Flicker Flashback To The Year 1996

Aloha Students of Dance. 

I hope you didn't hop on the space shuttle back to 2009 yet. Okay by now you gotta know that I'm a Trekkie, with all this space travel talk. Yeah! it use to be "All I really need to know I learned from watching Star Trek." 

But now it's Star Gate SG-1. But "Star Gater" doesn't sound as appealing as Trekkie. Just like the Palladium is a very good place to go ballroom dancing but for Exhibition or Competition Dancing, the old gal doesn't have that strong appeal quality. Just like the way Geoffrey Fells mentioned many a times in his blogs. So stick around for a while and imagine the times and thrills when HBDA hosted all the "Balls" at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. Feel the excitement and the difference?

Anyway, I was scanning through my archive of videos and sparked the 37th Anniversary Ball that HBDA hosted at the Sheraton. I had forgotten that Lani and I were on the program showcasing the Bolero that Albert Franz choreographed for us. (Talk about Senior Moments. Auwe!).




There were a lot of group routines performed by various chapters and they were good ones for the level of dancers. There were big name performers who danced solo exhibitions. Ed and Matilda Felix were flawless dancing the International Waltz. Lester and Henrietta Muramoto dancing a beautiful upscaled smooth International Foxtrot.


And for the finale, Dance Director Ben and Faith Agbayani had the audience in a frenzy as they burned the floor with an entertaining Eastern Swing. Lani and I felt honored performing among polished dancers that brought entertainment and showmanship for the audience to enjoy that night.

"Teach Me Tonight" Da Hot Cha Cha

The Foxtrot, the Tango, the Swing Jitterbug. All good to know dances whether you're doing some nightclub hopping, or cruising on the big big swimming pools we call oceans, or at the Palladium, or even at family get-togethers. I mean all kinds of get-togethers...birthdays, weddings, or backyard B-B-Q (the older Filipino generations in the plantation camps had dances at funerals, too). Talk about a happy sendoff.....but then that's another story for later.

Dancing the Cha Cha is one of Lani and my favorite Latin dances. The dance has a flavor so hot that you can actually inject your personality into it. You've seen the dancers do it on So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With The Stars, and now Dance Your Ass Off. HOW ABOUT YOU?


Here's a short spill on the Cha Cha from partner dancing. The Cha Cha is really a spinoff of the Mambo, which is itself a derivative of the Rumba. When the Mambo evolved from the Rumba in the 1940's, many Americans and Europeans vacationing in Havana had a hard time trying to dance to the racy tempo and off-beat rhythm. To accommodate the dancers, Latin-American bands slowed down the Mambo tempo from 50 to 30 bars per minute, but kept the triple Mambo staccato rhythm. In this slower version, the dances took two slow steps on the beat, followed by three steps in quick succession. Musicians would call out "cha-cha-cha" on the quickies. The heavy hip wiggles were modified to a subtle sway, and the whole affair became much more manageable for ballroom dancers. The Cha Cha has enjoyed popularity from the 1950's right up to the present. This dance shares patterns and styling with its cousins the Rumba and Mambo. The footwork is small, flat, and close to the floor, and the knees are relaxed and a little bent, allowing the hips to move freely, but without exaggeration. You may find this dance easier than the Mambo because you're dancing on the beat. (As I said earlier, the Cha Cha is a hotsy....so hot that you can feel free to innovate and create a few of your own Cha Cha patterns. As Mikey on TV said, "Try it..you might like it!)

AUWE! Bitten By The Cold Bug

Pro Dancers on Gordon Wong's Facebook

See more Professional Dance Performances on Gordon Wong Facebook.

Happy Chinese New Year

SQ & RD Trail Out Dance

Message from Snow Jade.

Aloha SQ & RD dancers & friends: Grand march is on Friday evening! I will be there at 6 pm..

What a fun Trail In dance we had! I want to thank most of you for showing up to show your support for the SQ dancing in Hawaii... I really appreciated for your effort! Big mahalo for all of you and give yourself a pat on your back for the wonderful night of dancing!

Since our club only has one dance in Feb 2018.. it's the Trail Out dance this coming Sunday 02/04.. Let's make it a Pre Valentine Dance and let's wear red color for the fun of it! Just come dance with us and it's FREE for the local dancers. This Sunday, I will be at the Palladium 5:30 pm

https://queensj.smugmug.com/Aloha-State-SQ-RD-Dancec-Festi/2018-53rd-Aloha-State-SQ-RD-Dance-Festival-/i-TsNL8kH Link to see many pictures from the Festival album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIDxWbC9ZQQ I uploaded 8 videos tonight. I hope you can see all!

Photo and Video links courtesy Snow Jade

Sharing The Sweetness of "Thinking Young"

February 2018 is now here and you can expect two major things to happen this month... Valentine Day Dance Parties, and Chinese New Year events. So if you're wondering about those venues and other happening for this month, kindly surf over to my "That's Dancing" blog. Happy Valentine Day dancing!

Just So You Know

A New Year 2018 Greetings to Readers & Dancers

A Very Merry Christmas

To our Weblog Readers, and our friends in the World of Dance.....Social, Latin, Round, and Shimmy.
Happy Dancing!

Pan Pacific Ballroom Dance Society Christmas Ball 2017

It was a huge turn-out for the Pan Pacific Ballroom Dance Society Christmas Ball last Saturday night at the Palladium. And the Christmas Spirit was evident from start to finish. You know da kine..."bettah to give than receive!" Don't know who coined that phrase but it sure worked last night. Okay flash back! My main squeeze and I got to the Palladium about 7'ish and was greeted with a hug from Matilda Felix (who with her hubby Ed invited us as their guests). "Maraming salamat, Ed at Matilda!" Then we were both given red color fabric shopping bags filled with surprise goodies. Didn't get to examine the contents till we got home. Useful stuff to have when there's a hurricane emergency but I couldn't wait to dig into the onolicious manapua when I got home. 

Matilda Felix and Luby Brienzo at the Reception Table

The Music Man for social dancing was Ed Felix

Joseline Sangalang and Rick Bienzo. Joseline was EmCee
for the evening program                                                     

Yes! There were door prizes for the lucky number ticket holders
Serving out the prizes was Roxanne Kaino and I gotta say that there
were a lot of prizes to give away during the three or four breaks.

Santa Claus and Mrs. Santa opened the first segment of the program
as they paraded along the entire ballroom with a helper handing out
SNICKERS candies to everyone .                                                           

Captured this shot just as Santa's helper gave us a SNIKERS.

My main squeezed still had a painful injured knee and that hampered us from doing much dancing except for a few steps. So I went paparazzi and got a few shots of some of the merry dancers. Some of them I knew while others smilingly allowed me to take a of photo them.

Charlene and Chris Jay

. 

Debra and Derek. Derek is Friends of Ala Wai Prez

Eugene, Nancy, Marsha, and Roy

Beverly and Clayton

Stanley and Annie

Rick Brienzo. He was the stand-in Music Man during the Dance
Exhibition part of the program. while Ed Felix  was performing
in the showcase.                                                                            

Roxanne and Rick

Karen and Ernie Choy

Snow Jade and Linda Batt

Atlas III and Kathy

Atlas Cooke III and Kathy Uyehara

Herbert and JoElla

Mrs. Prado, Faith, and James

Henry and Joanne Rimas

                                 

Snow Jade, a friend, and Linda Batt. Snow Jade is a Round Dance Teacher
and posts photos and videos on her Snow Jade Bunch FaceBook page.
You can view her posts of the Pan Pacific Ballroom Dance Society
   Christmas Ball there.                                                                         

The showcase of exhibition dancing started with each couple being introduced as they entered the dance floor and performed the Waltz.                                                                                                       

Atlas Cooke IV and Haleen Digmon

Paul and Tracy Ta

Ed and Matilda Felix

Reggie Gascon and Jennifer Lin

The Electric Slide got nearly everyone on the dance floor

The fun continued with a Congo Line dance

There were two solo exhibitions. A Tango by Atlas Cooke IV and Haleen Digmon, and an International Foxtrot by Reggie Gascon and Jennifer Lin..

Atlas IV, Haleen, and Reggie waiting to be
called to the dance floor for the dance exhibition
part of the program                                               

Jennifer and Reggie

There were still some more prizes to give away.  Mitzi Lee and
Roxanne Kaino were at the prize table                                   

More social dancing continued

Before performing the Tango, Atlas IV and Haleen expressed 
their appreciation to the dance organizations that started them
in Ballroom Dancing and later into Exhibition Dancing          
                                                                                           

Atlas Cooke IV and Haleen Digmo Performing the Tango

Reggie Gascon and Jennifer Lin performing the International Foxtrot

Pan Pacific Ballroom Dance Society Formation Dancers performed a medley of International Waltz/Tango/Foxtrot to
concluded the showcase part of the program.   (View video of the Formation Dancers  @ Frank Sierra Jr. Facebook).                                                                                                                

Joseline Sangalang, Annie Curley, and Matilda & Ed Felix

Pan Pacific Ballroom Dance Society Formation Dancers

Social Dancing resumed and continued till closing

Helpers and volunteers were acknowledged: Friends Tom, Vernon, Nobuko, Mr. & Mrs. Claus, Eric & Luby Brienzo, Gene Inoshita, Ed & Matilda Felix, Mitzi Lee, Jeffery Umeda, L. Fujiyama, Greg Wong, and Roxanne Kaino.
Many thanks to Joseline Sangalang for sharing her notes of  the program with me. Much appreciate!

Hasta la vista fo' now and Happy Dancing!