Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Dance Magic 808 Masquerade Ball; A Big Mahalo from Lynn Nakamura

Sunday night was such a fun evening thanks to all of you that attended our Masquerade Ball. Thank you for making it such a fun evening.

For those of you who missed out on this evening of fun here is an account of the evening festivities.

At 5:30pm members of Dance Magic 808 started setting up the chairs and reception table, making the drinks, and DJ, Paul Lee started setting up his music equipment.

Before 6:00 pm we had dancers already coming into the palladium. We had half the ballroom on the kitchen side. Paul started playing his music and the floor was open for general dancing.
We had a couple of hollywood celebrities dancing up a storm at our ball. There was Michael Jackson (alias Larry Arinaga). We didn't recognize Larry at all. We did recognize the beautiful blonde Marilyn Monroe (alias Candace Yap) in her white dress as soon as she walked into the room. There were a lot of people that came dressed up and it was fun seeing dancers dressed up for Halloween.

At 7pm, emcee, Audrey Fu, board member of Dance Magic 808 and the former owner of Villa Roma and Chocolates for Breakfast, welcomed everyone to the dance and advised the costume contestants to be sure get a number for the contest which would begin at 7:30 pm

Around 7:20pm, Richard & I did a few presentations, thanking our instructors, (Roxanne Kaino, Line Dancing, Ed Ho & Veronica Munez, Bachata, Lester & Henrietta Muramoto, International Waltz, Robert & Vanelle Hirayasu, Argentine Tango (they could not make it), and Stephanie Shimizu, who assisted Robert whenever Vanelle had to work and could not make it to class. These instructors taught the last class session and as a small token of our appreciation, we presented them with gift certificates. We also acknowledged Lynn Duong, our registrar, who helps out with enrolling our students and does a lot to help the club whenever she can. She is a really nice person who volunteers her time to help everyone at Dance Magic 808.

At 7:30 pm the fun really started. Emcee, Audrey Fu, made the announcement that the costume contest was beginning. 12 contestants walked around the room from the kitchen and went 1 and 1/2 times around the room and ended up by the DJ, Paul Lee. The last contestants were 8 Jack-in a Box men and 8 McDonald's French Fries (ladies). After their walk around the room, they did the Gangnum style dance and Audrey invited Roxanne (Line Dance Instuctor) and the audience to come up and participate in the Gangnum style dance. It was a lot of fun watching and laughing and we were sure the people dancing were having a lot of fun too.


Gangnum style dancing with Roxanne, Jack, and
          the McDonald Fries. Other guests joined in the fun. 
 Everyone was hoping to win a prize. There were 4 twenty dollar cash prizes and 1 grand prize of $50.00. Our 3 judges who picked the winners were Janey Wong, Roxanne Kaino & Ann Manuel. Thank you ladies for being the judges.
Congratutions to our Winners!!!  
1. Most Scariest - Michael Jackson (Larry Arinaga) - this was really funny. Larry said he should have won best looking. We really didn't recognize him at first.
2. Most Funniest - 8 Jack-in-the Box (Wally Soong, Roy Ninomiya, Stan Nakamura, Ed Matsuda, Jimmy Matsumoto, Eugene Shen, Roy Ohye, & Roy Idemoto). Wally Soong made all the Jack heads. It looked just like Jack - great job.
3. Most Beautiful/Handsome - Marilyn Monroe (Candace Yap) - what can we say...Wow!!!
4. Famous Couple - Prisoners in orange with chains (Paul & Marie Laderta) - they looked too cute to be criminals, it's those innocent ones you have to look out for.
5. Most Original & Grand Prize Winner - Anorexic Elephant - Gail Handa & Earl Yonehara. Gail made this herself from scratch and it was awesome.
There were others that were really cute and some that were really funny. Thank you everyone for participating in the contest and thank you to those that came dressed up but didn't enter the contests.
After awarding the prizes to the contestants, we had 2 different delicious types of rum cake to snack on. Connie Laderta baked several rum cakes and the others came from Aala Bakery (Arthur & Joan Oda). Thank you Connie, Arthur & Joan for the ono rum cakes. Everyone really enjoyed it.
General dancing continued through the evening until 9pm with great music from our DJ, Paul Lee. Thank you Paul for being our DJ for the evening and thank you Janey Wong for assisting him.
Richard & I would like to thanked all the people that helped at this dance event. This dance would not be possible without the help of our members and we really appreciated everyone's help.
A very big MAHALO to Gayle Kawahakui - Coordinator of the kitchen & snacks
She took care of bringing just about everything, like tablecloths, juice, coffee pot, water & juice containers and even bought the candies & juice. We didn't have to worry about anything with Gayle around. Thank you so much. Your help and expertise was really appreciated.
A big MAHALO also to the following for setting up the tables, chairs, & drinks, cleaning up, working the reception desk, and serving the refreshments, because of these members we were able to have a very nice dance event.
Bob & Diane Nishimura
John & Ann Manuel
Stephanie Shimizu
Connie Laderta
Millie Pilkinton
Ben & Lynn Duong
Lester & Henrietta Muramoto
(Hope I didn't miss anyone but if I did, I'm so sorry and thank you for your help)
A very special MAHALO to Audrey Fu, who was our excellent emcee. She made our dance event fun with style.
We would also like to thank all of you who came to Dance Magic 808's Masquerade Ball. It would not have been so successful without all of you (100) attending.
Thank you for being a part of this fun evening and we hope to see all of you at our next event.
I don't have everyone's email address that attended,so please pass this email to the ones that attended and did not receive this email.
Aloha and Mahalo for your continued support.
Lynn A. Nakamura
President, Dance Magic 808
cell 372-2256

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Bob and Elsie Oyama's Celebration of Marriage @The Hale Koa


























Line Dancing and Ballroom Dancing continued till closing at 11PM. Most of the 
beautiful fresh long stem flowers were given away by Elsie and Bob before 
everyone left the Hale Koa DeRussey Room. There were lucky winners and there 
were WINNERS.....everyone received coupons for two complimentary drinks from 
the Bar. 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

It Pays To Be A SeniorTeen

The gateway to the Nifty 50s/60s/70s Oldies Sock Hop Bash finally opened at the Pacific Beach Hotel Grand Ballroom this past Friday. Over 800 SeniorTeens were shephered in to the era when Rock & Roll, the Twist, the Jitterbug, the Disco, and the Hippee Generation was in full swing.  The Grand Ballroom was decorated with large poka dot balloons floating and anchored above each table.  Several battery operated centerpieces groomed each table like lighted fingers and there was a 6-pack carton of Coca-Cola. Two stages marked the ballroom.....one fully decorated picturing the days of the Drive-In eateries, and the other held the electronic gears of the music DeeJays Doug and Lisa Oshiro of Tapestry (From a singer with an 8-piece band to a Mobile DJ for the past 10 years). The ballroom was beaming with music of generations past and so were the faces of the guests as they boogie on to the dance floor each time. Will it be a night when my main squeeze will once again be merciless and Dance My A** Off?  All the ingredients of fun dancing was there...the Jitterbug, the Twist, Slow Dancing, Disco, Rock & Roll, and Boogie to the Oogie. How could I resist the temptation?
























This year's registration went fast and furious and closed in July for this October Bash. Next year's Nifty 50s/60/s70s Oldies Sock Hop Bash will be on October 18 (2013).  If you want to be counted in the next "Class Reunion", please register when you recieve da word from Chairperson Wendell Kwan or from the Bash Committee.
It was another successful Nifty Bash and although the dance floor was crowded, everyone respected each others space.....no bumping into each other. Lani and I had fun dancing and chatting with the guests on our table. The 6-pack Coca-Cola was divided among the couples on our table and Lani and I went home with the beautiful flower and lights centerpiece only because I was the most SeniorTeen at our table. So it pays to be a SeniorTeen. Aloha fo' now.