Lei Day 2016 Behind The Scenes

We find ourselves at our 9th Annual Lei Day Celebration in Parker, CO.  Yes we have done this many times.  We have tried many venues.  Our first venue was at L&L Hawaiian BBQ in Aurora, CO.  I had three dancers (counting myself) and Sai (owner of L&L) allowed us to move the tables a little and do a show right in the center of the restaurant.  There were people watching us from the outside windows!  At that first Lei Day my daughter was 4 years old watching me from one of the tables.  She now helps me out in the show in more ways than one.  From then on it was a trial and error... learning from mistakes and trying new ideas out.  Although we get better and better every year we manage to always make so much memories because truthfully our shows have always been different, exciting, and high energy.  We have gone to sit down dinners and show at the DPPA in Downtown Denver to having Lei Day at an art museum in the Santa Fe Art District (with an aerial dancer as part of our grande finale).  We have hosted Lei Day at the DL Parson's Theater in North Glenn where we had a wide variety of vendors and stadium seating for our show.  We have had our Lei Day at the Red Lion Hotel (dinner and show), Gateway High School, Fiesta Palace Event Center, and now for two years we have found our home at the Parker PACE Center in Parker, CO.  This venue is amazing.  From the lobby where they have concession stands and bar to the auditorium stadium seating.  The front of the house is just as amazing as the back of the house where they have dressing rooms and mirrors with private restrooms for everyone.  They have costume racks, loading dock, green room with fridge, and much much more...  
This year we had silent auction and raffles in the lobby along with our Country Store with our musicians strolling around and singing Pre-Show music for the guests.  The doors opened at 630pm and all 500 seats in the auditorium were filled with all of our FANS!  We sold out the PACE Center.  We started the show with the blowing of the conch shell as we began our show themed "The Evolution of Polynesian Dance".  Our beginners and Intermediate Adult Classes as well as our keiki (children) dancers graced the stage (along with ELVIS IMPERSONATOR) for our first show.  We then moved on to the modern second show followed by our LED and FIRE Grande Finale.  The following pictures are BEHIND THE SCENES at The PACE CENTER.  We hope those of you that joined us enjoyed the show.  We look forward to seeing you next year for our 10th Annual Lei Day Celebration.  10 years!  Woo Hoo!  

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