• Organizer, David Alvarez in the blackout Organizer, David Alvarez in the blackout
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In a day that included a 2-hour power outage in the morning, the Open Pro Smooth was a highlight. Saturday got off to a difficult start during the pro-am and Ballroom and Country Western heats when the power at the whole Sheraton Waikiki went out for about 2 hours. Luckily the hotel had battery-powered speakers and we ran on laptop batteries for the rest!

• Open Pro Smooth Open Pro Smooth
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Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smirnova were the winners of the Open Smooth. They won all dances and in fact lost only 1 first place mark in the whole competition – a 2nd in tango. Mariusz Zakrzewski & Lynnsay Ray were 2nd in all dances. They got that one 1st in tango and socred mostly 2nds from all the other judges with just a few 3rd places thrown in. David Estrada & Meaghan Mendoza were 3rd in all; Trevor & Emily Guthrie were 4th in all; Joel & Kimberly Callahan were 5th in all and Andre Baliterra & Danae Gill were 6th.

• Daniel Buhala & Natalia Bekker Daniel Buhala & Natalia Bekker
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The Open Latin gave us the same result as the RS. Daniel Buhala & Natalia Bekker were the winners and Zsolt Katona & Timea Poytes were 2nd.

Ryan Lockhart & Danelle Newman won the RS Rhythm.

• Masters Ballroom Masters Ballroom
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There were some good Senior divisions. Glenn Okasaki & Ann Ho won both the Senior II and Masters Ballroom. Edwin & Charlotte Bugarin won the Senior II Latin.

The competition ended with the traditional “Aloha” circle and we all wished each other a sad “Aloha” until next year and the 26th Hawaii Star Ball.

Rhythm Tops The Bill – Friday

All day yesterday was about Rhythm at Hawaii Star Ball.

The pro-ams danced rhythm all day yesterday and in the evening sessions the Open Pro Rhythm was the headline event with a 5-couple final.

• Danas Jaksevicious & Yuki Haraguchi Danas Jaksevicious & Yuki Haraguchi
• Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
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Danas Jaksevicius & Yuki Haraguchi were the winners. They received a clear majority of 1st places in all dances. Only judges Didio Barrera & Louis Van Amstel did not place them first. 2nd in all dances went to Ryan Lockhart & Danelle Newman, but they had the majority of “2nd or better” scores in only 3 of the dances – cha, swing, mambo. 3rd in all dances went to Riccardo Papi & Sabina Moretti. 4th in all were Sergio Sanchez & Rachel Sayotovich.

• Open Pro Ballroom Open Pro Ballroom
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The other Open Pro event was the Ballroom and this had 2 couples entered. The winners were Daniel Buhala & Natalia Bekker. They won all dances although quickstep was a 6 to 5 decision by the judges. 2nd went to Masafumi Fujiwara & Emi Masuda from Japan.

Daniel & Natalia also won the RS Latin, taking all dances over Zolt Katona & Timea Potys.

• Pro RS Smooth Pro RS Smooth
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David Estrad & Meaghan Mendoza won the RS Smooth, easily taking all 4 dances. Trevor & Emily Guthrie were 2nd in all; Callahan were 3rd in all and Andre Baliterra & Danae Gill were 4th in all.

• Brigit Starmanns w/ David Estrada Brigit Starmanns w/ David Estrada
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An interesting part of Hawaii Star Ball has always been the Pro-Am Solo Showdown where the top 5 solos of the competition compete for a grand prize. This year’s winner was Birgit StarManns w/ David Estrada.

Today Hawaii Star Ball concluded with the remaining professional and amateur events, plus pro-am ballroom and youth divisions.

Hawai’i Star Ball 2017 – 25th Anniversary

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away!”

We are here for the 25th annual Hawai’i Star Ball and with as many years that we have been reporting from the 50th State, we must say that no matter how many consecutive times we have come to the Hawai’i Star Ball, the sights and sounds of Hawai’i still leaves us breathless.

• The Luau The Luau
• Miss Hawaii Miss Hawaii
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Wednesday night we were received with a terrific Polynesian show and “luau” on the lawn of the Sheraton Waikiki, overlooking “Diamond Head.” We were all received by the current Miss Hawai’I, who beautifully sang later in the program and the organizers who were at hand to place a welcome lei over your head. The lavish “Luau” was excellent and the Polynesian show was very dramatic and entertaining and as always got the guests up to try some hula.

• Musicians Musicians
• Hula lesson Hula lesson
• Fire dancer Fire dancer
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As we sat enjoying this beautiful evening, the goddess had something else in mind so during the fire throwing show it began to rain or as they say here, we had some some “pineapple mist!” This made a great conclusion to the fire performances that were their last number. The night was young and many like us took refuge at the Rum Fire bar where we were all entertained by the Rum Fire band and enjoyed great time with our piers.

The “pineapple mist” might have been caused by “Pele” herself who has given great fortune to this year’s Hawai’i Star Ball with close to five thousand entries, the most entries the Hawai’i Star Ball has on record, she might have wanted us all to go rest for the next busy days to come.

• Smooth heats Smooth heats
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This year the “Hawai’i Star” has enticed many different groups from around the world and during yesterday’s packed Smooth and Latin day we saw many couples from New Zealand, Australia and even Japan. When we say yesterday was a packed day we mean it. It started at 7:30 AM with the Smooth and finished the evening with the Latin.

Great entertainment last night for many in the audience was Australian personality Mr. Paul Green who danced pro-am with a very capable lady and kept everyone’s eyes on them during those heats. Paul was last in Hawai’i performing the show with his partner at that time, Alexandra Gisher.

Fortunately for all having to be dancing at 7:30 AM this morning, the evening finished promptly at around 11:30 PM. Today we are watching nightclub and ballroom in the main ballroom and as always they are having some great lectures in the practice room next door. Stay tuned we will bring you tonight’s highlights including some of the Rising Star Professional events.