Last night was their second Dinner and Social Dance at Hale Ikena since it's formation early this year. It was a Thursday night and as usual the menu called for Mongolian Beef but there were other entries on the menu that could tickle the palate. When Lani and I got to Mulligan's, the line was a bit long getting to weigh and pay for our dinner but it was worth the wait. It reminded me a little like the Shabu Shabu eatery. You know...get your bowl of goodies and bring it to the chef to cook and wait at your table for the waiter to bring the cooked meal to you. I skipped the beef and went deep for the jumbo shrimps and crab meat and garnished them with fresh fruits and veggies. A dash of olive oil brought out the ono favor, and not to mention the two scoops of fried rice which were a meal in it self. Lani and I had to eat light since we were gonna do a solo demo on the Night Club Merengue. General dancing was in full swing when we entered the Ballroom. But before I go any further, I'll let our EmCee Lynn Nakamura's e-mail give you, our readers, a first hand look of this fun filled evening of social dancing, dance demos and exhibitions, and onolicious dinner..........
Mahalo to all of you who were able to attend tonight's 2nd social dance at Hale Ikena. It was another successful dance thanks to all of you. We want to thank and recognize our hardworking instructors, future instructors, our website creator and our DJ for what they do or will be doing for Dance Magic 808.
At our social, we showcased our students (some are very, very new to dancing) and were very proud of all of them. They all did very well. Thank you to all the students who participated in the group dances (class steps).
We had 2 solo exhibitions. Andy & Monica Pascua did the Filipino Tango (they will be teaching this in the future) and Frank & Lani Sierra did the Night Club Merengue (they will teach this at the next class session). Both couples did a great job getting the audience excited about the dancing. Thank you all for performing.
We also want to thank everyone for making it such an enjoyable evening. It was fun encouraging the dancers by cheering and clapping. We appreciated everyone's enthusiasm.
At the social, we also took the opportunity to introduce the management staff of Dance Magic 808.
We apologize that the dance had to end early due to some unexpected necessary work that needed to be completed that night. We appreciated everyone's understanding. Because we had to leave early, Hale Ikena's management has informed us that the next time we have our social, we can stay until 10 pm instead of 8:30 pm.
Here are the names of the Management Staff:
President: Lynn Nakamura
Vice President, Treasurer & Dance Director: Richard Nakamura
Secretary: Candace Yap
Board of Director: Audrey Fu
Names of our Instructors:
Andy & Monica Pascua
Elsie McGrew
Joshua Manzano & Stephanie Shimizu
Robert & Vanelle Hirayasu
Frank & Lani Sierra
Roxanne "Roxie" Kaino
Lester & Henrietta Muramoto
Cullen & Cheryl Chong - we forgot to mention them
We want to thank our DJ, Andy Pascua, for playing the dance music tonight and we would also like to thank Henry & Joanne Rimas for being the DJ at our 1st social dance.
We also want to thank Noli Boado who did a fantastic job creating the Dance Magic 808 website - www.dancemagic808.wordpress.com - we are still adding and updating the website with instructors' pictures and other information. Thank you Noli - we are very appreciative of your work.
Joshua Manzano had a very pleasant surprise from the students and instructors of Dance Magic 808. Roxie Kaino & Eileen Nakano, representing Dance Magic 808's students & staff, presented Joshua with a card and funds to help him with his expenses when he travels with the UNLV Dance Sport Team to compete at locations outside of Nevada. We at Dance Magic 808 have very wonderful people that are so caring and are willing to help other people if they can.
Derek & Keiko Oh brought the really cute bags that Keiko designed to distribute to the dancers that had ordered them at our 1st social and to sell to other dancers that wanted to purchase the bags. The monies collected for these bags ($10) will be donated to the United Japanese Society of Hawaii to help the Japanese people. Thank you Keiko & Derek for your generousity and to everyone that is helping them by purchasing a bag.
We sang "Happy Birthday" to Derek Oh since it was his birthday. He didn't answer when Joshua Manzano sang, "How old are you today?"
We hope that you'll all be able to join us for Dance Magic 808's 1st Anniversary Ball which will be held on Friday, July 6, 2012, at the Pacific Beach Hotel.
We'll need some volunteers to help us at this ball so if you are available and would like to be a part of this fabulous evening, please send us an email.
If you would like to participate in a group routine, please email us. We plan to have several group routines and will be advising you on the dances so you can decide on the dance you want to participate in.
Thank you all again for making this 2nd social dance so successful and fun. We look forward to seeing you all again at either our classes or our dances.
Richard & Lynn Nakamura
Founders of Dance Magic 808
cell 372-2256 (Lynn)
On hand was Peter Loo of U.S. Army MWR Business Ops Division who presented Appreciation Awards to last session dance instructors.
