Dance Magic 808 Winter Holiday Dance

The Mock Competition this past Sunday at the Palladium for Dance Magic 808 Winter Holiday Dance was more of a tune-up for dancers who were planning to enter competitive dance contests in the coming months. There were ten couples that exhibited their best in the American style and International style in one or both of the Smooth and Rhythm categories.

 Lani and I got to the Palladium a little early to help setup the ballroom but to our surprise "all the chairs already setup," said Rudy Luat. As we all know Pan Pacific BDS President Rudy Luat is a long time supporter of Dance Magic 808 and I can assume that he had a big hand in helping set up the chairs. All that was left to do was setting up the music equipment but DeeJay Paul Lee had enough guys to handle that. So Lani and I gave what little hand in the kitchen with Gayle, Beverly, Creighton, John, and Ann.



Henrietta and Lester Muramoto greeted guests at

   the Reception Table.

 

 

Wayne Fuchigami, Elsie & Bob Oyama

              at the Membership Table

Some of the participants in the Mock Competition were practicing in the ballroom from 6 to 6:30PM. Then more guests entered for general dancing as Paul Lee let loose his wonderful collection of smooth and rhythm music during the first hour. At 7:30, Richard and Lynn Nakamura opened the program with a welcome message. Please read on Richard and Lynn's "Mahalo message" and blow by blow description of the dance event.



DeeJays Janey Wong and Paul Lee

 Mahalo Everyone!!!

Thank you so much for attending Dance Magic 808's Winter Holiday Dance on Sunday, November 25, 2012. It was because of all of you that we all had such a nice evening.



The evening started at 5:30pm when our DJ, Paul Lee and his assistant, Janey Wong, and some of our volunteers helped to set up the music equipment. Some of the dancers who were going to be participating in our dance program came early to practice. They practiced until around 6:10pm and then general dancing started.

We were the emcees for the evening and made an announcement around 7:15pm, welcoming and thanking everyone who came and also thanked the dancers who were participating in our dance program. We also thanked all of our volunteers. We mentioned that our short dance program would start at 7:30pm and that we would have general dancing until that time. We introduced Professional Dance Instructor, Al Franz and Carlos Chang. We mentioned if anyone was interested in attending Carlos' Workshop on Dec. 1 & 2, they needed to sign up before the workshop dates since we were not taking any registrations on the day of the workshops.

Taking a break from the kitchen detail were

         Beverly Goo and Ann Manuel

EmCees Lynn & Richard Nakamura
(Founders of Dance Magic 808)

We thanked Connie Laderta, who made the sandwiches that night but who has also made our snacks for the last 3 dances. We thanked Gayle Kawahukui, our coordinator for our dances at the palladium. She is such a big help to us since we are still new at having dances at the palladium. She has helped us from the very start and this was the 4th dance that we have had at the palladium. We had wanted to present them both with a gift card but I (Lynn) had forgotten to bring the cards so we will give it to them the next time we see them. We are very thankful and grateful to all of our volunteers who have helped to make our dances so successful.

We started our dance program at 7:30pm. We mentioned that some of the dancers have danced for about a year and some less than 5 years, while others were more experienced and would be competiting next month and next year in dance competitions on the mainland. We wished the competitors the best in their competition on the mainland.

We introduced all the dancers (Dance Magic 808 members) in this order:

Larry Arinaga & Candace Yap

Larry Arinaga & Candace Yap  
Noli & Wowie Boado 
Manny Carreon & Roxanne "Roxie" Kaino
Stephanie Shimizu & Roy Ninomiya
Chris Ano & Linda Quon
Joe Domingo & Eleanor Kim
Rudy Luat & Eileen Nakano
Mike & Lorrie Chun
Calvin & Debra Ota
Ed & Charlotte Bugarin



Roxie Kaino & Manny Carreon

Noli & Wowie Boado

Linda Quon & Chris Ano

Eleanor Kim & Joe Domingo



Lori & Mike Chun

It was the first time for most of the dancers to be in this type of dance program. The dancers could perform in all the dances or perform in just a few, it was their choice. The dances that they were participating in were the Samba, Cha Cha, Rumba, Jive, Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, and Quickstep.

Ed & Charlotte Bugarin

After the introduction of the dancers, we asked the dancers to take their places to perform the Samba. It was exciting to see dancers dancing to the lively samba music.

 The music was for 90 seconds and when that ended, the dancers bowed graciously to the audience. The next dance was the Cha Cha and the dancers were told to get ready and take their places. The dancers performed their best to the   Cha  Cha. Everyone did their own dancing and it was a lot of fun to watch.



Enjoying the dance performance were Lani, Marie & Paul Laderta, Connie Laderta,

Jo Casidy, and Beverly Mau. Connie made the snack sandwiches of deviled egg, and tuna.

 

To give the dancers a breather, we made an announcement that Pan Pacific's Christmas Dance is on Sat., Dec. 8 and USA Holiday Ball is on Fri., Dec. 14, and if anyone needed tickets to see me (Lynn).

The next dance was the romantic rumba. The dancers were told to take their places for the rumba. It was enjoyable watching the new dancers and well as the competitor dancers perform.

Our last latin dance was the very energetic jive which was the most exciting dance to watch. The music was so inviting that we felt like dancing too. After the lively jive, we made the following announcements and had general dancing to give the dancers time to change their clothes and shoes for the ballroom dances.

We announced that IBDI's Christmas Ball at the palladium is on Sat., Dec. 15 and to see me (Lynn) for tickets. We also advised everyone that Dance Magic 808 is having their Las Vegas Showcase at Sam's Town on Sunday, April 28, 2013 and that we also plan to attend the college competition on Fri. & Sat. at UNLV. Our last announcement during the break was to save Friday, August 9, 2013, because it's Dance Magic 808's 2nd Anniversary Ball at the Pacific Beach Hotel and we hope that everyone can attend.

Just before the ballroom dance portion was to begin, we asked everyone to take their seats and for all the dancers that were participating in this portion to take their position for the waltz. When the waltz music was played, the dancers started dancing so gracefully. All the participants danced beautifully to the waltz. The next dance was the tango. This is a strong dance that is also very exciting. Dancers were told to take their places for the tango.

To give a breather to the dancers, we mentioned that Divino Ritmo's Grand Ball will be held at the Sheraton Waikiki on Saturday, Dec. 1 and to see Marie Laderta (pointed her out) for tickets.

Dancers were told to take your positions for the foxtrot. This is a smooth flowing dance and the dancers did very well executing their steps.

Last dance for the evening was the fast and fun quickstep. We were very pleased to see the dancers perform this very lively dance. One wrong step could send you tumbling to the floor but luckily we didn't have any mishaps but had very nice dancing.

All the dancers did very well. This was not really a mock competition but more like doing the best social dancing. We wanted our members to feel comfortable dancing in front of the audience and we wanted to allow the competitors to be able to practice before their competition next month and next year. We do plan to hold some type of competition that is not judged in the near future and will invite all Dance Magic 808 members to participate.

After the quickstep, we had some general dancing, allowing our volunteers to set up the refreshments for everyone. The snacks were very delicious. Connie's sandwiches were so tasty and the cream puffs were so heavenly as well as the other pieces of pies. We forgot to mention that the pastries came for New Aala Bakery and we wanted to thank Arthur & Joan Oda, owners of New Aala Bakery for the goodies.

Serving the snacks were Bob Nishimura, Gayle Kawahakui,

and Diane Nishimura (in background)

DJ, Paul Lee, played the dance music until 9:15pm to allow all the dancers more time to dance. Our program only lasted about 30 minutes so there was plenty of time to dance or practice.

We want to thank the following Dance Magic 808 members who volunteered their services to make this a very enjoyable dance:

Gayle Kawahakui (coordinator for palladium)
Connie Laderta (sandwiches)
Lester & Henrietta Muramoto (reception desk)
Wayne Fuchigami (membership desk)
Elsie & Bob Oyama (memberhship desk)
Stanley Akamine (membership desk
Ann & John Manuel (set up & snacks)
Diane & Bob Nishimura (set up & snacks)
Bev & Creighton Goo (set up & snacks)
Lani Sierra (set up & snacks)

Frank Sierra (set up & picture taking)

Eileen Nakano (set up & snacks)
Millie Pilkinton (set up & snacks)
David Calvalho - palladium

 

Thank you to all the dancers who participated in our dance program. You all made it a very fun evening. Thank you to our DJ, Paul Lee and his assistant, Janey Wong, for playing the dance music. We are really sorry if we missed mentioning your name but we want you to know that your services were greatly appreciate.

 

At the end of the evening, everyone was so helpful putting away the tables and chairs and even sweeping the floors (thank you Stan Akamine). Thank you everyone for making this dance event a very enjoyable evening and we hope to see you soon at another dance event.

 

Richard & Lynn Nakamura

Dance Magic 808's Co-Founders

cell 372-2256 (Lynn)

www.dancemagic808.com

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

www.dancemagic808.com

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. 

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.