Got to catch the Step*Taculars opening number on Ala Moana CenterStage this past Tuesday. Yes siree, they are still going strong as Salome mentioned. Five fabulous ladies and Bill Doherty dancing on stage while the other members were backstage awaiting their turn to get on stage. Had a previous appointment, so I couldn't stay for the rest of the show but did get a pix of Salome dancing in the first number.
Wednesday morning, Lani and I cruised over to the Elks Club in Waikiki to take in the Elks Hawaii Singers and the Na Kupuna Hula Dancers show. They put on a good performance for the Kokohead Seniors Club which Lani is a member and I was a guest. Terrific Hawaiian music from the group especially from the little lady lead singer with a dynamic voice who belted out most of the tunes. The Elks Hawaii Singers is an instrumental group also. A lot of hula dancing by five dancing ladies spiced the show. Then there was an invite to the audience to join the pros in dancing the hula. Lani couldn't resist the call, so she hula-d in with the pros. Did pretty good considering she's been away from dancing the hula in public for a long stretch.
The Elks Hawaii Singers played and sang some oldies but goodies, also. Wasn't until the end of the show when they played a triple swing melody that got Lani and me on the dance floor. Just the thing to break a sweat and say, "It was a good day at the Elks".
Wednesday evening and it was time to go to work....well not really da kine that you want to play hooky. Lani and I got to Kaiser CSA in time to meet Richard and Yvonne who have been assisting us in the dance classes at Kaiser CSA. A lot of new faces as the students trickled in and some returnees, too. The boss-man at Kaiser said that we had 32 students signed up for the Foxtrot and Tango. That's a good number to keep Lani and me on the payroll for this session. We started with the "One-Slow-Step Basic in the Foxtrot with three variations. That was good enough for the students to practice the dance positions, holds, footwork, timing, leading and following in tempo with the music during the first hour. My assistants keep a watch-dog eye on me to make sure I don't speed things up before all the students can show that they can dance the step patterns satifactorily.
The second hour went just as well with the Tango. I think the students (especially the guys) enjoyed learning the Tango much more because they had to put more emotions and grit into the dance. So guys, although in the American social dance world the girls are always right (because they start with their right foot and you're left with what's left), in the Tango you gotta be the man... the predator.... the tiger in the jungle. A little GRRRR can really inject passion in your dancing.
