I am totally and utterly unprepared to write anything of any
relevance about the 5th Annual Divino Ritmo Showcase held at the
Waikiki Sheraton Hotel on Saturday, November 30th. Too busy, and too frazzled during the event to
plan properly and take some decent pictures of the set that was magnificently constructed
by Paul Laderta and a team of loyal followers who methodically and meticulously
put together and dissected apart hundreds of pieces of set that zippered together
to form a cohesive union of cardboard, metal and plastic to the theme of music
from around the world. I think there was
even a globe to enliven this theme but truthfully, I can only guess the
specific content beyond is large overpowering colored backdrop. Too busy to take some pictures of Yanna and
Lucas, the guests, the dancers, my friends, the centerpieces that were crafted together
by hand and donated by student Maria Handl, and the very elegant award trophies
donated by Marie Laderta. And even the brightly lit program filled with details
of the event with pages filled with personal comments from students and vendors
- which I only read in detail the day after the event - has mysteriously
disappeared from my reach. I can only
guess at what happened two nights ago. Fortunately,
there were a record number of guests there to experience the event in real time
(my guess is over 550) making this writing virtually unnecessary. Almost everyone in the ballroom dance scene that
wasn’t at the palladium on Saturday night was to be found at the Sheraton locked
in for the evening, arguably the most polished, finely crafted, exciting, enthralling,
entertaining, and well organized showcase event of the year!
Doors opened at 6pm, dinner was served at 7pm, and the first
student dance performance act began 8:15pm, and the second at 9:15,
acknowledgement awards at just after 10pm and then the professional show at
10:15. I was so wound up at 11:30pm when
it was all over that I ended up wandering around Waikiki until all hours of the
night making friends with street walkers on my way to MAC24 for an egg white omelet
and to decompress with other students, Yanna, Lucas, and professional dancers Asta,
and Andrei. But let’s travel backward in time for a few observations.
The event was truly organized to near perfection. So many moving parts to contend with, one
slip up would be a recipe for disaster which didn’t occur. Each number was introduced by a slide show
depicting the country of reference for the number accompanied by intro music, followed
by beaming lights emerging to focus on the dancers of each solo, the solo music
and the dancing followed until completion. The process was then repeated for
the next student dance performance, and so on.
Overall, the student performances were commensurate with
their ability, and in fact were some of their personal best. I observed no serious errors from anyone (except
myself). I think there were 20+
performances in all, equally distributed between the two acts. The professional show was highlighted by
magnificent dances from Asta and Andrei which alternated with the DRD youth
formation dance team to allow them to exchange costumes.
A few personal comments. I never have an appetite for eating
so close to any performance but I decided to taste the food which was surprisingly
good…the fish was moist and tasty and I even took a few bites of the properly
cooked and tender steak. I missed the
entertainment before the first Act of dancing but I heard that was very well
done.
I was busy helping with a few delegated tasks during the
evening’s activities that resulted in more stress and befuddlement than my two
dance performances. My formation snafu during
the rumba was probably somewhat related to this heightened state of
stress. At least it serves as a
convenient excuse. Fortunately, I had
calmed down for my solo, the last student performance of the night, so I have
no excuses for any observed shortcomings. All I can say is that it felt pretty
good and could have been much worse.
In addition to my usual attendees, my dance partner Emi,
Tammy, Lori and Mark (Richard was not feeling well and did not attend), one
seat opened up for Ivana to sit at our table.
In addition, I invited four nurses who I have known for as long as 36
years when I worked in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit (NICU) at Kapiolani
Medical Center for Women and Children – Kathy, Sharon, Jan and Pam. Many years of working side by side, day and
night with the pioneers of the NICU has created a permanent bond between
us. It had been many years since I had
seen three of them, but it felt like just yesterday. Indeed, unlike the blurry picture of us
standing side by side seen below, the memories and experiences that we shared
are sharply imbedded into our minds despite the decades of separation. It was a great pleasure and the highlight of
the evening to have them there to share in the night’s event, and to see them
healthy and happy and still interested in my life despite the separation in
time and place. I honor their wisdom and
commitment to provide medical care to our Hawaii high risk newborns for all of
these years until the present, and hope they have forgiven me for retiring and
taking up such a frivolous but thoroughly enjoyable pastime.
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