Hawaii Star Ball 2018: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I vowed never to attend the Hawaii Star Ball after years of dedicated attendance and generally favorable results. The chaos and mayhem caused by disparate, distasteful and disrespectful interactions between my dance studio and the previous owner caused enough pent up animosity to preclude any easy fix. Fast forward to 2018.  All is forgiven. David Alvarez, the new owner, did a wonderful job of schmoozing and being totally attentive to the participants and did his best to put on the best that he could do considering the expensive venue – Waikiki Sheraton. 

The GOOD:

In general, there was enough competition with about 4500 entries.  David Alvarez was thoughtful and quite wonderful in his attention to the participants, and the details of the competition.  The venue, while expensive, was after all in Hawaii.  And finally, I foresee that the competition will grow further in the future and in fact there is a future to the competition.  And I enjoyed interacting with the students from Divino Ritmo and other students visiting from the mainland

The BAD:

There were too many mistakes in the entries.  Whoever is responsible needs to be put out of their misery (not literally) and a more fastidious mind put to the task is my strong recommendation.  The dance floor is too old, too sticky, and too small.  David, its time to figure this out fix it by next year.  There were too few people at the evening dinners.  Perhaps the expense precluded a hearty crowd. I’m sure there are other things but I don’t want to go over the top.

The UGLY:

There was no ugly!

My PERFORMANCE:

Well, I was sort of lethargic and a little tired.  Some days you wake up and your body works without trying.  Other days you have to push yourself and each step feels like an effort.  Yanna thinks its because I was not in the hotel the night before and the stress of getting dressed and to the hotel, park, and to the competition in time wore me out before my dance heats.  Not sure this is true but it’s a decent theory.  Nevertheless, my performance was not ugly but it was also not as good as I can do.  The pictures are surprisingly pleasant, and worthy of the expense paid to Park West Photography.  As the man in the White House keeps on saying, we'll see what happens...............