Hawaii Line Dance Newsletter 10/13/2021

[Hawaii Line Dance Newsletter]

Aloha line dancers of Hawaii and beyond! I hope you all are doing well. Apologies for missing the September Newsletter. After the announcement that the Hawaii Line Dance Festival (HLDF) was canceled, I got engulfed in dealing with the aftermath of the cancellation. By the time I knew it October was here. Although the HLDF was canceled Joanne Brady with a mixture of 8 dancers/instructors from the mainland, Bev Braun from O’ahu and her group of 8, and Pauline Dias from the Big Island and her group of 4 still came to Kauai. I was fortunate enough to secure the Lydgate Pavilion for Friday, October 1 to do a session with our out-of-town dancers. Unfortunately, because we were near the capacity of the maximum allowable for outdoor gatherings, only a small few from the Kauai Line Dance Group was allowed to join this session. Because the HLDF was canceled, my maximum capacity waiver was revoked. Nonetheless, we still had a great night of workshops and dancing. Saturday, October 2 we were allowed to utilize our dance space at Kauai Bowl where everyone was allowed to attend, so it wasn’t a complete loss for the HLDF weekend.

Joanne Brady and her entourage stayed for a week in which I got to spend a lot of time with them. It was wonderful getting to know them and forming a solid friendship with them all. Truly an amazing week in which I will treasure always! 

If you are headed to the Vegas Dance Explosion (VDE) please let me know as soon as possible. I am trying to get a headcount of all Hawaii dancers heading there. This is so that we can coordinate a Hawaii group picture. As of this newsletter we have 20 dancers from Kauai, 7 from the Big Island, 4 from O’ahu, and 1 from Maui heading to the VDE. The VDE did forego Thursday’s International Theme however, I am still planning to use my Hawaii, USA shirt that Thursday night. If you have already gotten your shirt I encourage you to use it that night as well. I will NOT be bringing the Hawaii banner like I have done so in the past, but we can still make Hawaii’s presence known with the shirts!

Lastly, I have a new dance out called Dim all the Lights. This is my first time being part of a co-choreography.  The dance has received a lot of positive feedback so far and the very next day of it being released, someone made a demo and teach video of the dance.  My partner choreographer is Britt Beresik from Texas, a very talented young lady who I had the opportunity to meet and compete with in 2019 at the VDE’s choreography competition. Her line dance career has blossomed since then and has been invited to a few line dance events this past year and will also be part of the teaching staff at the VDE. I look forward to seeing her again and sharing the stage with her at this year’s VDE.

The next newsletter is scheduled to be out the week of Thanksgiving hopefully with lots of pictures from the VDE. Until then everyone stay healthy, safe, and as always keep on dancing!

Mahalo,
Jeffrey Callejo Jr.
Instructor/Choreographer
Kauai Line Dance Group
YouTube Channel
Hawaii Line Dance Festival

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