ACADEMY DANCE NEWS - Latin and Ballroom Dancing on Maui

Anyway, it seemed to be going
fairly well when, at the completion of a
box <strong>and</strong> underarm turn, I found myself
looking straight at a judge no more than
five feet away from us. He was
scrutinizing Les <strong>and</strong> me intently, pen <strong>and</strong>
paper in h<strong>and</strong>, brow scrunched.
Immediately I heard a voice in my head
(Rita’s) cautioning me about this
particular possibility. “…if that should
happen, just smile…” so I did. And the
polite, sensitive judge smiled right back
at me until he apparently noticed that I
was so nervous my face was twitching.
The judge’s smile changed instantly into
an expression of concern as though he
had witnessed an accident. Fortunately,
my feet continued along their merry
waltzing way, thankfully not succumbing
to the nervousness the judge witnessed
in my shaky smile.
Oh well…At last it was over.
That was the longest minute <strong>and</strong> a half
I’ve ever experienced. We returned to
our cheering squad (Rita <strong>and</strong> Brian <strong>and</strong>
Jenifer <strong>and</strong> Dennis) who congratulated us
<strong>and</strong> said we had done very well. I,
myself, wondered about this. One thing I
was fairly sure of was that we had made
no BIG errors.
After a few more heats, we
were up again. It was Pre-Bronze Waltz.
This time we would do five required steps
which included the first three from
Newcomers. The dance seemed to go
considerably better, or had I simply
calmed down a little? Les <strong>and</strong> I could
tell to some extent that it was actually
waltz music, although it still seemed to
have a questionable beat for beginners
like us. Again Rita had waited at the
floor entrance with us. We heard people
shouting out our number. We even heard
voices other than Rita, Brian, Dennis <strong>and</strong>
Jenifer’s. We had made new friends.
The song ended. We finished
in a lovely, graceful way again as planned
<strong>and</strong> practiced umpteen times for five
months. We exited the floor <strong>and</strong>
received an abundance of congratulating
comments <strong>and</strong> “good job” assurances. I
felt pretty certain that if nothing else, it
was better than the first time out.
Practice helps, I thought.
Rita O’Connor congratulates First Place
Winners, Les Grimes & Julie Katz.
Photo by Brian O’Connor
A short while later, when my
pulse had returned to normal, it was time
for the awards. Dancers were called by
heats to the stage area. Les <strong>and</strong> I
approached the stage; each of us on one
of Rita’s supporting arms, to join the
other hopefuls eagerly awaiting the
announcement of those who placed. My
pulse was racing again, though not as bad
as it was when I was on the dance floor.
Several firsts, seconds, <strong>and</strong> thirds were
announced <strong>and</strong> the winners approached
the judges who were h<strong>and</strong>ing out the
awards. After sometime when our names
were not mentioned, I was fairly certain
that we just had not won anything. I was
preparing myself emotionally for that
inevitability (“I am not going to cry;” I
thought stoically. “Ok…so maybe I’ll cry a
little... we had put in lots of work, but not
enough apparently,” <strong>and</strong> so on I went in
my head when suddenly my ears heard,
“First Place goes to Les Grimes <strong>and</strong> Julie
Katz.”
I was so excited that I
immediately approached the wrong
station for our awards <strong>and</strong> had to be
redirected. (I have a terrible sense of
direction; it is a good thing I don’t lead).
Rita was clapping wildly <strong>and</strong> our cheering
section was also doing a very fine job.
We returned to the group of
waiting competitors to hear further
outcomes of various heats. I was more
ecstatic than I knew. In the moment, I
was so happily hysterical that I had
totally forgotten we had danced not
once, but twice. It dawned on me
suddenly that we had actually not yet
heard the results from the second
attempt. I mused for a moment…if we
got first place for our first dance,…our
5
second dance was better than our first...
false -start <strong>and</strong> never really hearing the
beat <strong>and</strong> all…when suddenly I heard,
“First place goes to Les Grimes <strong>and</strong> Julie
Katz”. WOW! This was great <strong>and</strong> really
thrilling. More congratulations <strong>and</strong>
picture-taking came our way.
Two days later we would
collect four more first places for two
levels of rumba <strong>and</strong> cha-cha. Each time
we would get very excited (me in a goofy,
giddy way; Les in a quiet, steady way).
During the in-between times when we
were not dancing, we saw some of the
most beautiful <strong>and</strong> inspirational dancing
we could ever imagine...
A very proud teacher, Rita O’Connor is
surrounded by her winning student competitors
Julie Katz & Les Grimes <strong>and</strong> Dennis & Jenifer
Goss.
Photo by Brian O’Connor
Participating in the Hawaii Star
Ball was the most exciting experience
I’ve had as a dancer. We sat at the edge
of the floor watching world-class dancers
from Japan <strong>and</strong> the top <strong>Latin</strong> dance
champions of the world perform.
In addition to the excitement,
the glamour, <strong>and</strong> the tremendous levels
of dancing expertise that we enjoyed
for three straight days, the greatest
rewards were very personal: Les <strong>and</strong> I
had worked our tails off for five months
<strong>and</strong> other people with dance expertise
had acknowledged our efforts. I had a
definite sense of accomplishment <strong>and</strong>
satisfaction. We got to improve a lot.
We gained confidence as dancers. We
have a greater sense of partnership, of
lead <strong>and</strong> follow, of what <strong>Ballroom</strong> <strong>and</strong>
<strong>Latin</strong> dance can be for us <strong>and</strong> where we
want to take our dancing. Les <strong>and</strong> I are
definitely going to do the Hawaii Star
Ball again; we’ve already started working
on it.
What I look forward to most is
not the awards (although I do look
forward to those), but to improving my
dancing with my partner. Preparing for