Club Merengue.

This young couple took everyone’s breath away. Joshua Manzano, Dance Magic 808’s youngest instructor & his competition partner, Sonya Petkova have competed in many college ballroom dance competitions and have placed first many times. They performed for the audience the Contemporary Night Club 2-Step. Thank you Joshua & Sonya, you dance was so outstanding. Thank you for being a part of our special evening.

Our final performance for that evening was the elegant International Waltz performed by Dance Magic 808’s members and choreographed by Richard & Lynn Nakamura. They dedicated their dance to all the military personnel, active and retired, that were in the audience.

The dancers were: John & Ann Manuel, Noli & Wowie Boado, Creighton & Beverly Goo, Roy & Marsha Ninomiya, Larry Arinaga & Candace Yap, Ron & Robyn Fujimoto, Richard & Lynn Nakamura, and Ed & Candy Matsuda. It was a beautiful and elegant waltz and the perfect ending to the entire program.

Thank you to all the performers and thank you to the awesome emcees, Audrey Fu & Paul Tamaribuchi.

A message from Richard & Lynn Nakamura:

We would like to thank everyone for attending Dance Magic 808’s 1^st Anniversary Ball. Thank you for all your support and for making this a very successful 1^st Anniversary Ball for Dance Magic 808. We want to thank all of our volunteers who helped with the ticket sales, decorations, table favors, reception table, ushers, performers, and to Risa Myers and the staff of the Pacific Beach Hotel. We hoped that you enjoyed the evening. We enjoyed having you here with us tonight to enjoy this enchanting evening. Thank you all again for your support.

This concluded the program but there was general dancing until 11:30pm.

Again, Mahalo to everyone who made our Dance Magic 808’s 1^st Anniversary Ball so successful. We felt it was the “Ball” of the Year and it was because all the people that attended helped to make it so successful and fun.

We look forward to sharing more our events with all of you. Please check our website for more info…www.dancemagic808.com

Aloha,

Richard & Lynn Nakamura

Co-Founders of Dance Magic 808

Cell 372-2256 (Lynn)

(Photos courtesy of the following: Marie Laderta, Ellen Kitabayashi, Millie Chun, Gail Tamaribuchi, Dale White, Lynn Duong, Stanley Akamine, Glenda Tamashiro, Diane Yoshida, Lani Sierra, and Charlene Jay).