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). 

Prelude: Dance Magic 808 1st Anniversary Celebration

WOWEE! The people who came were real! The Dance magic 808 1st Anniversary Ball was real! The Program was real! And the Showcase of Exhibition Dancers and Singers was AWESOME! There were more than 400 in attendance to be entertained and to celebrate the one year birthday of this young dance organization. From infancy a year ago, this organization has grown in numbers through the capable guidance of its co-founders Richard and Lynn Nakamura...so much so that now it can take its place and rub elbows with the other dance organizations.

Practice makes perfect: When Lani and I arrived at the Pacific Beach Hotel Grand Ballroom, the participants for the Showcase were busy rehearsing...the singers as well as the exhibition dancers. Only volunteers and those in the showcase were allowed in the ballroom till opening time of 6PM. Still more guests came early and were in the foyer waiting to get in. At the "gate" and Reception Table were Dance Magic 808 volunteers of lovelies,  Elsie McGrew, Diane Nishimura, Sandy Hamasaki, Joyce Sakamoto, and Lolita Nariyoshi. (Sorry we missed Ann Manuel). There were also a handful of ushers to guide guests to their assigned tables...Joe Domingo, Roy Hamasaki, Bob Nishimura, and  if I missed anyone, my apology. The ushers were moving so fast it was hard to keep track of them.

The sweet selection of dance music by DeeJays Henry and Joann Rimas echoed throughout the Grand Ballroom. As the tables were rapidly being occupied, so was the dance floor being filled with guys in debonaire apparel and ladies in colorful evening gowns. It gave an air of a Cinderella fairy tale picture.  Few Viennese Waltz dancers were whizing on the hardwood but when the Electric Slide music was played, room to dance was at a premium.

EmCees for the event were Audrey Fu and U.S. Army Colonel Paul Tamaribuchi. You gotta appreciate this dynamic duo....they were articulate in their delivery, they were funny that kept the audience interested and entertained, and kept the program running smoothly and on time.

Co-Founders Richard and Lynn Nakamura gave a wonderful and feel good Welcome Message. With her message came a brief history of Dance Magic 808. It was remarkable how much this dance organization has grown in membership since inception a year ago. Soon followed was the Introduction of Dance Magic 808 Officers and Board Members, Dance Instructors, and Volunteers. As each name was called the person got on the stage to be recognized. 

Before the Invocation by Marsha Ninomiya, a Hula was performed on stage by 2011 Miss Hawaii International Leilani Soon to the song, The Prayer. It was a beautiful and flowing dance. Then it was time to grindz.  After the buffet dinner, General Dancing resumed. Introduction of Special Guests followed and there were many from various dance clubs (Presidents and Representatives). Professional dance studios owners and teachers were also announced.  

Belle of the Ball Contestants paraded around the dance floor in their gorgeous colorful evening gown for the prestigious Cinderella title but alas only one was to win the title and a monetary prize. The selected judges named Candace Yap as the winner to the title of Belle of the Ball. She was dressed in a sparkling gold gown complete with full arm laces and wearing a tiara and shiny jewelry. EmCee Paul Tamaribuchi presented Candace with the prize. 

Guest Professional singer Melveen Leed opened Part 1 of the Showcase Performance with the up beat tune of Paniolo Country. That got a lot of Line Dancers on the floor to dance as Melveen belted out the Hawaiian cowboy tune. She is a terrific show person and continued on with the fast Latin tune of One Note Samba.

Millennium Dance Sport Comp @Tampa, Florida by Marie Laderta

We are here in Tampa with our teacher Lucas and Yanna and some fellow students competing at the Millennium Dance Sport Competition. Today is day #2 of the comp and we have a grueling schedule, competing from 7a in the morning till past midnight. Record entries of over 15,000 this year. Was told this is the second largest comp to Ohio Star Ball. Who knows, we just like the hospitality the level of dancing, the spectacular aura and great lengths the organizer Michael Chapman puts into this competition. This is our 3rd time at the Millennium. Divino Ritmo students were dancing under the lucky stars, or should I say, the Auspicious Fire Dragon - Here in a celebratory shot, Paul won 1st place in the 3-Dance American Rhythm Championship. I got lucky and won 3rd place in the 3-Dance American Rhythm Championship, and David Easa who danced his own age group took 2nd place. Anna Mae Schwartz took 4th in her age category. Edward Nishimura did not compete in the Rhythm "Championships," at least not this year, but garnered 1st and 2nd places in all his American single dances (NONE of his heats were uncontested, he had competition even as a New comer!). We were very grateful considering we danced our hearts out! We danced until nearly 1am this morning and started again the 2nd day of our dance marathon... Ran into many nice dance afficionados we met over the last few years like seasoned competitors and Dance Patrons Josie Lee, Judy Sargent, Deborah Berinovsky, professionalForest Vance, Judges Peter Eggleton, Marianne Nicole, Dennis Rogers, Sam Soldano, Colin & Joyce Hillary, and many more...and some who just come up to us and say they remember us!!!!:) now that is heart-warming! Aloha, Marie, Still Standing or should I say "dancing" from the Millennium.

Dance Las Vegas 2012

Aloha Dancers! Lynn Nakamura, President of Dance Magic 808, has got a good handle on the Dance Las Vegas event. So please read and enjoy her wonderful write-up that follows. I'll just add the photos........

Hi Everyone, We had such a great time at the International Ballroom Dance, Inc.'s (IBDI) and Dance Magic 808's 1st Las Vegas Dance Event on Sat., May 19, 2012 in Las Vegas. Everyone who attended had so much fun socializing, eating (delicious buffet), watching the performers, participating and dancing. General dancing started at 6pm and continued throughout the evening before dinner, during dinner, and after the exhibitions.

The dance was held at Sam's Town Hotel & Casino in the Red Rock Room and our Master of Ceremonies was the President of IBDI, Chris Jay, who did a very good job as our MC.

Welcome address was made by Chris Jay and yours truly. I was kind of nervous because it's not my thing to be up there giving a speech. I'm usually the one behind the scenes making sure everything is running smoothly. I get nervous just dancing in front of people (it doesn't look like it but I do) so to speak in front of everyone, makes me even more nervous since I don't feel confident speaking in front of a crowd. I had my notes so this is how it went: Chris Jay made his welcome address and called me up to the podium to do my welcome speech. I welcomed everyone to IBDI's & Dance Magic 808's 1st Las Vegas Dance Event and thanked everyone for coming and said," we know that you'll all have a great time eating, dancing and socializing". I also mentioned that I wanted to take this opportunity to thank a few people in advance and to make two announcements. I thanked Dance Magic 808 members, Sandy Hamasaki, who helped with the dinner ticket sales and also thanked her husband, Roy Hamasaki, who helped us with arranging the Vacations Hawaii package for most of the attendees and for providing transportation to/from the hotel to the dance function by driving his van back and forth. He made sure that everyone had transportation to/from the dance function.

A big "Mahalo" was given to UNLV Dance Coach, Gail Michael-Parsons, who provided most of the dance music for the evening. Our music man's flight was delayed so he could not be there from the start when the doors opened but was there just before the performances started around 8:30 pm. My 1st announcement was to remind everyone about Dance Magic 808's 1st Anniversary Ball on Friday, July 6, 2012 and that we hoped that all of them could attend and advised them that the deadline for ticket sales is June 1st.

The 2nd announcement was that we wanted to "Congratulate Bob & Elsie (McGrew) Oyama" who just got married on May 18, 2012 in Las Vegas, a day before our Las Vegas Dance Event. Their wedding ceremony at the Chapel of Flowers was beautiful with a few close friends and relatives. Since they did not have an opportunity to have their first wedding dance, we asked them to come up and dance their wedding waltz. They did an American Waltz to Edel Weiss. It was such so nice to see two people in love dance for us. Some of you may know Elsie because she's Dance Magic 808's volunteer line dance instructor. She and Bob were just dance partners but now they are lifelong partners. Congratulations again to Bob & Elsie!!! Next, Marsha Ninomiya, 1st Vice President of IBDI, came up to the podium and gave a beautiful invocation that it brought tears to my eyes, because I felt so much love and support for us and for everyone. Everyone enjoyed the delicious buffet and just enjoyed socializing.

Next, our MC, Chris Jay, started the program around 8:30 pm. He introduced Andy & Monica Pascuas, Dance Magic 808's Volunteer Instructors who teach the American Style of dancing and also teach the Filipino Tango. They are long time dancers and instructors and are currently choreographing a group mambo routine for Dance Magice 808's 1st Anniversary Ball. Andy & Monica did a lively American Cha Cha with lots of spins. Everyone enjoyed their dancing. Thank you Andy & Monica!!!

Next, we had an impromptu dance by Robert & Vanelle Hirayasu, another volunteer instructor from Dance Magic 808. They did a very romantic Argentine Tango. Thank you Robert & Vanelle!!!

Chris introduced our final solo couple, Joshua Manzano, Dance Magic 808's volunteer instructor who will be next year's Team Captain of the UNLV Rebel Dancesport, and Sonya Petkova. They both competed in 3 competitions this past semester at UCSD, UCR (winning numerous awards at Deser Callenge hosted by UNLV. They took 3rd place in Viennese Waltz, 2nd place in Foxtrot, Waltz, Cha Cha, Samba & Open Merengue, and 1st place in American Tango, American Bolero, Quickstep, Tango, Rumba, Paso Doble & Open Night Club 2-Step. Unfortunately, Sonya was in New York and was unable to perform with Joshua so Polina Petkova graciously agreed to perform with Joshua at the dance. Polina Petkova is the President of the Rebel Dancesport and she coordinates all the social dances and organizes their events. Joshua & Polina demonstrated the exciting and dramatic American Tango. The crowd was really impressed by these young performers. Thank you Joshua & Polina!!! The evening didn't end yet as we had one more entertainment and it required everyone's participation; it was called the Wild Wild West Mixer.

We called everyone to the dance floor and the only requirement was that they bring a partner. Richard Nakamura gave the instructions and we showed everyone what to do. We did the steps a few times before we actually put on the music. It was a lot of fun. We had 2 circles, men on the inside facing out and women on the outside facing a partner. We would run through the steps and at the end the steps we would end up with a new partner and continue dancing the steps again.

Everyone all moved to the right and ended up with a new partner after a set of steps were performed. The song was about 5 minutes long. At the end, everyone was laughing and saying how much fun it was. You had to be there to really enjoy all the fun that everyone had. The mixer ended the formal part of the program and Chris & I gave our thank you to everyone that helped to make this dance a very successful and enjoyable event. Here is a list of the people that were acknowledged:

DJ, Allen Amazaki and his wife, Chudy. She sang a song for us. Reception Desk ladies - Charlene Jay & Vanelle Hirayasu Marsha Ninomiya for the beautiful invocation UNLV Dance Coach - Gail Michael-Parsons for bringing some dance music Roy & Sandy Hamasaki - Vacations Hawaii Package, transportation, and ticket sales All the dancers that performed and we thanked everyone for coming. I did thank our Chris Jay for being our MC and for doing a great job. If we forgot to acknowledge someone, we apologized and said that we appreciated everyone's help. One person that was not mentioned at the dance was Nancy Shen, who we want to thank for getting the tickets printed and the programs printed on such short notice. She was just awesome and was able to get the programs to us in time. Thank you so much!!! As the evening came to a close there were so many people at the end of the dance. I guess everyone was having such a good time that they didn't want to leave. We all eventually left. Some of us changed our clothes and went straight to the slot machines. Some of us were lucky but most of us just enjoyed donating our funds to the casinos. All in all it was a very enjoyable dance event and the whole trip to Las Vegas was a lot of fun. There may be another Las Vegas trip being planned for the end of April 2013. More details will be announced later. For those of you who attended this year's dance event, thank you so much for coming and making it a successful event and we hope that you'll join us again next year for an even bigger and better dance event and trip. For those of you who were not able to make it this year, we hope that you'll be able to join us next year. Mahalo to all of you for all your support. Lynn A. Nakamura President, Dance Magic 808 www.dancemagic808.com cell 808-372-2256

Aiea Ballroom Dance Association 57th Anniversary Ball

WOW! 57 years and still counting and still going strong, too. I won't go into the history of the Aiea Ballroom Dance Association but I gotta mention that it is the oldest non-profit dance organization in all of Hawaii Nei. What a treat it was last Saturday for those attending the Anniversary Ball. And there were more than 400 dancers. (How you figgah that, Frank?) Well let's do the math. Rudy Luat the Prez of Pan Pacific Ballroom Dance Society (dis guy gets around helping other dance clubs besides his own) ordered 400 bentos and they were all gone by 6:30P and still more dancers were coming thru the ballroom door. There were no showcase of exhibition dancing on the program. Prez Deanie Bates said, "it's a night to have fun and celebrate the Anniversary with more time for dancing." I believe that the 400 plus dancers were in full agreement with the idea of more dancing time cuz they sure looked a happy bunch.

Climbing up the stairway, I was greeted by Herbert Omizo (here's another guy who really gives a hand in supporting the dancing community). He's made a lot of contributions for door prizes and this time it was a table full of potted gardenia plants.

My presale tickets were waiting for me at the Reception Table. Happy people wearing a smile were busily checking in the guests and handing out tickets for the door prizes.

Lucky dancers who held presale tickets made a bee-line for the bento. It's no wonder cuz the onlicious bento was dished out by some happy people, too.

Prez Deanie Bates personally greeted everyone that came through the entrance of the ballroom with a hug and a few happy words.

I wasn't sure at first who the VIPs were that night but one thing is sure...if the VIP Table is manned by important people as John, Sue, and Harriet, the VIPs gotta be "persons of interest".

I'm glad DeeJay Bert Burgess dug deep into his awesome collection of good dance music and played them at the Anniversary Ball. The music was suited for everyone....both International style and American Rhythm. Dat's cool!

Dancers were just getting warmed-up as they trickled onto the dance floor. It didn't take long before the entire ballroom floor became filled with a sea of dancers.

EmCee for the evening event was the "small package" but dynamic Kay Yahiku. You know...da gal with the big voice and who can talk anyone into volunteering to start in the "Snowball" ice breaker dance. Dat's what she done to me and I was glad to oblige...and so did over a dozen couples gladly. With a short introduction of some important people, the calling of lucky ticket numbers for the door prizes followed.

Prez Deanie Bates gave the Welcome Message and introduced the Presidents, Representatives of the various dance clubs, and owners of professional dance studios who were present. Now they gotta be the VIPs.

Another bunch of VIPs were introduced. But this time they are the staff of dance instructors for the Aiea Ballroom Dance Association with Dance Director and DeeJay Bert Burgess. Then it was time to stretch the legs and get the seat-warmers and everyone else onto the dance floor. You know...the "Snowball" dance is getting to be much more fun now that the good ole Waltz is put on the back burner for a while and replaced with the good fun and energetic Cha Cha. It turned out to be a classic evening of fun dancing for everyone. (Left click on photo to zoom in)